PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCE 

Past—Present— — Future 


SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN 
I          COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

Washington,  D,  CM  June  2-6,  1919 


PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 

JOHN  BARRETT,  FRANCISCO  J.  YA'NES, 

Director  General.  Assistant  Director. 


PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCE 

Pas  t — Present — Future 

from  the  Pan  American   viewpoint. 


REPORT 

of  the 

SECOND  P£J$  AMERICAN 
COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

Held  in  the  Building  of  the 

Pan  American   Union,  Washington,   D.  C, 

June  2-6,   1919 


A  summarized  report  based  on  the  steno- 
graphic record  of  the  proceedings,  addresses, 
papers,  and  discussions,  together  wilh  addi- 
tional data,  lists  of  those  in  attendance  or 
represented,  charts,  illustrations,  etc., 

prepared  by 

JOHN  BARRETT, 

Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union, 

assisted  by 

PROFESSOR  JULIAN  MORENO-LACALLE, 
Recording  Secretary  of  the  Conference 


PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 

Washington,  D.  C. 
1919 


The  Pan  American  Union  in  its 
capacity  as  the  official  international 
organization  of  the  American  Repub- 
lics and  its  officers  are  not  to  be  held 
in  any  way  responsible  for  the  opin- 
ions expressed  or  statements  made  in 
the  discussions,  addresses  and  papers 
included  in  this  report. 


A  few  omissions  of  names,  or  in- 
correct records  of  them,  have  been  un- 
avoidable, through  the  inability  of  the 
presiding  officer  to  identify  persons 
speaking  or  their  failure  to  give  in 
their  names.  In  printing,  moreover, 
such  a  mass  of  material  certain  errors 
in  the  text  will  be  discovered.  Cor- 
rections, therefore,  for  an  errata  page 
in  a  second  edition  will  be  welcome. 


Vll 

TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Page 

Foreword ix 

The   Pan   American   Union    xii 

Resolution  of  the  Governing  Board  Authorizing  the  Calling  of  the  Conference  xiii 

Call   for  the   Conference xiv 

The  Governing   Board  of  the   Pan   American   Union xvi 

The  Executive  Officers  of  the  Pan  American  Union  and  Assistants   for  the 

Conference .  • xvi 

The  Pan  American  Union  Staff xvii 

Summarized  Extracts  from  the  Program  of  the  Conference. xviii 

The  Rules  of  the  Conference xviii 

The  Program  of  the  Conference xx 

The  Minutes  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Conference 1-89 

Papers    and    Addresses    on   the    Latin   American    Republics    and    on    Pan 
American  Commerce : 

Argentina 91-96 

Bolivia 97-1 15 

Brazil 116-128 

Chile 129-137 

Colombia 138-143 

Costa   Rica 144-145 

Cuba 146-151 

Dominican    Republic    152-155 

Ecuador 156-157 

Guatemala 158-165 

Haiti 166-169 

Honduras 171-174 

Mexico 175-177 

Nicaragua 178-181 

Panama 182-183 

Paraguay 184-194 

Peru 195-203 

Salvador 204-205 

Uruguay 206-208 

Venezuela 209-222 

Shipping  and  Other  Transportation 223-234 

Aviation 235-238 

Trading  Methods   239-265 

Weights   and    Measures 266-274 

Parcel  Post 275-280 

Trade  Marks  and   Copyrights 281-286 

Trade  Regulations   287-297 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS—  (Continued) 

Page 

Financing  Trade  ...............................................  298-310 

Engineering  Aids  to  Commerce  .................................  311-338 

Sanitation  ....................................................  339-344 

Commercial   Intelligence   and    Publicity  .....................  .  ----  345-367 

Educational  Auxiliaries  to   Commerce  ...........................  368-386 


Appendix  : 

Practical    Pan  Americanism  ...................................  .  .  389-394 

Report  of  the  Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union  ......  394-397 

Latin  American  Trade—  1913-1917—  A  Comparative  Survey  .......  398-401 

Important  Travel  and  Trade  Routes  in  South  America  ...........  402-404 

List  of  Firms  Represented  and  Delegates  ........................  405-451 

Alphabetical  Index  ...............................................  453- 


Gift  of  Raul  Ramirez 
Bancroft  Library 

FOREWORD 

BY  JOHN  BARRETT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL. 

This  volume  is  unique. 

It  contains  more  up-to-date  information  on  Pan  American  commerce  than 
any  other  single  book  yet  published.  It  tells  the  story  of  one  of  the  most  practical 
commercial  conferences  ever  held. 

It  should  be  not  only  read  but  studied  carefully  by  all  those  interested  in 
Pan  'American  relations.  It  is  literally  at  once  a  primary  and  advanced  text  book 
on  Pan  American  trade  and  everyday  Pan  Americanism. 

It  is  a  symposium  of  both  average  and  expert  opinion.  It  covers  in  some 
measure  nearly  every  phase  of  Pan  American  commercial,  financial  and  economic 
conditions  which  must  be  considered  and  faced  after  the  world  war.  It  also  reviews 
the  past  and  discusses  the  present. 

Every  Government  bureau  and  official  having  to  do  with  foreign  commerce, 
every  representative  public  and  private  library,  every  progressive  commercial  organi- 
zation, every  corporation,  firm,  house,  and  individual  conducting  or  planning  to 
conduct  Pan  American  or  Inter  American  business,  every  educational  institution 
interested  in  foreign  relations,  every  student  of  foreign  commerce,  every  traveler 
going  south  or  north  in  Pan  America,  every  society,  club  or  school  studying  Pan 
American  questions  will  find  it  most  helpful. 

If  this  statement  seems  an  exaggeration,  please  note  carefully,  first,  the 
inspiration,  purpose,  character,  and  conclusions  of  the  Conference;  second,  the 
table  of  contents  and  the  index;  third,  the  list  of  those  in  attendance  and  repre- 
sented ;  fourth,  the  names  of  those  making  addresses,  reading  papers  and  engaging 
in  discussions;  fifth,  the  topics  considered;  sixth,  the  actual  information,  practical 
ideas,  useful  facts,  and  new  suggestions  contained  in  the  addresses,  papers  and 
discussions. 

When  at  the  April  meeting  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American 
Union— composed  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  and  the  Latin 
American  diplomatic  representatives  in  Washington — the  Director  General's  recom- 
mendations for  holding  this  Conference  were  approved  and  he  was  authorized 
to  issue  the  call  that  it  should  convene  only  two  months  later,  in  the  first  week 
of  June,  the  majority  of  those  consulted  expressed  doubt  that  in  so  short  a  time 
arrangements  could  be  completed  for  its  successful  meeting.  Thanks,  however, 
to  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  Governing  Board  and  the  staff  of  the  Pan  Ameri- 
can Union,  the  special  assistants  for  the  Conference,  the  active  help  of  the  Bureau 
of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  of  the  Department  of  Commerce,  the  office 
of  the  Foreign  Trade  Adviser  of  the  State  Department,  representative  officials, 
experts,  business  men,  financiers,  and  commercial  and  financial  organizations  of 
Latin  America  and  the  United  States,  it  was  possible  by  intensive  effort  for  the 
Director  General  to  call  the  Conference  to  order  Monday  afternoon,  June  2,  and 
to  declare  its  adjournment  Friday  afternoon,  June  6,  after  four  and  one-half  days 
of  three  sessions  each,  largely  attended  and  characterized  by  exceptional  interest 
and  edification  in  both  addresses  and  discussions. 

There  were  over  1,100  separate  acceptances  of  invitations  and  nearly  800 
individuals  took  the  trouble  to  register.  Over  150  representative  Latin  Americans 
attended  and  participated.  'There  was  a  spokesman  for  every  country  of  Pan 


X  FORWORD 

America  and  there  was  the  greatest  frankness  and  freedom  of  discussion.  The 
Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  was  Pan  American — All  American — 
in  every  respect. 

As  convincing  evidence  of  the  practical  value  of  the  Conference,  there  are 
given  below  extracts  from  the  final  summary  of  its  work  read  by  the  Director 
General  just  before  adjournment  sine  die: 

If  the  work  and  results  of  the  Conference  can  be  unofficially 
summarized 'in  the  form  of  expressing  the  sentiments  of  the  majority 
of  those  in  attendance,  as  judged  by  their  addresses  and  comments,  the 
following  conclusions  should  be  cited : 

1.  The  early  establishment  of  ample  freight,  mail,  and  passenger 
steamship  facilities  between  the  principal  ports  of  the  Atlantic,  Gulf, 
and  Pacific  ports  of  the  United  States  and  the  corresponding  ports  of 
Latin  America. 

2.  Thorough    reciprocity    and    mutual    cooperation    in    trading 
methods  and  regulations,  in  business  ethics,  and  in  general  treatment 
of   commercial   relations,    including   export   and    import    combinations, 
and  other  governmental  aids  to  commerce. 

3.  The  meeting  by  the  financial  and  business  interests  of  the 
United  States  of  the  financial  needs  of  Latin  American  Governments 
and  private  undertakings. 

4.  Safeguarding  of  patents,  trademarks,  and  copyrights  of  each 
country  in  all  the  other  twenty     countries  through  the  present  Inter- 
national Bureau  at  Havana  and  the  early  opening  of  one  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro. 

5.  Making  the  parcel  post  beneficial  alike  to  the  exporters   of 
the  United   States  and  the  consumers  of  Latin  America  through  the 
removal  of  unnecesary  restrictions  and  regulations. 

6.  Improvement    in    the    administration    of    consular    offices; 
developing  similarity  of  consular  invoices  and  fees;  annulling  of  petty 
laws  and  regulations  annoying  to  trade  and  travel ;  the  revising  and  per- 
manancy  of  tariffs;  better  conditions  of  insurance  and  packing. 

7.  Extensive  railway  and  highway  construction  all  over   Latin 
America ;  the  renewing  of  railways  already  in  existence  but  suffering 
from     lack  of   supplies  due  to  war  conditions;   the,    establishment,   as 
soon  as  feasible,  of  fast  aviation  mail,  express  and  passenger  service ; 
and  the  building  immediately  of  a  chain  of  good  hotels  in  the  principal 
Latin  American  ports  and  capitals. 

8.  Better  credit  facilities  for  Latin  American  buyers  by  United 
States  exporters ;  the  extension  of  United  States  banking  connections ; 
and  more  intimate  study  of  actual  Latin  American  trade   and  social 
conditions  by  the  export,  import,  and  financial  interests  of  the  United 
States. 

9.  Study    of    the    Spanish    and    Portuguese    languages,    Latin 
American    institutions,    history   and   geography   by   the    people    of   the 
United  States  and  a  corresponding  study  of  the  United  States  by  the 
people  of  Latin  America;  general  vocational  training  for  Pan  Ameri- 
can trade. 

10.  The  further  improvement  and  extension  of  news  and  cable 
service;  the  employment  of  the  best  methods  in  newspaper  and  maga- 
zine advertising,  catalogues,  business  films,  and  other  agencies  of  com- 
mercial publicity  and  intelligence. 

11.  Holding  of  the  Second  Pan  American  Financial  Conference 
at  Washington,  in  January,  1920,  called  by  invitation  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  and  attended  by  the  Latin  Ameri- 
can Ministers  of  Finance  and  their  associates. 

12.  Important  far-reaching  announcements,  affecting  Pan  Ameri- 
can  relations,   including    (a)    that   of   Secretary  of    Commerce   W.    C. 
Redfield.  pointing  out  new  methods  and  opportunities   for   increasing 
the    exchange    of    products    between    the    United    States    and    Latin 
America;    (b)    that  of   Chairman  E.   N.  Hurley,  of  the  United   States 


FORWORD  XI 

Shipping  Board,  outlining  new  passenger,  mail  and  freight  steamship 
service;  (c)  that  of  Assistant  Secretary  L.  S.  Rowe  of  the  Treasury 
regarding  the  Second  Pan  American  Financial  Conference  in  January, 
1920;  (d)  that  of  President  Charles  M.  Schwab  of  the  Bethlehem  Steel 
Company,  stating  his  absolute  confidence  in  the  business  possibilities 
and  integrity  of  the  Latin  American  Republics;  (e)  that  of  President 
Frank  A.  Vanderlip  of  the  National  City  Bank  of  New  York,  that  the 
American  republics  could  and  should  avert  impending  industrial  catas- 
trophe in  Europe  by  supplying  raw  materials  necessary  for  European 
industries;  (f)  those  of  Latin  American  ambassadors,  ministers,  and 
delegates,  including  Sefior  Beltran  Mathieu,  Ambassador  of  Chile, 
Senor  Francisco  Tudela  y  Varela,  Ambassador  of  Peru;  Senor 
Ignacio  Calderon,  Minister  of  Bolivia,  and  others,  sincerely  welcoming 
closer  commercial  and  financial  relations  with  the  United  States. 

If  after  reading  or  consulting  this  report  of  the  Second  Pan  American 
Commercial  Conference,  anyone  desires  further  information  which  can  be  provided 
by  the  Pan  American  Union,  as  the  official  international  organization  and  bureau 
of  information  of  the  American  Republics,  he  is  cordially  requested  to  consult 
by  interview  or  correspondence  its  ever  ready  staff  and  otherwise  to  make  use  of 
its  numerous  facilities  for  promoting  practical  Pan  Americanism. 

In  this  connection,  the  Director  General  invites  attention  to  two  papers  irt 
the  Appendix.  One  of  these  carries  the  title  of  "Practical  Pan  Americanism"  and 
the  other  is  the  "Annual  Report  of  the  Director  General  of  the  Pan  American 
Union." 

As  a  final  word  he  thanks  Professor  Julian  Moreno-Lacalle,  the  Recording 
Secretary  of  the  Conference,  for  his  able  assistance  in  editing  this  report  of  the 
Proceedings. 


PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

The  Pan  American  Union  is  the  official  international  organization  of  the  21 
independent  governments  of  the  Western  Hemisphere.  It  was  originally  organized 
under  the  name  of  "The  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics"  at  the  first  Pan  Ameri- 
can Conference,  held  at  Washington  in  1889-90.  It  was  continued  by  the  Second 
Conference,  held  at  Mexico  City  in  1901-2;  reorganized  at  the  Third  Conference, 
held  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  1906,  and  again  continued,  with  its  name  changed  to  "Pan 
American  Union,"  by  the  Fourth  Conference,  held  at  Buenos  Aires  in  1910.  It  is 
supported  by  the  joint  quotas  of  the  American  governments,  based  upon  their  popu- 
lation. It  is  controlled  by  a  governing  board,  composed  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
of  the  United  States,  who  is  its  chairman  ex  officio,  and  the  diplomatic  representa- 
tives in  Washington  of  the  other  American  Governments.  Its  affairs  are  adminis- 
tered under  this  board  by  a  director  general  and  an  assistant  director  elected  by 
them  and  responsible  to  them.  They,  in  turn,  are  assisted  by  a  staff  of  experts  in 
Pan  American  relations,  including  statisticians,  trade  advisers,  editors,  librarians, 
translators,  compilers,  and  others.  The  principal  purpose  of  the  organization  is  to 
promote  friendship,  good  understanding,  intercourse,  commerce  and  trade,  and, 
through  these  agencies,  permanent  peace  among  them  all.  That  it  has  been  success- 
ful in  these  respects  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  since  the  Pan  American  Union  was 
first  organized  there  has  been  no  serious  conflict  between  any  two  American 
republics. 

The  Pan  American  Union  has  a  practical  up-to-date  library,  known  as  the 
"Columbus  Memorial  Library,"  of  40,000  volumes,  in  which  are  kept  the  official 
reports  and  descriptive  publications  relating  to  all  the  Latin  American  countries, 
indexed,  in  turn,  with  160,000  information  cards.  It  has  a  collection  of  25,000 
photographs,  1,500  maps,  110  atlases,  and  receives  regularly  1,200  Latin  American 
newspapers  and  other  publications.  It  publishes  an  illustrated  Monthly  Bulletin, 
with  editions  in  English,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  French,  of  which  nearly  200,000 
copies  were  distributed  last  year.  It  prepares  and  distributes  descriptive  regular 
and  special  reports  and  pamphlets  containing  general  and  particular  data  about  each 
of  the  American  Republics,  and  its  mail  room  handled  in  the  last  fiscal  year  500,000 
pieces  of  mail  received  and  sent  out. 

The  Pan  American  Building  and  Grounds,  dedicated  in  1910,  and  represent- 
ing an  investment  of  $1,100,000,  were  made  possible  through  the  generosity  of  Mr. 
Andrew  Carnegie  and  the  pro  rata  contributions  of  all  the  American  Republics. 
It  is  open  to  visitors  every  week  .day  from  9.30  A.  M.  until  4  P.  M.,  when  its 
library,  information  files,  exhibits,  and  experts  are  always  accessible  to  those 
seeking  information  on  Pan  American  topics. 

Since  the  Pan  American  Union  was  reorganized  in  1906,  Pan  American  com- 
merce has  grown  from  less  than  $500,000,000  to  approximately  $1,750,000,000. 


RESOLUTION  OF  THE  GOVERNING  BOARD  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 

AUTHORIZING  THE  CALL  FOR  THE  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN 

COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS. 

At  the  regular  meeting  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union 
lield  on  the  9th  of  April,  1919,  a  committee,  consisting  of  His  Excellency  Ignacio 
Bonillas,  Ambassador  of  Mexico,  His  Excellency  Dr.  Santos  A.  Dominici,  Minister 
of  Venezuela,  and  His  Excellency  Dr.  Rafael  H.  Elizalde,  Minister  of  Ecuador, 
.appointed  to  report  on  the  calling  of  a  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  of 
an  unofficial  and  purely  informative  character,  proposed  by  the  Director  General 
at  the  meeting  of  the  Governing  Board  held  on  March  5,  1919,  submitted  the  fol- 
lowing recommendations  for  the  approval  of  the  Board: 

1.  The  advisability  of  holding  in  the  Pan  American  Union  during  the  latter  . 
part  of  May  or  the  beginning  of  June  of  this  year  a  Pan  American  Commercial 
Conference  having  the  same  unofficial  character  as  the  one  held  in  the  same  build- 
ing in  February,  1911. 

2.  The   authorization    of   the   Director    General   to   issue,   on   behalf   of   the 
Governing  Board,  the  proper  invitations,  wherein  it  shall  be  stated  that  the  Con- 
ference has  not  official  character,  and  to  prepare  the  proper  program,  following  the 
precedent  established  for  the  first  conference. 

3.  Requesting  the  active  cooperation  of  all  the  members  of  the  Governing 
Board  in  order  to  give  more  prestige  and  interest  to  the  Conference,  a  report  of 
which  shall  be  made  for  publication  in  due  course. 

In  making  these  recommendations  the  committee  not  only  gives  its  support  to 
the  Commercial  Conference  suggested  at  the  meeting  of  the  5th  instant  by  the 
v  Director  General,  but  also  believes  that  it  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  call 
another  conference  on  a  larger  scale  and  of  a  more  formal  character  after  peace  has 
been  completely  re-established  in  the  world,  in  order  to  secure  the  attendance  of' 
the  greatest  number  of  representatives  of  the  commerce  of  all  the  countries  of  the 
Pan  American  Union. 

These  recommendations  were  unanimously  approved. 


THE  ORIGINAL  CALL  FOR  THE  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL 

CONGRESS. 

The  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union  has  authorized  the  Direc- 
tor General  to  call  an  informal  or  unofficial  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference, 
to  be  held  at  the  Pan  American  Building  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  from  June  3  to  6, 
1919.  He,  therefore,  submits  the  following: 

1.  The  Governing  Board,  recalling  the  success  of  the  first   Pan  American 
Commercial   Conference  held   under  the  auspices  of  the   Pan  American  Union  in 
February,   1911,  and  having  in  mind  the  great  present  interest  in   Pan  American 
trade,  believes  that  much   good  should  result  to  all  concerned — governments,   or- 
ganizations,  firms  and  individuals — from  another  informal  but  comprehensive  ex- 
change of  views   and   information   between   the   official   and    unofficial    commercial 
representatives,  trade  experts,  business   men   and  other  interested  parties   of  both 
North  and  South  America. 

2.  Among  those  to  be  invited  to  attend  and  participate  will  be  the  follow- 
ing:  (a)  the  diplomatic,  consular  and  special  commercial  and  financial  representa- 
tives and  experts  in  the  United   States  of  the  Latin  American  governments;    (b) 
representatives   of    Latin   American    firms    and   houses,    unofficial    Latin   American 
experts,  and  other  Latin  Americans  interested  who  are  now  in  the  United  States; 
(c)  such  other  representatives  of  Latin  American  governments,  commercial  organi- 
zations and  firms  as  may  be  able  to  attend;,  (d)    the  officials  and  experts  of  the 
different  departments  and  bureaus  of  the  United  States  Government  having  to  do- 
with  Pan  American  economic,  financial  and  commercial  relations;    (e)    commercial 
and  trade  organizations,  or  representatives  thereof,  institutions,  business  firms  and 
houses,  and  individuals,  in  the  United  States,  directly  interested  in  Pan  American 
trade. 

3.  In  order  to  do  justice  to  all   countries  concerned  and  to  the  numerous, 
important  phases  of  Pan  American  commerce,  general  and  special  sectional  sessions. 
will  be  held,  beginning  with  the  Inaugural  Session  at  10  A.  M.,  Tuesday,  June  3, 
and  continuing  morning,  afternoon  and  evening  of  the  following  three  days,  June 
4,  5  and  6.     Except  for   this   inaugural   session  and  certain   special   occasions,   all 
papers  and  addresses  will  be  limited  in  the  reading  or  delivery  to  ten  minutes  (with 
opportunity,  under  limitations,  of  extension  in  the  printed  proceedings)   to  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  general  discussion,  questions  and  answers,  open  to  all.     By  this  method 
of  procedure,  it  is  intended  to  make  the  Conference  always  practical,  interesting 
and    instructive,    and    give    everybody    an    opportunity    to    obtain    the    information, 
desired. 

4.  It  is  hoped  that  the  President  and  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States 
will  return  to  America  in  time  to  speak  at  the  inaugural  session.     Other  addresses, 
at  general  sessions  will  be  made  by  Members  of  the  Cabinet,  Latin  American  Am- 
bassadors, Ministers,  and  Consuls,  leaders  of  activities  in  the  commercial,  financial,. 
and    economic   development   of    Pan   America,   and    recognized    international   trade 
experts. 

5.  While  there  will  be  no  formal  or  required  charges  or  fees  for  registra- 
tion,   attendance   and   participation,   each   person    (excepting    government   officials) 
who  desires  to  be  placed  on  the  list  to  receive  one  cloth-bound  copy  of  the  printed 
proceedings    (which    obviously    should    be   the    most   complete    and    comprehensive 
up-to-date  review  and  text  book  on  Pan  American  Commerce  illustrated  with  maps, 
charts   and   diagrams,   yet   published)    can   do   so   by  subscribing  three    dollars,   in 
advance,  to  cover  cost  of  preparation,  with  the  privilege,  limited  to  such  subscribers^ 


of  securing  additional  paper-bound  copies  at  one  dollar.     Checks  should  be  made 
payable  to  "Chief  Accountant,  Pan  American  Union." 

6.  All  persons  wishing  to  attend  this  conference  will  please  notify  the  under- 
signed as  soon  as  possible,  as  per  enclosed  card,  giving  accurate  information  as  to 
name,  address,  business  or  occupation,  and  whether  desiring  copies  of  the  printed 
proceedings  or  not.  Any  suggestions,  moreover,  as  to  subjects  to  be  discussed, 
available  experts,  and  those  to  be  invited  will  be  welcomed.  The  Conference  is 
intended  to  be  a  period  of  intensive  study  of  Pan  American  commerce,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  all  persons  who  plan  to  be  present  will  do  so  with  the  thought  of  con- 
stant attendance  and  participation  at  the  sessions  through  the  week  until  final  ad- 
journment. 

JOHN  BARRETT, 

Director  General,  Pan  American  Union, 
May  10,  1919.  Washington,  D.  C. 


SPECIAL  SUPPLEMENTARY  NOTICE. 

Since  the  accompanying  circular  was  printed,  the  inaugural  session  of  the 
Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference,  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  which  was  to  have  taken  place 
Tuesday  morning,  June  3,  has  been  advanced  to  Monday  afternoon,  June  2,  in  order 
to  suit  the  convenience  of  the  Vice  President,  who  will  extend  a  welcome  to  the 
delegates  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  but  who  will  be  absent  from  Washington 
on  Tuesday.  This  session  will  be  called  to  order  by  Director  General  Barrett  and 
presided  over  by  Hon.  Frank  L.  Polk,  Acting  Secretary  of  State  and  Acting 
Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  The  other 
speakers  will  be  Senor  Don  Beltran  Mathien,  the  Ambassador  of  Chile,  Sefior  Don 
Ignacio  Calderon,  the  Minister  of  Bolivia ;  Hon.  F.  H.  Gillett,  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives ;  and  Hon.  H.  L.  Ferguson,  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  the  United  States. 

May  24,  1919. 


GOVERNING   BOARD    OF   THE   PAN   AMERICAN    UNION. 

Frank  L.   Polk,  Acting  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United   States,   Chairman 
ex  officio  (in  absence  of  Robert  Lansing,  Secretary  of  State). 
Ygnacio  Bonillas,  Ambassador  of  Mexico  (absent). 
Beltran  Mathieu,  Ambassador  of  Chile. 
Francisco  Tudela  y  Varela,  Ambassador  of  Peru. 
Ignacio  Calderon,  Minister  of  Bolivia. 
Carlos  Manuel  de  Cespedes,  Minister  of  Cuba. 
Santos  A.  Dominici,  Minister  of  Venezuela. 
Rafael  H.  Elizalde,  Minister  of  Ecuador. 
Carlos  Adolfo  Urueta,  Minister  of  Colombia. 
Luis  Galvan,  Minister  of  the  Dominican  Republic. 
Diego  Manuel  Chamorro,  Minister  of  Nicaragua. 
Manuel  Gondra,  Minister  of  Paraguay. 
Charles  Moravia,  Minister  of  Haiti. 
Salvador  Sol  M.,  Minister  of  Salvador. 

Federico  M.   Quintana,  Minister  and  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Argentina. 
J.  E.  Lefevre,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Panama. 
Alberto  de  Ipanema  Moreira,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Brazil. 
Hugo  V.  de  Pena,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Uruguay. 
Francisco  Sanchez  Latour,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Guatemala. 
R.  Camilo  Diaz,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Honduras. 

Sub-Committee  of  Governing  Board  of  the  Conference 

Ygnacio  Bonillas,  Ambassador  of  Mexico    (in  absence,  represented  by  Juan 
B.  Rojo,  Counselor  of  Embassy). 

Santos  A.  Dominici,  Minister  of  Venezuela. 
Rafael  H.  Elizalde,  Minister  of  Ecuador. 

EXECUTIVE  OFFICERS  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

John  Barrett,  Director  General. 
Francisco  J.  Yanes,  Assistant  Director. 
Franklin  Adams,  Chief  Clerk   (absent). 
William  A.  Reid,  Acting  Chief  Clerk. 

Special   Assistants   to   the   Director   General   for   the   Conference 

John  Vavasour  Noel,  First  Assistant  and  Secretary. 
Henry  L.  Sweinhart,  in  Charge  of  Publicity. 
Prof.  Julian  Moreno-Lacalle,  Recording  Secretary. 
Dr.  H.  E.  Bard,  Assistant. 
Dr.  Jose  Romero,  Assistant. 
Gladys  Russell,  Official  Reporter. 


STAFF  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 

Members  of  the  Staff  assisting  for  the  Conference  who  were  ready  to  give 
information  and  otherwise  serve  those  in  attendance. 
John  Barrett,  Director  General. 
Francisco  J.  Yanes,  Assistant  Director. 
W.  A.  Reid,  Acting  Chief  Clerk  and  Trade  Adviser. 


William  C.  Wells,  Chief  Statistician. 
Matilda  Phillips,  Assistant  Statistician. 

C.  E.  Albes,  Acting  Editor,  English  Bulletin. 
Angel  C.  Rivas,  Acting  Editor,  Spanish  Bulletin. 
Virginia  H.  Wood,  Disbursing  Officer. 

D.  Arbelia  Reed,  Assistant  to  Disbursing  Officer. 
R.  G.  Koenig,  Assistant  to  Disbursing  Officer. 
Charles  E.  Babcock,  Acting  Librarian. 

Maria  D.  Calvo,  Assistant  in  Library. 

William  Mahoney,  Assistant  in  Library. 

W.  P.  Montgomery,  Translator  and  Compiler. 

W.  V.  Griffin,  Secretary  to  the  Director  General. 

Helen  L.  Brainerd,  Secretary  to  Assistant  Director. 

Hortense  Haas,  Assistant  to  Secretaries. 

Jose  M.  Coronado,  Spanish  Translator. 

Joaquim  De  S.  Coutinho,  Portuguese  Translator. 

Langworthy  Marchant,  Portuguese  Translator. 

Alexandre  Michelet,  French  Translator. 

William  J.  Kolb,  Chief  of  Mail  Room. 

George  F.  Hirschman,  Assistant  in  Mail  Room. 

Charles  Columbus,  Assistant  in  Mail  Room. 

Madeline  S.  Kavanagh,  Chief  of  File  Room. 

William  Manger,  Assistant  in  File  Room. 

Manuel  B.  Montes,  Assistant  to  Chief  Clerk. 

H.  C.  Snodgrass,  Assistant  to  Chief  Clerk. 

H.  R.  Mills,  Assistant  to  Chief  Clerk. 

Blanche   Dunnington,   Assistant  to  Chief  Clerk. 

Marjorie  Miller,  Assistant  to   Chief  Clerk. 

Helen  V.  Smith,  Assistant  to  Chief  Clerk. 

Stanley  M.  Provost,  Assistant  to  Chief  Clerk. 

Buildings   and   Grounds 

J.  Walton  Barrett,   Superintendent  of   Buildings  and  Grounds. 

H.  Burkholder,  Engineer. 

Harry  F.  Davison,  Charles  E.  Leland,  Guides. 

James  Whitehill ;  C.  W.  Bedford;  Wm.  Betters;  B.  Brent;  F.  Butler;  G, 
Chappelle;  E.  Deviny;  T.  Gill;  E.  M.  Knight;  W.  F.  Kuhnert;  Geo.  A.  Mathieson; 
Corlies  B.  Taylor;  W.  H.  Taylor;  Wm.  Wiener. 

Messenger  Force 

John  M.  Butler;  Marcel  Cordove;  James  Davis;  S.  H.  Edmondson ;  Frank 
E.  Hearns ;  Henson  Hicks;  F.  D.  Keesee;  H.  T.  King;  Francis  Pree ;  H.  Randolph; 
John  Sims;  F.  D.  Wilkinson;  Clarence  P.  Williams. 

Temporary  Staff — Aides  for  the   Conference 

R.  M.  Bartleman ;  Margaret  N.  Bobb ;  A.  R.  Burch ;  Mildred  Dean ;  Alice  M. 
Heaven;  Anne  L.  O'Connell;  Joseph  Sarbin ;  Carmen  Stuart;  Agnes  Quigley. 


SUMMARIZED  EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  PROGRAM  OF  THE 

CONFERENCE. 

Reason  and  Purpose  of  the  Conference 

In  February,  1911,  there  was  held  the  First  Pan  American  Commercial  Con- 
ference, called  under  the  auspices  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  The  announcement 
of  it  said :  "The  purpose  of  this  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  is  to  con- 
sider the  actual  and  practical  business  conditions  surrounding  the  exchange  of 
commerce  and  the  development  of  trade  between  the  United  States  and  the  other 
American  countries."  It  was  attended  not  only  by  official  and  unofficial  representa- 
tives of  all  the  American  countries  but  of  the  principal  commercial  organizations 
and  the  leading  exporting,  importing  and  shipping  firms  of  the  United  States  and 
numerous  individual  business  men  and  others  of  both  North  and  South  America. 

In  view,  first,  of  the  great  practical  good  and  actual  impetus  to  Pan  American 
commerce  which  resulted  from  this  First  Conference;  second,  of  the  new  after- 
the-war  conditions  surrounding  present  and  future  Pan  American  commerce ;  third, 
the  rapidly  growing  widespread  interest  in  it  throughout  both  North  and  South 
America ;  fourth,  the  obvious  necessity  and  advantage  of  having  a  full,  free,  and 
comprehensive  exchange  of  information  and  opinions  on  the  subject;  and,  fifth, 
the  suggestions  favorable  to  such  a  Conference  coming  from  representative  men 
of  both  North  and  South  America,  the  Governing  Board  authorized  the  holding 
of  this  informal  Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  and  instructed 
the  Director  General  to  send  out  invitations  accordingly.  It  is  hoped  that  the  same 
good  will  result  from  it  as  did  from  the  First  Conference  of  eight  years  ago. 

That  the  action  of  the  Governing  Board  struck  a  responsive  chord  among 
both  official  and  unofficial  commercial,  financial  and  general  business  interests  of 
both  North  and  South  America  is  proved  by  the  response  that  has  come  to  their 
invitations.  When  this  program  went  to  press  Saturday  night,  May  31,  over  one 
thousand  actual  recorded  acceptances  had  been  received. 

Rules  for  the  Conference 

1.  In  view  of  the   fact  that  the   Conference   is  informal  but  called  by  the 
representatives  of  all  the  American  Governments,  discussions  affecting  or  criticiz- 
ing their  political  or  governmental  policies   will  be   strictly  out  of   order  and   so 
ruled  by  the  presiding  officers. 

2.  As^  the    Conference    is    one   purely    of    invitation,    where    the    Governing 
Board  and  executive  officers  of  the  Pan  American  Union  are  acting  as  hosts,  there 
will  be  no  regular   formal   organization   of  the   Conference   beyond  that  arranged 
under  the   general    direction   and  charge   of  the.  sub-committee   of   the   Governing 
Board  and  the  Director  General. 

3.  Because  of  the  impossibility  of  committing  the  Governing  Board  or  the 
Governments  represented  by  them  to  any  particular  line  of  action,  no  resolutions 
will  be   presented   or   discussed   beyond  those   of   a   complimentary  and   courteous 
character. 

4.  In  the  discussions  of  the  subjects  or  topics  of  the  Conference  all  addresses 
and  papers  will  be  strictly  limited  to  ten  minutes,  except  in  the  case  of  a  few  gen- 
eral   addresses,    and   participants   uill   please    accept    the   ruling    of    the    presiding 
officer  without  protest  or  feeling  of  discrimination.     The  purpose  of  this  rule  is  to 
provide  opportunity   for  a  general  discussion  by  those  in  attendance  and  to  give 
fair  treatment  to  all  participants  and  all  subjects.     It  is,  however,  to  be  noted,  that 
those   reading  papers   or   making   addresses   and   engaging   in   the   discussions   are 
requested  to  extend  their  remarks  in  the  printed  proceedings,  subject  to  reasonable 
limitations. 

Trade  Advisers 

Several  members  of  the  regular  staff  of  the  Department  of  State  and  the 
Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  Department  of  Commerce,  including 
trade  experts  and  commissioners,  commercial  attaches,  diplomatic  and  consular 
officers,  have  kindly  consented  to  give  advice  in  trade  matters  wherever  possible. 
Their  headquarters  are  in  the  regular  office  of  the  Director  General  at  the  south 
end  of  the  main  corridor,  second  floor.  In  this  room  is  a  box  in  which  inquiries 


to  be  answered  can  be  placed.     An  officer  will  be  in  attendance  to  make  engage- 
ments for  consultation. 

Department  of  State 

The   following  officers  of  the  State  Department  will  attend  the  Conference 
and  have  kindly  consented  to  participate  in  the  discussions  and  give  expert  advice: 
Julius  G.  Lay,  Foreign  Trade  Adviser. 
Charles  Albrecht,  Assistant  to  Foreign  Trade  Adviser. 
Drew  Linard,  Assistant  to  Foreign  Trade  Adviser. 
Dr.  W.  F.  Willoughby,  Regional  Economist  for  Latin  America. 
Dana  Munro,  Economist  for  Mexico  and  Central  America. 
W.  R.  Manning,  Economist  for  Latin  America. 

Department   of   Commerce — Bureau   of  Foreign   and   Domestic   Commerce 

The  following  officers  of  this  bureau  will  attend  the  Conference  and  have 
kindly  consented  to  participate  in  the  discussions  and  give  expert  advice : 
Dr.  Burwell  S.  Cutler,  Chief  of  Bureau. 
Grosvenor  M.  Jones,  First  Assistant  Chief. 
C.  A.  McQueen,  Chief  of  Latin  American  Division. 
Dr.  R.  S.  MacElwee,  Second  Assistant  Chief. 
Dr.  W.  E.  Dunn,  Assistant  Chief  of  Latin  American  Division. 
Dr.  F.  R.  Rutter,  Statistical  Adviser. 
L.  Domeratzky,  Tariff  Expert. 

Robert  S.  Barrett,  former  Commercial  Attache  at  Buenos  Aires. 
W.  W.  Ewing,  Trade  Commissioner  and  Expert  on  Construction  Materials. 
H.  C.  Everly,  Trade  Commissioner  and  Expert  on  Furniture,  etc. 

Special  Advisers 

The  following  experts  also  will  attend  the  Conference,  participate  in  the 
discussions,  and  have  kindly  consented  to  give  advice  in  answer  to  inquiries  : 

William ,  E.  Aughinbaugh,  Editor,  the  "New  York  Commercial,"  New  York 
City. 

Dudley  Bartlett,  Chief,  Foreign  Trade  Bureau,  Commercial  Museum,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa. 

David  Beecroft,  Directing  Editor,  "The  Class  Journal  Company,"  New  York 
City. 

John  Clausen,  Vice  President,  in  charge  Foreign  Department,  Chemical 
National  Bank,  New  York  City. 

Chas.  L.  Chandler,  Manager,  Foreign  Trade  Department,  Corn  Exchange 
National  Bank,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Frederic  M.  Halsey,  Foreign  Department,  National  City  Co.,  New  York  City. 

Rea  Hanna,  Gaston,  William  &  Wigrnore,  63  Broadway,  New  York  City. 

C.  E.  McGuire,  Assistant  Secretary,  International  High  Commission,  Treas- 
ury Department. 

J.  J.  Nordman,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Charles  M.  Pepper,  Journalist,  Chile  and  Northern  News  Association,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 

Frntos  Plaza,  Manager,  Foreign  Department,  Montgomery,  Ward  and  Co., 
Chicago,  111. 

A.  R.  Rea,  Fairbanks,  Morse  &  Co.,  New  York  City. 

Guillermo  A.  Sherwell,  Juristic  Expert,  International  High  Commission, 
Treasury  Department. 

J.  J.  Slechta,  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York  City. 

G.  Cornell  Tarler,  First  Secretary,  American  Embassy,  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Edward  W.  Ames,  American  Steel  Export  Co.,  New  York  City. 

Dr.  H.  E.  Bard,  Secretary  Argentine-American  Chamber  of  Commerce,  New 
^ork. 

John   S.   Prince,   Secretary  Pan  American   Society  of  the  United   States. 

Charles  F.  McHale,  National  City  Bank,  New  York. 

Paul  Butler,  J.  W.  Butler  Paper  Co.,  Chicago,  111. 


XX 

PROGRAM 

SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

JUNE  2  TO  6,  1919. 

MONDAY,  THE  2nd 

AFTERNOON — INAUGURAL  SESSION. 

Called  to  order  at  4.20  P.  M.  by  John  Barrett,  Director  General  of  the  Pan  Ameri- 
can Union. 

Presided  over  by  Hon.  William   C.   Phillips,  the  Assistant   Secretary  of   State,  in 
absence  of  Hon.  Frank  L.  Polk,  Acting  Secretary  of  State  and  Acting  Chair- 
man of  the  Governing  Board. 
ADDRESSES  BY — 

The  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  Hon.  Thomas  R.  Marshall. 

The   ranking   Ambassador   of   the   Governing    Board,    Senor    Beltran    Mathieu, 

Ambassador  of  Chile. 

The  ranking  Minister  of  the  Governing  Board,  Senor  Ignacio  Calderon,  Minis- 
ter of  Bolivia. 

The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Hon.  F.  H.  Gillett. 
The  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States,  Hon.  Homer 

L.  Ferguson. 

Messages  of  Congratulation  from  Latin  American  Presidents  read  by  the  Presid- 
ing Officer. 

EVENING  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  8.30  P.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett,  presiding. 
Address  of  welcome  from  the  District  of  Columbia,  Hon.  Louis  Brownlow,  Presi- 
dent Board  of  Commissioners. 
Address   of   welcome   from   the   Washington    Chamber   of    Commerce,    Mr.    R.    N. 

Harper. 

GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  SITUATION — 
ARGENTINA,  papers  and  addresses  by — 
Senor  Pablo  Roth,  of  Buenos  Aires. 
Senor  Carlos  Anchorena,  of  Buenos  Aires. 
Discussion  on  Argentina. 
BOLIVIA,  paper  by— 

Senor  Julio  Zamora  read  at  the  Thursday  morning  session. 
Moving  pictures  and  lantern  slides  of  Argentina  and  Bolivia. 

TUESDAY,  THE  3rd 
MORNING  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  10  A.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett,  presiding. 
ADDRESSES  BY — 

Senor  Doctor  Francisco  Tuleda  y  Varela,  Ambassador  of  Peru. 

Honorable  William  C.  Redfield,  Secretary  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States. 

GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  SITUATION — Continued: 
BRAZIL,  papers  and  addresses  by — 

Senhor  Theodore  Langgaard  de  Menezes,   Commercial  Attache,   Brazilian 

Embassy. 

Senhor  Sebastiao  Sampaio,  Brazilian  Consul  at  Saint  Louis,  Mo. 
Discussion  on  Brazil. 
CHILE,  papers  and  address  by — 

Senor  Ernesto  Montenegro,  representative  of  "El  Mercurio,"  of  Santiago 

and  Valparaiso. 
Discussion   on  Chile. 


xxi 

AFTERNOON  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  2.45  by  Director  General  Barrett,  presiding. 
GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  SITUATION — Continued: 
CHILE,  discussion  continued  from  morning  session. 
COLOMBIA,  paper  by — 

Senor  Francisco  Escobar,  Consul  General  of  Colombia  in  New  York. 

Discussion  on  Colombia. 
COSTA  RICA,  paper  by — 

Mr.  John  Meiggs  Keith,  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  San 
Jose. 

Discussion  on  Costa  Rica. 
CUBA,  paper  by— 

Senor  Porfirio  A.  Bonet,  Commercial  Attache  to  the  Cuban  Legation. 
DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC,  paper  by — 

Senor  Manuel   Camacho,   Consul   General  of  the  Dominican   Republic  in 

New  York. 
ECUADOR,  paper  by — 

Senor  Gustavo  R.  de  Ycaza,  Consul  General  of  Ecuador  in  New  York. 
GUATEMALA,  paper  by — 

Senor  Francisco  Sanchez  Latour,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Guatemala. 
HAITI,  paper  by — 

Moris.  Charles  Moravia,  Minister  of  Haiti. 
HONDURAS,  paper  by — 

Senor  R.  Camilo  Diaz,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Honduras. 
MEXICO,  paper  by — 

:  Senor  Doctor  Juan  B.  Rojo,  Counselor  of  the  Mexican  Embassy. 
NICARAGUA,  paper  by — • 

Senor  Pedro  Gomez  Rouhaud,  of  Nicaragua. 

Discussion  on  Nicaragua. 
PANAMA,  paper  by — 

Senor  J.  E.  Lefevre,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Panama. 

Discussion  on  Panama. 

EVENING  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  8.30  P.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett,  presiding. 
GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  SITU XTIOK -^-Continued:. 
PARAGUAY,  address  by — 

Senor  Manuel  Gondra,  Minister  of  Paraguay. 
Discussion  on  Paraguay. 
PERU,  remarks  by — 

Senor  Carlos  Alvarez  Calderon,  of  Peru. 
Discussion  on  Peru. 
SALVADOR,  paper  by — 
.      Senor  Atilio  Peccorini,  Secretary  of  the  Legation  of  Salvador. 

Discussion  on  Salvador. 
URUGUAY,  paper  by— 

Senor  Jose  Richling,  Consul  General  of  Uruguay  at  large. 
Discussion  on  Uruguay. 
VENEZUELA,  paper  by — 

Dr.  Jose  Santiago  Rodriguez,  of  the  Venezuelan  Special  Mission. 
Moving  pictures  of  Latin  America.    " 

WEDNESDAY,  THE  4th 
MORNING  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  9.30  A.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett,  presiding. 
SHIPPING  AND  OTHER  TRANSPORTATION,  INCLUDING  AVIATION — 
Papers  and  Addresses  by — 

Hon.  Edward  N.  Hurley,  Chairman  of  the  U!  S.  Shipping  Board; 


xxii 

Hon.  Martin  Behrman,  Mayor  of  New  Orleans. 

Dr.    Grosvenor    M.    Jones,   Assistant    Director,    Bureau    of    Foreign    and 

Domestic  Commerce. 

George  L.  Duval,  of  Wessel,  Duval  &  Co. 

Hon.  John  McDuffie,  Representative  in  Congress  from  Alabama. 
Augustus  Post,  Secretary,  Aero  Club  of  America. 
Captain  Charles  J.  Glidden,  Air  Service,  U.  S.  A. 
Captain  Max  L.  McCullough,  Air  Service,  U.  S.  A. 

AFTERNOON  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  2.45  P.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett,  presiding. 
TRADING  METHODS  FOR  BOTH  EXPORTING  AND  IMPORTING,  BUSINESS  ETHICS,  MER- 
CHANDISING, COMMISSION  SERVICE  AND  DIRECT  TRADE,  EXPORT  AND  IMPORT  COM- 
BINATIONS, AND  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES,  ETC. — 
Papers  and  Addresses  by — 
Dr.  Burwell  S.  Cutler,  Chief,  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestice  Commerce, 

Department  of  Commerce. 
Senor  Carlos  Arellano,  of  Mexico. 

E.  T.  Simondetti,  John  W.  Thorne  &  Co.,  New  York. 

C.  A.  McQueen,  Chief,  Latin  American  Division,  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Commerce,  Department  of  Commerce,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dr.  William  Notz,  Export  Trade  Division,  Federal  Trade  Commission. 

Benjamin  Catchings,  Counselor  at  law,  New  York  and  Washington. 

Dr.  George  F.  Kunz,  President,  American  Metric  Association,  New  York; 
paper  read  by  H.  Richards,  Jr.,  Secretary  of  the  Association. 

F.  A.  Halsey,  Commissioner,   American  Institute  of  Weights  and  Measures, 

New  York. 
OPEN  SESSION — 
Remarks  by — 

Wing  B.  Allen,  Publisher,  "The  South  American,"  and  "El   Norteameri- 

cano,"  New  York. 

Mrs.  Joan  Calley,  All  America  Film  Service,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Ernest  Alpers,  General  Drafting  Company,  New  York. 
Henry  E.  Coronado,  Goodyear  Rubber  Company,  Akron,  Ohio. 
Carlos  F.  McHale,  National  City  Bank,  New  York. 
Arthur  B.  Farquhar,  A.  B.  Farquhar  Company,  York,  Pa. 

EVENING  SESSION. 

•j 

Called  to  order  at  8.30  P.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett,  presiding. 
OPEN  SESSION —  '   '  « 

Remarks  by — 

R.  M.  Whitney,  Associated  Press,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Senor  Enrique  Gil,  Counselor  at  law,  Buenos  Aires  and  New  York. 
Senhor  J.  C.  Alves  de  Lima,  Consul  General  of  Brazil  at  large,  New  York. 
Richard  C.  De  Wolf,  Counselor  at  law,  Washington,  D.  C. 

PARCEL  POST,   PATENTS,  TRADE  MARKS,  AND  COPYRIGHTS,  CONSULAR  AND  OTHER 
TRADE  REGULATIONS,  PACKING,  ETC. 

Hon.  Otto  Praeger,  Second  Assistant  Postmaster  General. 
Senor  Frutos  Plaza,  Foreign  Department,  Montgomery  Ward  &  Co.,  Chi- 
cago, 111. 
Dr.    Mario    Diaz    Yrizar,    Director,    International    Trade    Mark    Bureau, 

Habana,  Cuba. 

Hon.  James  R.  Newton,  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Patents. 
Senor  V.  Gonzales,  Trade  Adviser,  The  Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas, 

New  York. 

F.  B.  Purdie,  R.  G.  Dun  &  Company,  New  York. 
Dr.  Frank  Rutter,  Statistical  Adviser,  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 

Commerce. 
Motion  pictures  of  Latin  America. 


xxiii 
THURSDAY,  THE  5th 

MORNING  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  10  A.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett ;  Dr.  Leo  S.  Rowe,  Assist- 
ant Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  presiding. 
FINANCING  TRADE,  INVESTMENTS,  LOANS,  INCLUDING  BANKING,   CREDITS,  GOVERN- 
MENT AID  TO  COMMERCE,  ETC.— 
Papers  and  Addresses  by — 

Dr.  Leo  S,  Rowe,  Assistant  Secretary'  of  the  Treasury. 

Frank  L.  Vanderlip,  President,  National  City  Bank,  New  York  City. 

Senor  Augusto  Villanueva,  President,  Banco  de  Chile. 

Charles  M.  Schwab,  President,  Bethlehem  Steel  Company. 

Senor  Julio  Zamora,  Financial  Agent  of  the  Bolivan  Government. 

Julius  G.  Lay,  Foreign  Trade  Adviser,  State  Department. 

H.  H.  Merrick,  President,  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce. 

AFTERNOON  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  3  o'clock  by  Director  General  Barfett;  Mr.  H.  C.   Parmelee, 

presiding. 

ENGINEERING  AIDS  TO  COMMERCE,  INCLUDING  RAILWAYS,  HIGHWAYS,  WATERWAYS, 
HARBORS,  IRRIGATION,  SANITATION,  ETC.— 
Papers  and  addresses  by — 

Howard  C.  Parmelee,  Editor,  ''Chemical  and  Metallurgical  Engineering," 

New  York. 

Major  George  A.  Soper,  Surgeon  General's  Office,  U.  S.  Army. 
Percival  Farquhar,  New  York  City. 

Sefior  F.  P.  de  Hoyos,  General  Agent,  National  Railways  of  Mexico. 
Discussion. 

Charles  Whiting  Baker,  Consulting  Engineer,  New  York  City. 
Charles  F.  Lang,  President,  Lakewood  Engineering  Corporation,  paper  read 

by  Mr.  Lloyd  Brown,  Vice  President. 
Dr.  Walter  C.  Kretz,  John  Roebling  Company,  New  York. 
Discussion. 

Verne  L.  Havens,  Editor,  "Ingenerfa  Internacional,"  New  York. 
Discussion. 

EVENING  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  8.30  P.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett,  presiding. 
GENERAL  SESSION  FOR  SUBJECTS  POSTPONED  OR  NOT  CLASSIFIED— 

Herbert  S.  Houston,  Editor,  "La  Revista  del  Mundo,"  New  York. 

Senor  Pedro  Rafael  Rincones,  Consul  General  of  Venezuela  in  New  York. 

Captain  H.  R.  Moody,  Packing  Service,  U.  S.  Army. 

Discussion. 

Frederick  L.  Hoffman,  Third  Vice  President,  Prudential  Insurance  Com- 
pany, Newark,  N.  J. 

Leon  Bensabat,  American  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Dr.    Peter   H.    Goldsmith,   American   Association   for    International   Con- 
ciliation. 
Motion  pictures  of  Latin  America. 

FRIDAY,  THE  6th 

MORNING  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  10  A.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett;  Mr.  John  Vavasour 

Noel,  presiding. 

COMMERCIAL   INTELLIGENCE,   INCLUDING   ADVERTISING   AND    PUBLICITY,   AND   NEWS- 
PAPERS AND  PERIODICALS,  ETC. — 

F.  B.  Noyes,  President,  Associated  Press. 

W.  W.  Davies,  Representative  of  "La  Nacion"  of  Buenos  Aires. 

A.  C.  Pearson,  President,  Associated  Business  Papers. 


XXIV 

John  L.  Merrill,  President,  All  Americas  Cable  Company. 

Senor  Alfredo  vdH.  Collao,  Publisher  of  "La  Prensa,"  New  York. 

John  Vavasour  Noel,  President,  Noel  News  Service. 

AFTERNOON — CLOSING  SESSION 

Called  to  order  at  2.30  P.  M.  by  Director  General  Barrett,  presiding. 
EDUCATIONAL  AND  SOCIAL  AUXILIARIES  TO  COMMERCE,  INCLUDING  VOCATIONAL  TRAIN- 
ING, LANGUAGE  STUDY,  EXCHANGE  OF  STUDENTS  AND  PROFESSORS,  -AND"  GENERAL 
INFLUENCES,  ETC.— 

Senor  Francisco  J.  Yanes,  Assistant  Director,  Pan  American -Union. 

Discussion. 

Dr.  Roy  S.  MacElwee,  Second  Assistant  Director,  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 

Domestic  Commerce. 
Dr.   Samuel  McClintock,   Federal   Agent   for  Educational   Foreign  Trade 

and  Shipping. 
Dr.  W.   E.  Dunn,   Assistant  Chief,   Latin   American  Division,   Bureau  of 

Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce. 
.Dr.  Luis  F.  Corea,  Vice  President  and  Treasurer,  K-P  Corporation,  JNew 

York. 
Miss  C.  E.   Mason,   President,   Pan  American   Round  Table,  T^rrytpwn, 

New  York. 
Mrs.  Glen   L.   Swiggett,   Secretary,   Woman's   Auxiliary   Committee,   Pan 

American  Scientific  Congress. 
Professor  J.  Moreno-Lacalle,  Assistant  Professor  of  Spanish,  U.  S.  Naval 

Academy. 

Dr.  S.  M.  Johnson,  State  Highway  Commissioner  of  New  Mexico. 
Hon.  Breckenridge  Long,  Third  Assistant  Secretary  of  State. 
Dr.  H.  E.  Bard,  Secretary,  Argentine-American  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

New  York  City. 

REVIEW  OF  THE  WORK  OF  THE  CONFERENCE  BY — 
Director  General  Barrett. 

EVENING— 9.30  P.  M. 

Reception  and  Garden  party,  given  by  the  Governing  Board  in  honor  of  those  in 
attendance  at  the  Conference,  including  ladies  and  guests,  in  the  Hall  of  the 
Americas  and  the  Aztec  Garden  of  the  Pan  American  Building  and  Grounds. 


,  • 


- 


O       "rt 


SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

MONDAY,  JUNE  2,  1919, 
AFTERNOON— INAUGURAL  SESSION. 

The  Inaugural  Session  of  the  Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference 
was  called  to  order  at  4:20  P.  M.  June  2,  1919,  by  John  Barrett,  Director  General 
of  the  Pan  American  Union,  in  the  Hall  of  the  Americas,  Pan  American  Union, 
Washington,  D.  C.  In  the  absence  of  the  Acting  Secretary  of  State,  Honorable 
Frank  L.  Polk,  The  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  Honorable  William  Phillips,  pre- 
sided over  the  session. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  Governing 
Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  composed  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the 
United  States  and  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  the  other  American  Republics, 
has  seen  fit  to  call  this  Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  for  the  pur- 
pose of  providing  an  opportunity  for  a  full  and  free  exchange  of  information  and 
opinions  regarding  the  development  of  Pan  American  Commerce. 

A  Sub-Committee  of  the  Board,  composed  of  the  Ambassador  of  Mexico 
(represented  in  his  absence  by  the  Counselor  thereof),  the  Minister  of  Venezuela, 
and  the  Minister  of  Ecuador,  have  instructed  me,  as  the  executive  officer  of  the 
organization,  to  call  this  meeting  to  order  and  to  present  to  you  as  the  presiding 
officer,  who  will  now  take  charge  of  the  meeting,  The  Assistant  Secretary  of  State 
of  the  United  States,  Honorable  William  Phillips. 

THE   ASSISTANT   SECRETARY   OF   STATE   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES: 

Mr.  Vice  President,  Your  Excellencies,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  In  the  absence  of 
the  Acting  Secretary  of  State,  and  therefore  as  temporary  Acting  Chairman  of  the 
Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  it  becomes  my  privilege  and  agreeable 
duty  to  preside  at  this  Inaugural  Session  of  the  Second  Pan  American  Commercial 
Conference. 

It  is  a  gratification  and  an  inspiration  to  see  that  so  many  practical  men  of 
affairs  have  responded  to  the  invitation  of  the  Governing  Board  to  discuss  ways 
and  means  to  carry  into  effect  the  new  spirit  of  Pan  Americanism.  On  behalf  of 
the  Board  I  bid  you  all  a  cordial  and  hearty  welcome. 

The  First  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  was  -held  in  the  year  1911, 
since  which  time  events  of  stupendous  importance  have  changed  the  map  of  the 
world  and  greatly  affected  the  relations  of  nations.  The  old  world  of  1911  has 
disappeared  and  out  of  the  anguish  of  the  war  there  has  been  born  a  new  spirit  of 
justice,  which  is  even  now  struggling  to  take  form  and  expression.  Although  the 
western  hemisphere  has  suffered  it  is  almost  untouched  as  compared  with  the  war- 
worn peoples  of  Europe  and  the  Near  East.  Is  it  not  therefore  the  duty  of  the 
Americas  to  demonstrate  that  the  new  era  of  justice  and  square  dealing  has  come 
and  that  the  Republics  in  this  hemisphere  are  carrying  out  their  ideal  of  a  better 
world  in  a  helpful  and  practical  manner? 

In  the  days  of  1911  we  still  strove  to  reach  our  mutual  understandings  to  a 
great  extent  through  the  medium  of  international  politics.  Today  we  realize  that 
there  are  agencies  far  more  appropriate  through  which  international  relations  may- 
be developed  and  strengthened.  The  most  powerful  agency  of  all  for  drawing 
nations  together  is  that  of  foreign  commerce  when  it  is  conducted  in  a  spirit  of 
helpfulness  and  fairness ;  in  this  spirit  commerce  carries  with  it  mutual  esteem  and 
binding  friendship  among  nations  and  incidentally  an  ardent  desire  for  firmer 
friendship  and  closer  commercial  ties. 

We  have  called  you  together,  therefore,  in  order  that  we  may  frankly  discuss 
face  to  face  business  that  will  be  to  our  mutual  advantage.  We  in  the  United 
States  must  realize,  as  pointed  out  by  a  distinguished  South  American  statesman, 
that  the  purchaser  is  entitled  to  what  he  wants,  not  what  he  should  want  in  the 
opinion  of  the  seller,  and  that  the  terms  of  sale  should  be  acceptable  to  the  pur- 
chaser as  well  as  to  the  vendor. 

1 


SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

Another  agency  which  we  must  use  in  order  to  carry  out  the  ideal  of  Pan 
Americanism  is  the  exchange  of  thought  among  men  of  learning  in  different  coun- 
tries. No  nation  must  adopt  a  self  satisfied  attitude  of  "know  it  all,"  but  rather 
each  should  strive  to  cultivate  the  friendship  of  men  of  affairs  and  ideas  in  other 
countries,  and  through  the  medium  of  knowledge  reach  a  higher  plane  of  living. 

I  believe,  gentlemen,  that  this  Conference  is  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  the  times 
and  that  whatever  project  it  considers  the  idea  of  fair  play  and  benefit  to  all  the 
people  of  this  hemisphere  will  prevail.  I  cannot,  therefore,  overemphasize  the 
interest  of  the  Department  of  State  in  its  proceedings ;  for  it  is  you — rather  than 
the  Government — who  have  the  responsibility  of  vitalizing  the  new  opportunities 
offered  to  you  and  of  giving  practical  expression  to  the  new  spirit  of  international 
justice. 

In  your  important  labors  you  can  count  upon  the  enthusiastic  cooperation  of 
every  member  of  the  Department  of  State  and  of  all  the  Departments  of  this 
Government. 

It  gives  me  very  great  pleasure  to  present  to  you  one  who  will  bid  you 
welcome  on  behalf  of  the  Government,  who  by  reason  of  his  exalted  office,  his 
charm  and  his  great,  rare  gift  of  speech,  is  peculiarly  qualified  to  do  so.  I  have  the 
honor  to  present  the  Vice  President  of  the  United  States. 

THE  VICE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES:  Mr.  Secretary,  Your 
Excellencies,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  There  was  a  time  in  the  far  distant  history 
of  the  past  of  the  republic  of  the  United  States  when  it  was  said  that  in  wine  there 
is  truth.  That,  I  guess,  will  never  again  be  uttered  in  America!  If  that  be  so,  I 
think  I  am  justified  in  saying  that  in  the  lack  of  preparation,  however  simple  the 
words  I  may  utter,  they  may  claim  to  be  sincere. 

The  war  through  which  we  have  just  passed  has  brought  into  prominence  one 
so-called  great  doctrine  of  the  American  Republics, — the  Monroe  Doctrine, — and 
whether  we  shall  or  whether  we  shall  not  have  a  League  of  Nations  (for  that  is 
on  the  knees  of  the  gods — if  the  Republican  Party  be  the  gods  of  this  country), 
still  there  has  been  enough  of  discussion  about  the  Monroe  Doctrine  to  clarify  it, 
I  hope,  in  the  mind  of  every  representative  of  Latin  America  here  today.  I  think 
it  was  and  I  think  it  will  continue  to  be  a  good  doctrine  so  long  as  it  only  means 
this:  That  we  object  to  any  change  in  the  form  of  government  by  any  foreign 
nation,  because  we  look  upon  it  as  dangerous  to  the  continual  glory  and  honor  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  as  dangerous  to  our  own  form  of  government.  But 
I  hope  that  the  discussion  has  removed  forever  from  your  minds  the  idea  that  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  ever  was  intended  to  mean  that  the  United  States  of  America 
was  guardian  of  the  western  hemisphere  and  that  you  were  simply  the  wards  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  I  hope  that  has  disappeared  forever  and  that,  as 
you  progress  in  the  discussions  of  this  most  valuable  Commercial  Conference,  you 
will  realize  that  the  attitude  of  the  United  States  of  America  is  that  of  a  brother, 
not  that  of  a  big  brother  who  is  going  to  tell  you  what  you  can  and  what  you 
cannot  do,  but  simply  a  brother  who  wishes  you  well  in  the  administration  of  your 
own  internal  affairs.  I  speak  that  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  because  I  imagaine 
that  you  men  are  very  much  like  myself.  I  am  willing  to  be  helped  any  time  on 
earth  but  I  am  wholly  unwilling  to  be  "bossed"  any  time  on  earth ! 

It  is  idle  to  disguise  from  your  minds  the  fact  that  back  of  all  the  other 
alleged  causes  of  war,  the  commercial  relations  of  people  have  as  much  to.  do  with 
it  as  anything  else.  Whether  there  is  to  be  a  League  of  Nations  or  not — I  say  I 
cannot  tell  you,  it  is  not  for  me  to  settle  (I  am  a  disfranchised  member  of  the 
United  States  Senate  and  if  ever  I  wage  a  warfare  to  enfranchise  anybody  I  am 
going  to  wage  a  warfare  to  enfranchise  myself  before  I  begin  on  enfranchising 
anybody  else) — this  I  think  can  be  done  which  will  measurably  help  forward  that 
long  desired  peace  of  the  world. 

I  think  that  in  this  Conference  you  can,  if  you  will,  get  together  and  adjust 
the  trade  relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  other  Republics  of  the 
western  hemisphere  in  such  a  way  that  there  will  be  no  friction  between  us  and 
you,  and,  if  you  will  do  that,  you  will  very  measurably  have  helped  forward  that 
glad  time  when  swords  shall  be  beaten  into  plowshares  and  spears  into  pruning 
hooks. 

I  understand,  of  course,  that  this  Conference  is  very  largely  business  in  its 
character,  but  business  no  longer  in  the  world  can  be  disassociated  from  the  right 


MONDAY — INAUGURAL   SESSION  3 

and  the  wrong  of  human  life,  and,  in  all  these  business  arrangements  which  you 
are  seeking  here  to  make  among  the  Republics  of  this  Continent,  let  it  be  under- 
stood that  while  you  want  to  promote  business,  you  want  above  all  to  foster  peace, 
amity  and  concord  between  the  Republics  of  the  western  world. 

Ulterior  influences  are  at  work  already  to  prevent  the  present  friendly  rela- 
tions of  these  nations  from  continuing.  I  was  shocked  the  other  day — to  mention 
one  single  instance — to  observe  that  it  had  been  freely  given  out  to  the  citizens  of 
Brazil  that  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  United  States  Government  to  take  Brazilian 
bonds  in  payment  of  the  indebtedness  of  France  and  England  to  the  United  States 
of  America,  with  the  express  purpose  of  making  Brazil  a  ward  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  !  Now,  whether  anybody  else  in  America  will  deny  that  or 
not,  I  am  going  to  deny  it.  I  say  it  is  not  so !  I  say  this  Government  has  no 
power  to  do  it  and  it  has  no  purpose  of  doing  it,  and,  if  it  tried  to  dp  it,  it  would 
have  to  get  the  consent  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  before  it 
ever  was  done !  So  let  that  go  down  as  being  a  falsehood  with  reference  to  the 
purposes  and  intentions  of  this  Government  of  ours. 

When  those  of  you  who  have  not  lived  in  the  United  States  of  America 
arrive  here,  you  will  find  out  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  a  little 
bit  different  from  any  other  government  on  earth.  The  rnen  in  authority  do  not 
have  any  power !  That  is  the  remarkable  thing  about  this  Government.  Govern- 
ments do  not  run  anything  here.  Here  is  the  place  where  the  people  kick  up  their 
heels  and  do  as  they  please,  and  here  is  the  place  where  public  opinion  is  the  final 
arbiter  of  the  destiny  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  America.  I  am  saying 
that  because  I  want  to  put  these  other  fellows  in  the  class  of  the  Vice  President  of 
the  United  States. 

Let  no  Latin  American  Republic  ever  dream  that  any  administration,  whether 
Democratic,  Republican,  Socialist,  or  Prohibitionist  in  the  United  States  can  ever 
put  a  single  one  of  them  under  the  guardianship  of  the  United  States  of  America 
until  the  public  opinion  of  America  has  concluded  that  they  are  unfit  to  govern 
themselves,  and  nobody  thinks  that  yet  in  this  land  of  ours ! 

Gentlemen,  beware  of  anybody  who  comes  into  youf  country  just  now  and 
says  to  you  that  the  United  States  is  not  your  friend.  We  want  you  more  than 
we  ever  wanted  you  before  in  our  lives.  We  want  to  do*  business  with  you  and  I 
hope  we  have  gotten  this  idea  out  of  our  heads  that  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  fill  up 
a  shipload  with  American-made  products,  send  them  down  to  Central  or  South 
America  and  come  back  with  a  shipload  of  gold  in  its  stead.  I  hope  we  have 
begun  to  realize  that  the  only  way  we  can  do  business  with  Central  and  South 
America  is  to  barter  our  products  for  their  products  and  their  raw  material,  and  I 
hope  we  will  begin  to  use  a  great  many  of  the  products  of  Central  and  South  America 
in  the  factories  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Not  to  be  invidious  about  the  products  of  South  America  nor  to  give  one 
country  an  advantage  over  the  other,  I  think  I  know  of  one  thing  that  is  going 
very  speedily  to  appeal  to  a  large  number  of  American  citizens.  I  observed  the  other 
day  that  in  Paraguay  they  have  a  plant  called  mate  and  that  it  is  a  substitute  for 
spiritus  fortis,  -malt  and  intoxicating  liquor,  and  that  you  can  drink  it  and  have  a 
jolly  good  time  and  wake  up  the  next  morning  without  a  headache! 

Well,  gentlemen,  if  the  rumblings  I  hear  around  the  Capitol  are  correct, 
whether  we  buy  anything  else  of  South  America  or  not,  we  are  going  to  buy  mate 
down  there  pretty  soon ! 

Just  one  more  word.  It  was  touched  upon  by  the  Secretary  of  State-  I 
wish  this  Government  of  ours  would  make  some  arrangement  to  send  to  your  great 
universities  the  sons  of  this  republic  for  education,  and  I  wish  you  would  return 
your  sons  to  America  for  education.  Thus  we  could  more  surely  cement  the  ties 
that  bind  us  by  a  better  understanding  of  your  problems  and  have  our  problems 
understood  by  you — by  education  and  learning,  than  in  any  other  way. 

However,  I  am  not  here  to  give  business  men  advice.  I  am  only  here  just 
to  greet  you,  in  the  name  of  my  country  that  I  love;  to  salute  you;  to  express  my 
faith  and  belief  that  my  country  has  no  ulterior  motives  in  her  dealings  with  you; 
to  voice  the  hope  that  we  may  know  each  other  better  that  we  have  known  ea'cn 
other  in  ^the  past ;  to  express  the  opinion  that  our  trade  and  our  friendship  must 
go  hand  in  hand  in  the  years  that  are  to  come,  and  to  give  to  you  the  sublime  idea 
that,  perhaps,  after  all,  the  peace  of  all  humankind  does  not  rest  upon  the  remains 
of  the  war-stricken  fields  of  Europe  but  in  the  judgment  and  conscience  and  heart 
of  the  free  republics  and  the  free  republicans  of  this  western  world. 


4  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  (Chairman) :  The  members  of  the 
Conference  will  be  interested  to  know  that  five  minutes  ago,  while  the  Vice  Presi- 
dent was  making  his  speech,  I  received  a  telegraphic  dispatch  from  the  Secretary 
oi  State  in  Paris,  dated  today  at  noon,  conveying  a  message  from  the  President  of 
the  United  States  to  the  Conference.  I  will  read  that  message. 

"The  President  desires  me  to  convey  to  you  the  following  message : 

'Please  greet  the  members  of  the  Second  Pan  American  Con- 
ference in  my  name  and  convey  to  them  the  following  message :  It  is 
with  genuine  regret  that  I  find  myself  unable  to  attend  the  Conference 
and  to  greet  you  in  person.  I  am  sure  that  the  members  of  the  Gov- 
ernment who  are  in  Washington  will  make  you  feel  abundantly  welcome, 
but  I  should  have  wished  to  express  that  welcome  in  person.  We 
attach  the  highest  importance  to  this  Conference.  Our  hearts  are  set 
upon  a  perfect  understanding  between  the  Americans  and  the  develop- 
ment of  relations  which  will  be  mutually  beneficial  not  only,  but  will 
contribute  to  the  sort  of  relations  which  promote  peace  and  good  will 
as  well  as  prosperity.  Pray  accept  my  most  cordial  good  wishes  for 
the  success  of  the  Conference.' 

''LANSING/' 

The  Government  of  Chile  has  expressed  its  warm  friendship  for  this  country 
by  sending  as  its  Ambassador  to  the  United  States  a  man  of  high  distinction  and 
rare  ability.  Sefior  Mathieu  has  occupied  a  very  prominent  position  in  his  own 
country;  not  only  has  he  served  as  a  member  of  the  National  Congress  but  also 
in  various  cabinet  positions.  He  has  likewise  been  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to 
Bolivia,  Ecuador,  Peru  and  Central  America  and  he  has  also  been  his  Government's 
Delegate  to  the  Pan  American  Conference  held  in  Buenos  Aires.  Seiior  Mathieu 
is  the  ranking  diplomatic  representative  today  in  Washington  of  the  nations  of 
the  western  hemisphere  and  in  this  high  capacity  will  honor  the  Conference  by 
addressing  us  at  this  time. 

THE  AMBASSADOR  OF  CHILE:  Mr.  Vice  President,  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies 
and  Gentlemen:  The  fact  is — to  speak  frankly  at  the  very  outset — I  have 
availed  myself  of  the  opportunity  given  me  by  the  distinguished  Director  General 
of  the  Pan  American  Union,  and  have  come  here  today,  to  bespeak  your  aid  and 
support  in  the  discharge  of  my  diplomatic  mission. 

I  think  it  was  Louis  XVIII's  Minister  of  the  Treasury  who,  in  an  address  to 
parliament,  said,  "Give  me  a  sound  policy  and  I  will  give  you  sound  finances."  In 
the  present  times,  by  force  of  the  new  elements  that  are  now  entering  into  the  rela- 
tions among  peoples,  that  recommendation  could  be  transposed,  to  read,  "Give  us 
sound  and  firm  commercial  ties  and  we  will  give  you  sound  diplomacy." 

In  the  intercourse  of  nations,  policies  orientate  in  accordance  with  interests, 
moral  as  well  as  material,  which  to  be  fruitful  must  be  inseparable. 

The  security  of  justice,  of  good  order,  of  good  faith  in  the  observance  of 
agreements,  are  as  indispensable  as  cheap  production,  or  transportation  or  credit. 
Moral  factors  give  life  to  economic  factors ;  indeed,  if  it  were  possible  to  condense 
those  different  moral  elements  into  a  single  word,  that  word  would  be  "Confidence." 
We  must  inspire  and  above  all  we  must  merit,  confidence.  But  confidence  is  gained 
only  through  mutual  acquaintance  and  frequent  trade  intercourse — two  desirable 
ends  sought  to  be  achieved,  as  I  understand,  by  these  periodical  reunions  initiated 
and  stimulated  by  the  Pan  American  Union. 

Thus  the  Latin  American  here  meets  the  Anglo-Saxon  American  for  ex- 
change of  idea  and  viewpoint;  here  the  former  is  disabused  of  his  distorted  illusions 
concerning  the  greed,  and  what  has  come  to  be  called  the  imperialism,  of  the 
Yankee,  and  here  also  the  latter  learns  that  unreliableness,  incurable  indolence,  and 
chronic  disorder  are  not  characteristic  ailments  of  the  Latin  American  Republics 
as  so  often  represented.  Neither  imperialism  nor  anarchy  is  the  reality ;  these  false 
conceptions  are  among  the  many  fatal  words  that  fix  themselves  in  the  mind  and 
form  general  convictions  that  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  uproot. 

On  our  part — and  I  believe  I  speak  for  all  Chileans — we  wish  to  be  known 
for  our  good  points  as  well  as  for  our  defects,  in  order  that  we  may  profit  by  the 
former  and  correct  the  latter.  No  concrete  business  may  issue  out  of  the  present 


MONDAY — INAUGURAL   SESSION  5 

reunion,  but  the  delegates  will  at  least  go  back  to  their  business  with  fuller  ideas 
and  with  a  determination  to  know  us  better  and  accord  to  us  more  equitable  judg- 
ments. The  rest  will  be  accomplished  by  their  commercial  activities  pursued  freely, 
according  to  their  various  ideas  and  methods,  and  for  the  mutual  profit  that  con- 
stitutes the  essence  of  every  mercantile  transaction. 

Commerce  needs  no  tutelage ;  the  more  it  is  left  untrammelled  the  more 
favorable  will  be  its  growth  and  development  through  its  own  creative  poweVs 
spurred  on  by  the  incitement  to  gain,  by  competition  and  even  by  the  gratification 
of  achievement. 

A  general  who  conquers  on  the  field  of  battle,  through  destructive  forces, 
acquires  no  such  glory  as  that  which  is  achieved  by  an  inventor,  or  by  a  great  captain 
of  industry,  through  constructive  work  that  brings  alleviation  and  betterment  into 
the  living  conditions  of  the  people.  And  yet  we  see  erected  in  our  cities  more 
statues  to  the  former  than  to  the  latter,  which,  in  my  judgment,  is  an  expression 
of  popular  thought  erroneous  and  fatal  to  human  happiness.  Fulton  and  Edison, 
much  more  than  Napoleon,  have  altered  the  course  of  humanity. 

Gentlemen :  You  belong  to  the  army  that  constructs  and  consolidates,  to  the 
great  army  of  well-meaning  men  who  spread  peace  throughout  the  world.  Your 
battle  is  fought  in  the  field  of  labor  wherein  many  virtues  are  constantly  called 
into  service.  On  that  field  your  patriotism  will  shine ;  on  that  field  the  greatness 
of  your  nations  will  be  maintained. 

These  congresses  of  merchants  may  be  likened  to  the  general  staffs  of  armies 
by  which  campaigns  are  planned.  It  is  my  earnest  and  concluding  wish  that  your 
campaign  may  be  crowned  with  success. 

THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  (Chairman):    The  Chairman  of 

the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union  has  received  various  messages 

from  presidents  and  distinguished  statesmen  in  our  sister  republics.    I  should  like  to 

read  to  the  Conference  some  of  these  messages. 
(Reading)  : 

From  His  Excellency  Juan  Luis  Sanfuentes,  President  of  Chile. 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

Please  convey  to  the  Commercial  Conference,  which  is  about 
to  meet,  my  best  wishes  that  the  results  of  its  deliberations  may  be 
beneficial  for  the  strengthening  of  commercial  relations  between  the 
countries  of  America. 

From  His  Excellency  Marco  Fidel  Suarez,  President  of  Colombia. 
Minister  of  Colombia,  Washington. 

Please  congratulate  the  Second  Pan  American  Conference  on  my 
behalf  and  express  to  the  delegates  my  best  wishes  for  the  success  of 
their  labors. 

From  His  Excellency  Alfredo  Baquerizo  Moreno,  President  of  Ecuador- 
Minister  of  Ecuador,  Washington. 

Please  say  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan 
American  Union :  "I  send  my  cordial  greetings  to  the  Second  Pan 
American  Conference  now  assembled  at  Washington  under  auspices  of 
the  Pan  American  Union.  The  people  and  Government  of  Ecuador 
look  with  great  interest  and  cordiality  upon  all  efforts  towards  the  re- 
establishment  of  world  commerce  to  normal  conditions,  and  specially 
for  the  increase  of  our  commerce  with  that  of  the  United  States.  I 
congratulate  the  delegates  who  have  come  from  all  parts  of  our 
American  Continent  and  trust  that  their  labors  may  be  crowned  with 
the  highest  measure  of  success." 

From  His  Excellency  Manuel  Estrada  Cabrera,  President  of  Guatemala. 
Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

On  the  inauguration  of  the  Commercial  Conference  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Pan  American  Union  I  have  the  honor  to  tender  that 
important  gathering,  through  Your  Excellency,  my  sincere  congratula- 
tions and  my  fervent  wishes  for  the  brilliant  success  of  its  interesting 
labors,  and  for  the  improvement  and  expansion  of  the  commercial  rela- 
tions among  the  peoples  of  America, 


6  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

From  His  Excellency  J.  A.  Utrecho,  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  Nicaragua. 
Chairman,  Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference. 

On  behalf  of  the  Nicaraguan  Government  I  am  pleased  to  send 
to  the  Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  cordial  greetings 
and  expressions  of  my  best  desires  for  its  success. 

From  His  Excellency  Belisario  Porras,  President  of  Panama. 
Pan  American  Commercial  Conference,  Washington. 

With  the  return  of  peace,  commercial  activities  will  seek  new 
fields  and!  none  more  promising  than  Latin  America  with1  its  rising 
population  and  unlimited  quantities  of  raw  materials.  No  doubt  the 
present  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  will  promote  the  new 
situation  made  brighter  by  the  splendid  achievement  of  the  Panama 
Canal  from  whose  shores  I  send  you  a  word  of  greeting. 

From  His  Excellency  Jose  Pardo,  President  of  Peru. 

Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

On  the  inauguration  of  the  Second  Pan  American  Commercial 
Conference,  I  fervently  hope  that  the  resolutions  adopted  by  it  will 
insure  the  progressive  development  of  commercial  relations  among  the 
American  countries,  thus  consolidating  continental  solidarity  and  bind- 
ing closer  the  ties  uniting  the  nations  of  America. 

From  His  Excellency  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  of  Salvador. 
Minister  of  Salvador,  Washington. 

Congratulate  the  Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan 
American  Union  on  behalf  of  my  Government. 

From  His  Excellency  Baltasar  Brum,  President  of  Uruguay. 

Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

On  the  inauguration  of  the  Commercial  Congress  which  has  been 
called  under  the  patronage  of  your  important  organization,  I  beg  to 
express  m!y  most  earnest  hope  that  the  highest  success  may  crown 
your  important  work.  The  further  development  of  Pan  American 
commercial  relations  will  strengthen  our  efforts  and  is  one  of  the  factors 
which  will  contribute  most  effectively  to  the  realization  of  the  lofty 
Pan  American  ideals. 

From  His  Excellency  V.  Marquez  Bustillos,  Provisional  President  of  Venezuela. 
Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

Accept  my  congratulations  on  the  meeting  of  the  Commercial 
Conference  which  will  consider  the  problems  of  Pan  American  com- 
merce and  will  contribute  to  the  strengthening  of  the  bonds  of  fra- 
ternity and  economic  solidarity  among  the  peoples  of  America. 

We  in  this  country  are  fortunate  in  having  as  the  representative  of  Bolivia 
a  man  of  great  ability  and  a  firm  exponent  and  friend  of  Pan  America.  Sefior 
Calderon  has  been  the  representative  of  his  Government  in  Washington  for  over 
fifteen  years,  during  which  time  he  has  won  the  hearts  of  the  men  and  women  of 
this  country.  We  know  him  to  be  a  man  of  great  intellect  and  broad  sympathies, 
who  represents  his  Government  in  the  highest  sense  of  that  word.  In  view  of  his 
long  residence  here  he  is  the  dean  of  the  Latin  American  Ministers  in  Washington 
and  in  this  capacity  will  address  the  Conference. 

THE  MINISTER  OF  BOLIVIA:  Mr.  Chairman,  before  commencing  my  few 
words  of  welcome  to  you,  I  beg  to  read  a  cablegram  I  received  from  my  President : 

"I  request  you  to  convey  to  the  Pan  American  Commercial  Con- 
ference at  its  inaugural  session  the  greetings  and  adherence  of  the 
Bolivian  Government  to  the  noble  spirit  of  American  solidarity  which 
it  represents.  JOSE'  GUTIE^EZ  GUERRA." 


MONDAY — INAUGURAL   SESSION  7 

The  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union  bids  you  a  hearty  welcome 
to  this  beautiful  home  of  ours,  where  we  meet  now  in  a  friendly  spirit  to  discuss 
our  common  interests. 

I  consider  that  the  present  Conference  is  somewhat  different  from  the 
ordinary  reunions  of  business  men.  The  occasion  on  which  we  meet,  the  new  era 
opened  as  a  result  of  the  momentous  struggle  to  save  and1  preserve  right,  the 
necessity  of  studying  the  changed  political,  economic  and  social  situation  of  the 
world,  give  to  our  meeting  a  deeper  and  more  significant  meaning. 

The  criminal  and  premeditated  attempt  to  revive  the  mediaeval  regime  of 
military  autocracy,  awakened  a  universal  protest  particularly  amongst  the  Republics 
of  America.  The  United  States  true  to  its  traditions  entered  into  the  contest  calling 
to  action  all  its  enormous  resources,  and  decisively  contributed  to  the  victory.  Its 
citizen  soldiers  proved  themselves  true  knights  without  fear  of  reproach.  With 
unconquerable  determination  and  courage  they  made  the  stars  and  the  stripes  once 
more  the  emblem  of  victory  and  freedom.  The  share  of  the  women  of  America  in 
this  crisis  was  no  less  commendable.  Their  heroic  self  sacrifices  at  home,  in  £he 
hospitals  and  at  the  front;  their  constant  devotion  to  the  care  of  the  wounded, 
brought  them  cheer  and  comfort.  The  United  States  came  at  once  to  the  front 
as  a  leading  nation,  the  representative  of  the  gospel  of  popular  rights.  The  unholy 
alliance  of  despotic  monarchs  crumbled  down  and  a  league  of  free  nations,  born  at 
the  inspiration  of  American  ideals,  came  as  the  harbinger  of  peace.  The  last  sur- 
vivors of  autocracy  entrenched  in  Germany,  Austria  and  Turkey  were  swept  away 
and  new  nationalities  sprung  up  to  life  and  liberty. 

The  world  is  alive  with  the  spirit  of  freedom  and  right.  We  would  fail  to 
read  the  signs  of  the  times  if  we  thought  that  this  great  upheaval  is  merely  political. 
Society  is  shaking  from  its  foundations,  and  new  hopes  are  being  cherished  every- 
where. Many  years  ago  the  so-called  captain^  of  industry  used  to  express  their 
conception  of  the  relation's  of  capital  to  the  public  and  to  the  wage  earners  in  a 
way  that  showed  the  greatest  contempt  for  the  public  and  the  workmen.  Today 
any  man  or  corporation  that  would  ignore  the  right  of  the  public  to  a  proper  and 
just  treatment,  or  'expect  that  workingmen  must  be  satisfied  with  whatever  pay 
they  are  given,  would  be  considered  as  an  enemy  of  the  community. 

The  autocracy  of  capital  is  passing  away.  The  rights  of  labor  to  receive  a 
proper  compensation  freely  and  voluntarily  agreed  upon  is  now  recognized  without 
question.  The  people's  right  to  demand  the  necessary  attention  to  its  comfort 
cannot  be  ignored. 

One  of  the  most  important  results  of  the  war  is  the  changed  situation  of  the 
United  States  from  a  debtor  to  a  creditor  nation.  The  significance  of  that  fact 
in  the  economic  relations  of  the  Pan  American  Union  is  very  important. 

The  exports  and  imports  from  the  Latin  American  republics  to  the  United 
States  have  increased  during  the  war  at  an  astonishing  rate  Take  for  instance 
Bolivia;  we  see  that  from  1913  to  1917  the  exports  to  this  country  jumped  frt5m 
two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  to  nearly  twelve  million  dollars,  while 
the  exports  from  the  United  States  to  Bolivia  incresaed  from  two  and  a  half 
million  dollars  to  sixteen  and  a  half  millions.  The  problem  is  now  whether  this 
increase  can  be  maintained  and  improved.  My  opinion  is  thlat  the  solution  rests 
with  the  capitalists  and  business  men  of  this  country. 

Think  of  the  variety  of  rich  and  useful  products  that  Latin  America  pos- 
sesses and  how  little  has  so  far  been  utilized.  The  world  owes  to  America  the 
most  popular  articles  of  food,  such  as  potatoes,  corn,  cacao,  medicinal  plants  like 
quinine,  and  coca,  and  yet  the  wealth  of  its  secular  forests  and  great  valleys  has 
hardly  been  touched.  The  wonderful  river  system  of  South  America  remains  un- 
developed, notwithstanding  that  its  utilization  could  bring  exceedingly  important 
and  rich  results. 

Gentlemen,  let  us  imagine  a  steamer  starting  from  the  Lake  region  of  the 
United  States  going  down  the  mighty  Mississippi,  reaching  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
entering  from  there  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco  river  in  Venezuela,  and  crossing 
through  to  the  Amazon,  that  great  inland  sea  of  South  America,  coming  out  to  the 
Atlantic  at  Para,  Brazil,  or  by  a  short  canal  (that  could  be  easily  built)  going 
into  the  river  La  Plata  to  anchor  in  Buenos  Aires  or  Montevideo  after  a  journey 
of  thousands  of  miles  through  the  heart  of  the  South  American  Continent  and 
having  visited  every  one  of  the  southern  Republics  but  Chile!  Nothing  more 
wonderful  could  be  imagined  as  scenery;  neither  could  we  find  richer  lands  to 
exploit  and  develop. 


8  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

The  high  plateau  of  the  Andes  is  a  treasure  store  of  all  kinds  of  minerals 
that  for  centuries,  during  the  Spanish  domination  and  after,  furnished  most  of  the 
silver  and  gold  for  the  currency  of  the  world,  and  its  adornment. 

Speaking  specially  of  Bolivia,  my  country,  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
great  efforts  we  are  making,  partly  with  borrowed  money  and  partly  with  our  own 
small  resources,  to  extend  the  railroads  from  the  high  plateau  to  our  eastern 
forests  and  valleys,  where  all  kinds  of  tropical  products  and  extensive  grazing 
fields  are  awaiting  the  facilities  of  cheap  and  easy  transportation  to  provide  com- 
merce and  industry  with  valuable  products. 

Good  roads  and  cheap  means  of  transportation  are,  as  you  well  know,  the 
primary  conditions  for  an  increase  of  traffic  and  commerce.  The  demand  and  con- 
sumption of  foreign  goods  require  on  the  other  hand  the  development  of  the  pur- 
chasing power,  which  depends  on  the  increase  of  products  for  sale  and  on  the  use 
of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country.  In  most  cases  scarcity  of  capital  is  a 
hindrance  that  impedes  many  undertakings  which  can  only  be  carried  through  by 
the  help  of  banking  facilities. 

The  United  States  is  now  in  a  position  to  provide  the  necessary  capital  for 
the  construction  of  railroads  and  the  development  of  the  industries  and  resources 
of  the  southern  nations,  and,  besides,  to  help  them  in  their  progress  and  to  acquire 
economically  the  same  preponderating  position  that  its  policy  of  right  and  justice 
has  given  it  throughout  the  world.  The  investment  of  American  capital  would 
foster  our  common  interests  and  contribute  more  than  any  other  thing  to  the 
increase  of  commerce  and  of  our  friendly  relations. 

I  must  remark  in  this  connection  that  nothing  has  helped  more  to  create  a 
feeling  of  confidence  and  good  will  towards  the  United  States  in  the  other  American 
Republics  than  the  oft  repeated  declarations  of  President  Wilson  that  this  country 
has  no  other  or  ulterior  aim  concerning  them  than  to  help  them  in  their  develop- 
ment and  respect  their  sovereignty  and  independence.  The  spirit  of  fair  play  and 
mutual  consideration,  free  from  all  desire  of  superiority  and  mistrust,  is,  in  all 
ordinary  relations,  a  strong  element  of  good  will  and  confidence.  The  strength 
of  the  Pan  American  Union  must  be  based  on  the  same  spirit  of  .justice  and  mutual 
respect,  excluding  all  selfish  sentiments. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  war  has  brought  us  nearer  to  each  other.  We 
feel  the  unity  of  our  political  principles,  the  absence  of  any  cause  of  antagonism, 
and  we  also  feel  that  the  spirit  of  peace  and  brotherhood  is  growing  stronger. 
While  in  the  Old  World,  centuries  of  oppression  have  left  amongst  the  new  nations 
the  seeds  of  hatred  and  all  manner  of  opposite  tendencies — which  even  after  the 
horrors  of  the  war  threaten  to  involve  them  in  new  struggles — we,  in  the  New 
World,  inspired  by  broader  motives  and  by  the  desire  of  closer  union,  breathe  an 
atmosphere  of  friendliness  toward  each  other  and  all  mankind. 

What  the  spirit  of  democracy  means  has  been  admirably  and  touchingly 
shown  in  this  country  when,  full  of  sympathy  for  the  suffering  millions  of  many 
nations  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  every  one  felt  the  call  of  the  heart  and 
out  of  the  fullness  of  their  love  contributed  millions  in  money,  food  and  clothing  to 
alleviate  the  misery  and  distress  of  their  starving  fellow-beings.  These  noble  deeds 
of  charity,  so  creditable  to  the  American  people,  enhanced  many  times  the  laurels 
won  on  the  field  of  battle. 

It  is  my  earnest  desire  that  the  same  spirit  of  friendly  interest  in  our  progress 
will  preside  over  your  discussions  as  to  the  means  of  fostering  our  commercial 
relations  and  welfare,  which  we  must  appreciate  as  something  more  durable  than 
material  gains.  We  all  feel  that  there  are  higher  and  nobler  aims;  we  dream  of 
happiness,  of  peace,  love  and  good  will  amongst  all  men,  and  finally  hope  for  that 
eternal  bliss  where  God  is  Supreme. 

THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  (Chairman):  We  in  this  country 
look  to  Congress  for  all  good  things — for  sympathy,  for  encouragement,  for  guidance 
and  for  actual  support  in  those  things  that  pertain  to  the  welfare  of  this  country. 
Congress  is  the  heart  of  our  national  organism  and  responds  to  our  needs  as  the 
occasion  demands. 

The  Speaker  has  very  generously  responded  to  our  needs  today  by  leaving 
his  important  duties  at  the  Capitol  to  tell  us,  I  hope,  of  the  interest  of  Congress 
in  your  important  deliberations.  It  is  with  the  very  greatest  pleasure  that  I  have 


•  MONDAY — INAUGURAL    SESSION 

the  honor  to  present  to  you  the  Honorable  Frederick  H.  Gillett,  the   Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Representatives. 

THE  SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES:  Mr.  Chairman, 
Your  Excellencies,  and  Members  of  the  Conference:  It  was  a  great  pleasure  for 
me  to  steal  away  from  my  duties  on  the  hill  for  a  few  moments  to  be  the  medium  of 
presenting  to  this  body  the  good  wishes  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  I  only 
regret  that  as  the  House  is  still  in  session  I  must  hurry  back  without  enjoying  the 
further  proceedings  of  this  body. 

I  have  a  long  time  been  interested  in  what  was  first  the  Bureau  of  the 
American  Republics  and  what,  under  the  wise  and  popular  leadership  of  its  Director, 
Mr.  Barrett,  has  grown  to  be  the  Pan  American  Union,  whose  Governing  Board  is 
really  in  a  broad  sense  the  legislative  body  of  the  United  States  of  America-  I 
have  been  interested  in  it  simply  by  watching  its  growth,  and  because  the  region 
from  which  I  come,  New  England,  has  large  industrial  connections  and  has  in  trade 
relations  been  closely  connected  with  our  South  American  friends.  We  have  ex- 
ported ;  we  have  also  imported — indeed,  I  believe  at  present  our  imports  exceed  our 
exports,  and  I  certainly  desire  that  those  trade  relations  as  well  as  the  relations  of 
friendship  and  amity  shall  constantly  be  strengthened  and  shall  grow. 

There  has  been  established  lately  in  our  American  colleges  professorships 
and  courses  of  study  which  deal  directly  with  Latin  America,  showing  the  increased 
interest  there  is  in  the  United  States  and  which  I  hope  will  be  reciprocal,  leading 
not  'on^y  to  increased  trade,  but  also  to  increased  intimacy  and  friendliness  which 
will  not  cease  until  there  shall  all  and  everywhere  be  acknowledged  that  a  fellow 
feeling  exists  amongst  us  all. 

There  is  peculiar  hope,  it  seems  to  me,  just  now  that  the  relations  of  North 
America  and  South  America  can  be  closer  and  better  than  ever  before  because 
this  war  has  fortunately — or  unfortunately  some  may  think^— left  the  United  States 
with  an  enormous  merchant  marine  which  perhaps  would  not  have  ever  been  de- 
veloped for  years  except  for  that  It  seems  to  me  the  natural  and  necessary  result 
of  that  is  to  bring  us  all  closer  together.  I  trust  that  all  the  cities  on  both  coasts 
of  this  hemisphere  will  soon  have  regular,  immediate  connections  with  each  other  so 
that,  instead  of  that  being  a  stopping  place  for  steamers  from  Europe  to  South 
and  to  North  America,  we  will  have  these  direct  lines  which  are  bound  to  have  a 
great  result  in  tightening  the  influence  and  the  cordial  relations  between  the  two 
Americas. 

I,  and  all  of  us  in  the  United  States,  appreciate  very  much  the  sympathy 
which  we  experienced  from  some  of  the  Latin  American  republics  during  the  recent 
war,  which  led  them  to  unite  and  to  risk  their  fortunes  with  ours..  That  certainly 
has  induced  on  our  part  a  warmth  of  feeling  and  of  sympathy  which  we  had  not 
felt  before.  It  was  natural  and,  it  seems  to  me,  necessary,  for,  after  all,  all  the 
countries  on  this  whole  hemisphere  have  now  the  same  principle  of  popular  govern- 
ment. We  are  all  alike  in  trusting  to  the  people.  We  believe  that  it  is  the  people 
that  shall  rule,  and  at  the  same  time  I  think  all  our  experience  will  bring  home 
to  us  that,  in  popular  government  as  in  every  other  kind  of  government,  our  hopes 
of  prosperity  and  progress  lie  in  the  constant  supremacy  of  the  law. 

The  people  make  the  law  and  the  people  must  obey  the  law  until  the  people, 
in  a  legal  manner,  change  the  law.  We  want  the  supremacy  of  the  law  and  we 
all  fear  the  despotism  of  the  mob  just  as  much  as  the  despotism  of  the  tyrant.  The 
undercurrent  of  popular  feeling  in  all  the  American  countries  ought  to  be  now  the 
same,  and  there  should  be  nothing  that  would  separate  us. 

I  want  to  endorse  specifically  what  was  so  well  said  by  the  Vice  President. 
I  thoroughly  agree  with  him  that  America  has  not  the  slightest  feeling  of  envy  or 
hostility  towards  any  of  our  brethren  on  this  Continent.  For  one,  there  is  not  a 
foot  of  land  on  this  hemisphere  that  I  covet  or  would  take  for  the  United  States. 
There  is  not  any  influence  which  I  would  try  to  exert  over  the  other  countries  of 
the  Pan  American  Union  except  the  warm  influence  of  friendship  or  what,  under 
circumstances,  we  would  agree  was  best  for  that  country  itself. 

And  in  that,  it  seems  to  me,  we  all  ought  to  be  united.  We  all  ought  to  feel 
that  the  people  of  this  hemisphere  have  a  state  by  themselves  and  they  have  a. 
common  interest  and  purpose  and  obligation,  and  we  ought  to  feel  that,  if  there  is 
any  country  here  which  does  not  comply  with  its  obligations,  which  does  not  uphold 
the  rights  of  international  law,  which  does  not  make  property  and  life  secure,  that 
is  an  offense,  not  to  any  one  of  the  other  nations,  but  to  this  whole  hemisphere, 
because  all  of  us  suffer  the  stigma  from  it.  We  suffer  not  simply  the  lawless  violence 


10  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE  • 

that  comes  therefrom  but  we  are  all  united  in  one  family  fellowship  and,  therefore, 
we  all  incur  some  reproach  in  our  reputation  for  what  any  country  loses. 

In  this  day,  when  all  .nations  are  being  brought  into  closer  contact  than  ever 
before,  when  every  thoughtful  man  is  pondering  on  the  future  relationships  of  na- 
tions to  each  other,  it  is  but  natural  that  we  here  in  this  hemisphere,  who  for  a 
century  have  lived  under  the  Aegis  of  a  doctrine  which  has  protected  us  from 
Europe,  bound  together  as  I  believe  we  never  were  before  with  friendship  and  good 
feeling — with  friendship  and  good  feeling  which  I  trust  the  United  States  will  be 
the  last  ever  to  do  anything  to  affect — it  is  proper  that  we  should  gather  here,  and 
1  trust  this  Commercial  Conference  will  not  only  be  efficient  in  adding  to  the  com- 
mercial relations  and  opportunities  of  the  New  World  but  it  will  also  help  to  bind 
closer  together  that  friendship  which  we  all  desire. 

I  wish  for  you,  gentlemen,  in  your  deliberations,  the  utmost  harmony  and  I 
trust  that  it  may  produce  the  most  beneficent  results. 

THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  (Chairman):  The  Chambers  of 
Commerce  of  the  United  States  are  the  bone  and  sinew  of  our  commercial  life. 
Their  cooperation,  therefore,  is  essential  if  we  are  to  carry  out  the  ideal  of  Pan 
.Americanism.  The  Chambers  of  Commerce  are  grouped  together  under  a  confed- 
eration whose  President  is  with  us  today.  It  gives  me  particular  pleasure,  there- 
fore, to  present  to  you  Mr.  Homer  L.  Ferguson,  the  President  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  the  United  States,  to  whom  we  look  for  guidance  and  inspiration. 

THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES:  Mr.  Secretary,  Your  Excellencies,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  On  behalf  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  I  desire  to  express  the  honor  and 
pleasure  which  it  feels  in  participating  in  this-  Second  Pan  American  Commercial 
Conference. 

You  have  been  assured  by  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
the  Vice  President  of  the  United  States  that  this  nation  has  no  political  designs  on 
any  of  our  neighbor  Republics.  But  I  wish  to  say  as  representing  the  business 
men  of  the  United  States,  that  we  are  not  in  the  same  category !  We  have  designs 
on  Central  and  South  America,  and  I  shall  attempt  in  a  few  words  to  tell  you  how 
we  propose  to  carry  out  those  designs ! 

The  war  has  wrought  tremendous  changes  in  commerce  the  world  over  and 
we  found  that  "between  our  country  and  our  sister  Republics  to  the  south  there  was 
a  lack  of  shipping  and  of  communication  which  has  well  nigh  destroyed  our  com- 
merce in  certain  directions,  and  we  found,  too,  that  the  war  had  brought  us  closer 
together  in  a  business  way,  made  us  more  dependent  on  each  other  and  made  us 
realize  that  our  commerce  was  an  affair  quite  vital  to  many  sections  of  our  re- 
spective countries,  and  that  this  commerce  should  be,  insofar  as  it  is  possible,  inde- 
pendent of  disturbances  in  other  portions  of  the  world. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  has  been  quite  active  in 
promulgating  the  work  in  connection  with  the  Central  and  South  American  Re- 
publics, which  has  already  borne  fruit.  I  refer  to  the  commercial  arbitration 
treaties,  the  principal  one  of  which  so  far  has  been  arranged  between  Argentina 
as  represented  by  their  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
the  United  States.  Under  this  arbitration  treaty  all  commercial  questions  in  dispute, 
such  as  the  quality  of  goods,  difference  in  interpreting  specifications,  shortages,  con- 
dition in  which  perishable  goods  arrive,  and  a  thousand  other  things  which  formerly 
had  been  settled  after  tremendous  delays  and  frequently  after  long  litigation  by 
reference  to  a  London  Arbitration  Board,  may  now  be  settled  by  reference  to  a 
Board  of  Arbitration  which  exists  both  in  Argentina  and  in  the  United  States. 

A  similar  convention  is  being  concluded  with  Uruguay  and  four  other  con- 
ventions are  in  course  of  preparation  with  other  countries  of  Latin  America.  These 
conventions  stand  for  peace  and  good  will  and  fair  dealing.  As  an  American  busi- 
ness man  I  desire  to  assure  the  gentlemen  representing  the  great  countries  to  the 
South  of  us  that  I  appreciate  the  fact  that,  in  order  to  do  business  with  you  and 
to  do  it  successfully  and  to  keep  on  doing  business  with  you,  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary that  fair  play  shall  obtain  from  the  start  to  finish,  that  you  shall  get  the  kind 
and  character  of  goods  that  you  desire,  that  they  shall  be  put  up  in  such'  manner 
as  your  trade  shall  require,  and  that  the  business  shall  be  just  as  satisfactory  to  you 
as  it  is  to  us.  On  no  other  basis  can  a  prosperous  trade  be  built. 


MONDAY — INAUGURAL   SESSION  11 

When  I  say  that  we  have  designs  on  business  in  Central  and  South  America, 
I  say  it  with  that  idea  in  mind — that  this  business  shall  be  so  fair  and  so  honorable 
that  it  will  appeal  to  your  people  and  that  it  will  be  a  pleasure  to  your  people  and 
to  our  people  to  continue  in  that  business. 

There  is  one  feature  of  our  trade  which  perhaps  appeals  to  me  very  largely, 
as  I  am  a  ship  builder.  Years  ago  in  Glasgow,  about  twenty-five  years  ago,  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  going  to  school  with  several  distinguished  engineers  from  re- 
spectively Argentina,  Uruguay  and  Brazil.  In  the  course  of  two  or  three  years 
over  there  we  came  to  know  each  other  very  well.  I  assure  you  that  those  of  us 
who  had  the  pleasure  of  associating  with  these  young  men  came  to  have  for  them 
a  very  high  regard,  came  to  find  out  that  they  were  inspired  by  fine  motives,  and 
that  they  made  most  excellent  engineers. 

Having  been  born  and  bred  an  engineer,  as  it  were,  I  presume  I  am  some- 
what partial  to  that  profession,  and  I  do  feel  that  along  the  line  of  engineering 
and  commercial  engineering  lies  the  great  future  of  Central  and  South  America. 
Enormous  countries  are  waiting  the  magic  wand  of  the  engineer  to  make  life 
more  comfortable  for  the  people  there,  to  make  difficult  things  more  easy! 

But  before  we  can  get  to  South  America  or  you  can  get  here  in  peace  and 
comfort,  before  we  can  deal  with  Central  America,  it  is  necessary  that  the  means 
of  communication  between  us  be  made  more  comfortable,  more  regular,  so  that  you 
can  come  here  just  as  easily  as  you  can  go  to  Europe.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
shipping  and  all  the  correlated  questions  pertaining  to  a  merchant  marine  are  vital 
and  necessary  to  the  upbuilding  of  great  trade  between  the  states  of  this  western 
continent,  and  that  the  reason  why  that  trade  has  not  been  built  to  much  greater 
proportions  before  now  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that  you  and  we  have  lacked  that 
shipping. 

It  is  true  that  we  have  provided  a  large  number  of  ships  during  the  war 
emergency  and  at  the  present  time  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  vessels  are  operating 
in  the  South  American  trade,  having  a  gross  total  tonnage  of  eight  hundred  and 
sixty-four  thousand  tons,  a  larger  number  of  vessels  of  the  United  States  than 
have  ever  operated  to  South  America  before.  It  is  also  very  probable  that  many 
of  the  vessels  now  bringing  our  troops  home  from  Europe  will  be  allocated  to  the 
Central  and  South  American  trade  so  that  convenience  and  promptness  of  access 
both  for  freight  and  passengers  will  soon  be  provided. 

This  is  but  the  beginning.  It  is  not  only  necessary  that  we  have  ships  to 
trade  with  you,  but  it  is  also  very  necessary  and  desirable  that  you  have  ships  to 
trade  with  us.  Eighty-five  millions  of  people  live  in  the  Republics  south  of  the 
United  States  and  these  eighty-five  millions  of  people  themselves,  no  more  than 
we,  should  be  dependent  for  the  carriage  of  their  products  and  for  themselves  on 
ships  of  other  countries  than  their  own,  or  than  the  countries  with  which  they  do 
business.  It  is  very  necessary  that  we  at  least  have  a  due  proportion  of  this  com- 
merce between  Central  and  South  America  and  the  United  States  in  our  ow,n  hands. 
Otherwise  that  commerce  will  never  amount  to  very  much  and  certainly  not  to  half 
as  much  as  it  would  were  the  means  of  carnage,  including  banking,  finance,  insur- 
ance, credits  and  the  like,  in  the  hands  of  the  countries  to  whom  it  belongs. 

Many  distinguished  Americans  have  gone  to  Latin  America  looking  for  busi- 
ness, looking  for  opportunity,  looking  over  the  country.  It  would  be  a  splendid 
thing  if  our  great  manufacturing  concerns  sent,  not  their  second  or  third  or  fifth  or 
tenth  men,  but  the  heads  themselves  of  those  concerns  to  see  the  conditions  for 
themselves  and  to  realize  what  has  been  realized  most  clearly  by  all  America,  by 
all  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  have  gone  to  Central  and  South  America — tha't 
the  lack  of  communication,  that  the  lack  of  direct  communication,  in  ships  owned 
by  the  respective  countries  is  the  greatest  drawback  to  our  trade. 

When  Mr.  McAdoo  returned  with  the  International  High  Commission  in  1916 
he  and  many  of  the  gentlemen  who  were  associated  with  him  were  struck  with  that 
point;  that,  for  instance  in  Argentina,  that  great  city,  as  large  as  Chicago,  as  rich 
as  Chicago,  and  said  by  experts  to  be  a  handsomer  and  finer  city  than  Chicago, 
should  be  without  proper  means  of  communication  with  the  great  Republic  of  the 
North. 

We  must  have  these  things  if  trade  between  us  is  to  prosper  and  I  believe 
trade,  which  is  a  mutual  benefit  to  both  countries,  carried  on  in  all  fairness,  carried 
on  with  that  courtesy,  with  that  fine  spirit  which  so  belongs  to  the  people  of  the 
Republics  south  of  us  and  which  is  second  nature  with  them,  will  do  more  to 
cement  the  friendship  and  do  more  to  tie  us  with  our  brothers  on  this  great  con- 


12  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

tinent  than  all  of  the  treaties  that  may  be  written.  I  mean  not  only  trade  in  goods 
but  intercommunication,  visiting  with  each  other — and  I  hope  to  live  to  see  the 
time  when  our  boys  and  our  young  men  will  go  to  Latin  America  to  complete  their 
education  just  as  we  hope  that  their  young  men  will  come  up  here  to  complete  theirs. 
In  closing,  gentlemen,  on  the  part  of  the  business  men,  I  desire  to  express 
my  appreciation  at  being  here  today  and  to  assure  our  distinguished  friends  and 
representatives  from  the  great  Republics  south  of  us  that  the  business  men  of  the 
United  States  are  more  than  anxious  to  prove  to  them  that  we  desire  that  all  of  our 
business  with  them  and  our  communications  with  them  shall  be  of  such  a  character 
that  they  will  choose  to  come  and  see  us  again. 

THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  (Chairman):  Gentlemen,  the  Hon- 
orable Leo  S.  Rowe,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  desires  to  present  a  mo- 
tion to  the  Conference. 

THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY:  Gentlemen,  I  beg  to 
move  that  this  Conference  express  a  deep  sense  of  appreciation  of  the  cordial  mes- 
sages that  have  been  received  from  the  chief  executives  of  the  various  American 
republics,  and  that  the  Conference  furthermore  respectfully  request  the  Committee 
of  the  Governing  Board  in  charge  of  this  Conference  to  transmit  its  appreciation  as 
soon  as  they  may  deem  it  possible.1 

MR.  ALFREDO  vdH.  COLLAO,  New  York  City :  As  a  Latin  American,  I 
wish  to  second  the  motion. 

(The  motion  was  unanimously  carried). 

THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  (Chairman) :  I  will  now  ask  Di- 
rector General  Barrett  to  say  a  few  words. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Chairman,  Members  of  the  Board: 
We  have  come  to  that  point  of  the  program  where  the  necessary  announcements 
must  be  made. 

(  Announcements. ) 

Adjournment. 


MONDAY  EVENING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  8 :30  by  Director  General  Barrett,  who 
presided  over  the  session. 

(Announcements.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  (After  reading  the  rules  of  the  Con- 
ference) :  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  for  a 
brief  word  of  welcome,  on  behalf  of  this  capital  city,  the  man  who  corresponds  in 
other  cities  to  the  mayor,  a  very  able,  efficient  and  popular  officer,  a  man  whom  I 
have  known  personally  for  a  great  many  years,  who  is  filling  that  high  position 
today  with  credit  to  himself  and  to  the  capital  of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  real 
satisfaction  to  introduce  Honorable  Louis  Brownlow,  President  of  the  Board  of 
Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS  OF  THE  DIS- 
TRICT OF  COLUMBIA:  My  fellow  Americans:  I  wonder  if  the  presiding  officer 
read  those  rules  for  my  especial  benefit.  I  don't  think  that  it  would  have  been 
possible  for  him  to  have  erred  so  far  as  to  think  that  I  needed  a  reminder  not  to 
indulge  in  politics,  because  I  happen  to  be,  for  the  time  being,  the  chief  executive  of 
a  city  where  there  is  no  politics.  Washington,  you  know,  is  utterly  non-political. 
Perhaps  it  may  have  some  political  aspects  in  its  character  as  the  capital  of  the 


aln  line  with  this  motion,  telegrams  were  transmitted  by  the  Chairman  of  the 
Governing  Board  of  Pan  American  Union  acknowledging  the  messages  referred  to. 


MONDAY   EVENING   SESSION  13 

United  States,  but  as  a  city,  as  a  municipality,  its  people  have  no  vote  and  there  is 
no  politics  here  and  we  never  have  an  election.  I  was  not  chosen  to  be  mayor  of 
this  city  by  the  free  vote  of  its  citizens,  but  appointed  to  that  position,  and  you 
can  readily  understand  that  it  would  be  quite  impossible  for  me  to  have  any  political 
views  or,  if  I  had  them,  to  express  them. 

And  in  so  far  as  the  ten  minute  limit  is  concerned,  that  may  have  been 
necessary,  for  were  I  to  indulge  myself  to  the  extent  of  speaking  to  you  of  the 
significance  of  such  meetings  as  yours  in  this  capital  of  this  Republic,  I  could  not 
content  myself  with  ten  minutes  nor  could  I  in  that  brief  time  hope  to  compact  the 
thoughts  that  arise  within  me. 

But  I  am  not  here  to  participate  in  your  discussions,  or  to  attempt  to  instruct, 
but  to  fullfil  a  most  pleasurable  duty :  That  of  bidding  you  welcome,  most  heartily, 
to  the  District  of  Columbia,  to  the  city  of  Washington,  to  the  capital  of  the  United 
States. 

Only  a  little  while  ago  this  capital  was  a  village  among  cities  and  a  by-way 
among  the  capitals  of  the  world,  but  in  the  last  two  decades  it  has  seemed  to  me 
annually  to  gather  a  greater  and  greater  importance  and  from  month  to  month  to 
assume  among  the  cities  of  the  world  a  more  significant  place. 

One  of  the  very  great  days  in  the  history  of  this  city  was  when  a  great  many 
men  representing  all  of  the  nations  of  the  western  world  came  to  this  place  at  the 
ceremony  of  the  laying  of  the  cornerstone  of  this  building  and  from  that  time,  from 
the  time  of  the  dedication  of  this  building,  this  has  been  a  center  where  the  people 
of  all  the  Americas  have  come  to  counsel  together  for  the  good  of  all  the  nations 
of  the  west.  In  the  past  two  or  three  years  a  great  many  more  people  have  come 
to  this  city  than  ever  lived  here  before ;  a  great  deal  more  has  been  done  here 
than  ever  had  been  done  before,  but  I  want  to  assure  every  visitor  within  our 
gates  that  the  spirit  of  Washington  continues  to  be  the  spirit  of  the  man  for 
whom  the  city  is  named.  Our  people  here  welcome  you  for  your  discussions  in  the 
hope  and  the  belief  that  great  good  will  result  from  your  common  counsel,  not 
only  for  the  people  of  our  country,  the  United  States,  but  also  for  the  people  of 
every  country  in  America.  For  such  meetings  we  believe  Washington  is  an  ideal 
city  and  for  such  conferences  this  building,  with  its  history  and  its  traditions,  an 
ideal  place. 

I  want  to  assure  each  and  every  one  of  you  that  while  you  are  here  you 
are  the  guests  of  the  hospitable  people  who  desire  to  do  everything  that  they  can 
do  for  your  comfort  and  who  have  at  all  times  in  their  hearts  the  liveliest  and 
most  cordial  sympathy  for  you  and  your  aspirations. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  A  great  and  powerful  commercial  or- 
ganization exists  in  this  city  that  has  at  its  head  one  of  the  most  forceful  and  un- 
selfish, hardworking  citizens  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  who  is  here  just  to  say 
a  word  of  welcome  on  behalf  of  his  organization.  I  have  pleasure  in  introducing 
to  you  Mr.  R.  N.  Harper,  President  of  the  Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  WASHINGTON  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE: 
Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  and  Visiting  Delegates:  It  is  useless  for 
me  to  say  that  it  is  a  pleasure  on  my  own  behalf  as  an  individual  inhabitant  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  and  as  President  of  the  Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce — 
that  it  is  with  great  pleasure  that  we  welcome  you  upon  this  occasion  and  par- 
ticularly on  account  of  the  mission  in  which  you  are  here  to  take  part. 

I  used  the  word  "Inhabitant"  of  the  District  of  Columbia  on  account  of 
what  Commissioner  Brownlow  had  said,  that  we  are  here  as  only  inhabitants  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  not  being  able  to  exercise  the  right  of  citizenship  and  we 
are  beginning  to  feel  it.  We  hope  that  we  can  make  others  feel  it,'  and  they  will 
come  around  our  way,  as  we  are  governed  entirely  by  others  and  not  by  ourselves. 

The  city  of  Washington,  the  capital  of  what  we  think  and  believe  we  have 
a  right  to  think  one  of  the  greatest  Republics  on  the  globe,  is  of  importance  now 
in  the  eyes  of  the  entire  world.  We  do  hold  a  unique  position,  or  have  held,  all 
the  time  in  the  past,  in  having  our  time  mostly  occupied  in  things  political  and 
social.  But  there  is  a  new  generation  being  born  at  the  nation's  capital  with  new 
ideas,  advanced  thought,  and  we  are  coming  to  believe  and  assert  that  commerce 
and  manufacturing  at  the  nation's  capital  should  be  of  the  same  importance  as  is 
rioted  in  the  capitals  of  the  great  countries  abroad. 

The  location  of  this  capital  city  is  in  every  way  inviting  that  commerce 
should  be  started  from  this  very  center  of  political  operations.  We  are  located 


14  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

in  one  of  the  most  fertile  agricultural  sections  of  the  country;  we  have  all  of  the 
raw  material  for  manufacturing  purposes  that  could  supply  the  world,  and  this 
city  particularly  has  deep  water  transportation  to  the  sea ;  it  has  terminal  facilities 
for  all  of  the  trunk  lines  that  traverse  the  entire  country  and,  above  all,  we  have 
the  disposition  to  stretch  out  over  the  country  and  bring  in  the  dollars  from  the 
other  people.  But  in  doing  it  we  want  to  give  value  for  whatever  we  receive ! 

There  is  little  that  I  can  say  or  add  to  that  which  has  already  been  so  well 
said  by  our  Commissioner,  excepting,  I  notice,  that  he  did  not  say  to  you  visitors 
that  the  Police  Department  will  be  blind  to  anything  that  you  do,  the  traffic  regu- 
lations will  not  be  entirely  alert — that  is,  only  to  the  outsider.  We  ask  you,  how- 
ever, to  be  cautious  for  yourself  and  we  will  try  and  take  care  of  you  under  those 
conditions. 

Now  that  you  are  here  with  these  great  problems  that  are  before  you,  I  feel 
sure  that  the  relations  of  this  country  and  of  your  own  countries  will  be  more  deeply 
cemented  and  that  all  sections  of  Pan  America  will  be  benefited  from  the  delibera- 
tions of  this  Conference. 

I  wrote  an  article  here  some  years  ago  in  regard  to  the  climate  of  Wash- 
ington and  stated  that  the  climate  was  always  pleasant  and  that  you  could  work 
out  of  doors  all  the  year  round.  The  next  winter  we  had  snow  from  November 
until  about  the  first  of  March.  Now  we  are  having  some  heat,  but  Mr.  Browrilow 
has  assured  Mr.  Barrett  that  that  will  be  attended  to  in  the  morning. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  and  Visiting  Delegates,  may  I  repeat  that  the  Wash- 
ington Chamber  of  Commerce,  as  far  as  it  is  within  the  power  of  all  of  us,  extends 
to  you  a  most  hearty  welcome  to  the  nation's  capital  and  we  hope  that  you  will 
find  it  as  pleasant  to  you  as  I  can  assure  you  your  being  here  will  be  to  us.  I 
thank  you. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  is  an  interest- 
ing thing  that  at  this  moment  will  begin  the  actual  practical  work  of  this  Con- 
ference, and  it  is  a  very  good  omen  that  beginning  alphabetically  with  the  great 
country  of  Argentina,  we  have  here  three  representative  Argentinians.  First,  I  refer 
to  Mr.  Pablo  Roth.  If  any  man  is  typical  of  the  great  business  life  of  that  mighty 
land  of  the  South,  it  is  he.  He  is  just  as  much  of  the  heart  of  Argentina  in  busi- 
ness as  any  representative  business  man  of  this  country  is  of  the  United  States. 
That  shows  the  kind  of  a  Conference  we  are  holding,  ladies  and  gentlemen !  This 
is  no  ordinary  play-time  gathering.  Dr.  Enrique  Gil  is  one  of  the  leading  lawyers 
of  New  York  and  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina,  and  well  informed  upon  the  com- 
merce and  trade  of  his  country.  Then  Mr.  Ingeniero  Jacinto  Anchorena  is  one  of 
the  great  engineers  of  tKat  country. 

I  now  introduce  to  you  for  a  brief,  practical  statement  in  regard  to  this 
great  country  a  man  who  is  the  managing  director  of  the  Union  Trading  Company 
of  Buenos  Aires,  Mr.  Pablo  Roth. 

MR.  PABLO  ROTH,  of  Buenos  Aires:  (The  paper  read  appears  on  page  91). 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  In  order  that  we  may  get  the  full  benefit 
of  this  paper  the  discussion  of  Argentina  is  now  open  to  the  house  not  for  any 
speech  at  this  moment,  but  for  practical  suggestions  or  inquiries  of  a  proper  char- 
acter from  some  member  of  the  Conference. 

MR.  FRANCIS  B.  PURDIE,  of  New  York:  It  has  been  stated  numerous 
times  that  prior  to  the  war  the  Argentine  Republic  purchased  from  the  United 
States  only  the  things  they  could  not  get  anywhere  else,  such  as  oil,  agricultural 
machinery,  lumber,  etc.;  that  during  the  war  they  purchased  what  they  could  not 
get  anywhere  else  and  what  by  necessity  they  were  forced  to  get  from  the  United 
States.  They  have  built  up  a  very  large  trade  now.  The  question  is,  Is  there  a 
citizen  of  Argentina  here  that  will  give  us  some  promise  as  to  the  future  perhaps 
depending  upon  ourselves,  perhaps  depending  upon  the  change  of  sentiment  in 
Argentina  towards  the  United  States  as  to  what  the  outlook  in  the  future  will  be? 
Are  we  to  lose  what  we  have  gained?  If  we  are  to  keep  what  we  have  now,  what 
must  we  do  to  keep  it? 

MR.  JACINTO  ANCHORENA,  of  Buenos  Aires :  If  I  am  not  mistaken  the 
question  is  this:  How  can  the  increase  of  commerce  between  Argentina  and 


MONDAY    EVENING    SESSION  15 

the  United  States  during  the  war  be  maintained?  I  will  try  to  answer.  First  of 
all,  why  did  not  Argentina  buy  more  from  the  United  States-  before  the  war? 
Simply  because  she  got  better  conditions  of  payment,  more  facilities  from  the 
European  markets  than  from  your  manufacturers.  Now,  if  you  put  yourselves  on 
an  equal  footing  with  them,  certainly  our  sympathy  is  with  you.  There  is  no  doubt 
about  it,  and  we  will  buy  your  goods ;  but  you  know  that  business  is  business,  and 
if  you  cannot  put  yourselves  on  an  equal  footing  with  European  manufacturers,  we 
shall  have  to  go  back  to  them  or  to  anybody  else  who  can  give  us  good  terms  of 
payment,  goods  well  boxed  and  in  good  condition,  and,  above  all,  one  who,  when 
we  place  an  order  with  him,  gives  us  the  right  thing.  That  is  the  hardest  of  all. 
because,  as  a  rule,  you  have  special  names  for  the  things  that  you  export  to  Argen- 
tina and  to  other  South  American  countries,  and  I  must  tell  you  the  truth,  very 
likely  that  is  done  to  mislead  the  buyer  in  such  a  way  that  he  cannot  get  prices 
from  other  sources,  because  the  article  is  not  known  by  that  name  in  the  European 
markets. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  that  is  the  kind  of  discussion 
we  like.  It  has  aroused  the  interest  of  everybody. 

Mr.  Purdie,  you  lived  a  long  time  in  Buenos  Aires.  Will  you  please  give 
us  some  practical  suggestions  from  your  own  viewpoint? 

MR.  PURDIE:  First  I  want  to  say  that  in  Argentina  there  is  for  those  who 
have  not  been  there  absolute  freedom  to  do  anything  you  please  so  long  as  you 
obey  the  laws  of  the  country.  You  can  worship  whatever  god  you  please  and 
Avhatever  way  you  may  please,  and  you  can  do  business  in  any  way  you  want  to 
do  it,  so  long  as  you  are  within  the  law.  Another  thing  I  discovered  down  there 
is  this :  That  if  you  keep  your  word,  keep  your  faith  with  the  people,  you  will  do 
business  and  do  it  all  the  time. 

I  also  found  out  that  Argentina  has  been  largely  benefited  by  money  in- 
vested in  it  from  the  outside  world  m  building  railroads,  in  establishing  banks  and 
industries  and  in  giving  impetus  to  the  life  of  the  country  and  enabling  the 
natural  resources  of  the  Argentine  to  be  profitably  exploited  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people  of  the  country. 

We  should  never  forget  that  when  we  go  into  a  country  for  profit  we  should 
always  consider  its  people  and  never  seek  to  going  to  exploit  them  and  take  away 
from  them  without  giving  them  anything  in  return.  The  reason  why  I  wanted  to 
ask  that  question  was  to  bring  out  this  point,  that  we  have  been,  evidently,  ex- 
pecting to  go  down  there  and  do  a  great  big  business  and  a  great  many  of  our 
people  do  not  think  of  giving  any  return  for  it.  The  reason  why  there  was  not  a 
large  trade  with  the  United  States  before  the  war  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  sense 
of  loyalty  of  the  Argentines  was  to  the  people  who  put  their  capital  there  with 
them  and  intrusted  that  capital  with  them.  Practically  speaking,  there  was  no 
American  capital. 

Is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  would  give  their  'trade  to  the  country 
that  put  its  money  with  them  and  helped  them  build  up  a  rich  country?  There- 
fore, I  say  the  United  States  cannot  hope  to  succeed  in  the  Argentine  Republic  or 
any  other  country  of  Latin  America  unless  it  gives  something  as  well,  unless  it 
invests  money  down  there  and  unless  it  absolutely  keeps  its  faith. 

That  is  the  thing  that  I  want  to  impress  upon  everybody — the  Golden  Rule. 
Do  not  let  it  be  merely  words,  but  deeds,  that  when  we  say  we  will  do  a  thing 
we  will  keep  our  word,  we  shall  be  honorable  men,  we  shall  be  American  gentlemen 
and  be  known  as  honorable  men  in  all  our  business  dealings.  In  that  way  we  shall 
win  the  trade  and  make  friends  with  them. 

MR.  V-.  L.  HAVENS,  of  New  York:  I  have  been  in  Argentina  .and  I 
have  also  attended  a  great  many  conferences  where  the  question  came  up  as  to 
the  attitude  which  we  have  assumed  toward  Latin  America.  It  is  just  as  well 
from  time  to  time  to  find  out  if  some  of  the  fundamental  arguments  are  sound. 

The  question  has  been  asked  as  to  why  the  United  States  did  not  enjoy  a 
large  share  of  the  trade  of  the  people  of  Argentina  before  the  war.  Statistics 
would  indicate  that  they  did  not,  provided  one  simply  read  the  statistics  as  they 
are,  but  we  do  know  that  the  Argentine  bought  more  from  the  United  States  than 
Ave  have  bought  from  them.  We  also  know  that  the  things  they  bought  in  the 
United  States  were  the  things  which  people  use.  The  sales  of  American  products 
were  distributed  more  widely  throughout  Argentina  before  the  war  than  the  sales 


16  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

of  any  other  country,  but  the  total  value  of  the  sales  to  Argentina  were  igreater 
from  European  countries  than  from  the  United  States  because  cf  the  great  invest- 
ments of  the  European  nations  in  Argentina. 

To  cite  one  particular  product— coal  for  the  railways.  In  the  last  normal 
year  Before  the  war  Argentina  bought  $27,999,000  worth  of  coal  from  abroad. 
Britain  sold  $26,800,000  worth  of  that  coal,  but  it  was  not  used  by  the  people  of 
Argentina,  it  was  used  by  the  British  railways,  financed  with  British  capital  under 
the  control  of  the  British  officers,  and  just  as  much  of  a  British  railway  as  regards 
the  operating  system  and  control  as  it  would  have  been  had  it  been  in  Great 
Britain. 

Now,  we  can  never  hope  to  get  that  business  because  the  people  who  put  up 
the  money  for  the  railways  and  who  are  interested  in  industry  in  Great  Britain 
will  make  their  purchases  there,  but  we  must  not  deceive  ourselves  and  permit 
people  to  tell  us  that  we  are  not  pleasing  the  Argentine  people  when,  after  dis- 
counting the  sales  to  the  great  public  utilities  controlled  by  foreign  capital,  we  sell 
the  majority  of  the  goods  used  by  the  people.  Where  does  the  agricultural  ma- 
:hinery  used  in  the  Argentine  come  from!?  It  comes  from  the  United  States. 
Agriculture  is  the  great  business  of  the  country  and  we  have  not  only  sold  the 
agricultural  equipment  there  a  few  years,  but  we  have  done  it  for  many  years  and 
the  people  are  satisfied  with  the  equipment. 

I  was  at  one  time,  for  a  short  while,  Commercial  Attache  of  the  American 
Embassy  in  Buenos  Aires.  I  was  asked  to  go  there  by  our  Government  to  learn 
why  there  was  this  eternal,  continuous  criticism  against  the  Argentine  people  on 
the  part  of  American  manufacturers.  The  papers  of  Buenos  Aires  and  of  Europe 
were  full  of  it;  it  was  heralded  far  and  wide  that  American  business  men  were 
shipping  goods  to  Argentina  that  were  not  what  they  promised  to  ship,  that  the 
terms  which  they  were  offering  were  not  what  the  people  required  and  that  every- 
thing was  against  us  here  in  the  United  States.  I  wanted  to  be  absolutely  fair 
and  I  was  really  looking  for  something  to  justify  my  trip  to  Argentina.  I  went 
there  especially  to  find  out  what  we  were  dping  that  was  so  vitally  wrong  and 
would  lead  us  to  be  criticized  by  everybody  in  Buenos  Aires  and  New  York.  So 
I  selected  all  the  complaints  I  could  find  in  the  American  Consulate  and  went  to 
the  head  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Buenos  Aires  and  asked  him  if  he  had 
any  complaints.  He  said  he  had.  We  sifted  them  out  and  we  found  nine,  three 
of  which  were  on  printing  paper  and  four  on  leather.  I  took  the  matter  up  with 
the  head  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Buenos  Aires.  The  facts  were  placed 
freely  before  him.  The  commercial  representative  of  the  National  City  Bank  did 
everything  he  could  to  place  the  full  facts  before  him,  as  did  the  Secretary  of  the 
American  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Buenos  Aires,  and  the  head  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  in  Buenos  Aires  gave  out  an  interview  by  himself  to  the  press  to 
the  effect  that  he  had  investigated  these  complaints  and  that  they  were  unfounded. 

I  do  not  say  that  complaints  are  not  entirely  unfounded  in  the  broad, 
general  way.  I  mean  there  has  been  room  for  much  criticism  on  the  part  of 
American  shippers  to  Argentina,  but  that  room  for  complaint  has  been  found 
between  business  men  of  two  different  countries  the  world  over.  They  are  little 
things.  Occasionally  there  is  something  big,  but  generally  they  are  some  little 
things  that  happen  because  of  the  lack  of  knowledge  between  the  people,  the  long 
distance  from  the  market,  the  fact  that  the  people  of  Argentina  did  not  know  our 
products. 

Another  thing  that  made  a  lot  of  trouble  during  the  war  time  was  that 
we  could  not  turn  out  the  products  that  Argentina  required ;  but  likewise  we 
could  not  produce  the  articles  we  required  for  ourselves  in  this  country  and  it 
was  only  through  special  concession  that  the  manufacturers  .got  the  consent  of 
the  War  Trade  Board  or  authorities  here  to  get  anything  out  of  the  country,  and 
lots  of  them  were  wrong,  but  we  knew  they  were  wrong  and  we  also  had  to  use 
them  here  in  this  country.  We  could  not  give  credit  for  six  months  during  the 
war,  and  there  was  not  a  house  in  Europe  that  gave  credit  during  the  war.  When 
the  war  was  over,  we  gave  credit  just  the  same  as  they  did. 

MR.  PABLO  ROTH:  This  gentleman  just  now  has  made  two  mistakes.  One 
of  them  is  that  we  buy  more  than  we  export.  Two  years  ago  we  bought  in  the 
States  sixty  million  dollars'  worth  of  goods  and  we  exported  a  hundred  and  fifty 
millions.  That  is  twice  as  much  as  we  imported.1 

!It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  these  figures  are  for  1917,  and  that 
under  normal  times  the  imports  from  the  United  States  into  Argentina  are  greater 
than  the  exports  to  the  United  States. — Editor. 


MONDAY    EVENING    SESSION  17 

Another  thing  about  which  he  is  mistaken  is  the  complaints,  that  he  found 
only  nine.  Now  my  firm  in  Buenos  Aires  doesn't  go  to  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce to  make  its  complaints,  it  goes  directly  to  New  York,  and  so,  of  course, 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  didn't  know  anything  about  my  complaints.  It's  the 
same  in  the  case  of  anybody  else.  I  don't  go  to  the  American  Embassy  to  make  a 
claim  for  goods  that  have  come  in  bad  condition  to  me.  That's  why  you  haven't 
seen  more  claims.  If  you  had  gone  around  to  business  houses  you'd  have  found 
more  of  them. 

MR.  PEMBERTON  SMITH,  of  New  York :  I  lived  ten  years  in  Argentina, 
representing  a  medical  firm  there,  and  you  ask  for  a  practical  suggestion.  May  I 
make  it?  Most  American  firms  start  a  man  to  make  the  tour  of  South  America  and 
lay  out  an  itinerary  which  he  is  supposed  to  follow  as  to  date,  steamers,  etc.  They 
give  about  two  weeks  to  Buenos  Aires.  Two  months  is  none  too  much,  two  years 
is  none  too.  much.  If  you  are  going  to  send  a  man  around  to  South  America, 
do  not  tie  him  down  to  an  itinerary.  He  will  arrive  there,  it  will  take  him  a  cer- 
tain length  of  time  to  make  his  calls  on  people,  then  they  will  want  to  look  him 
up.  By  that  time  he  is  off  on  a  steamer  and  has  accomplished  nothing. 

Let  him  go  there  with  the  expectation  of  staying  in  Buenos  Aires,  where 
there  are  a  million  and  a  half  people  and  quite  enough  business  to  warrant  his  stay- 
ing three  months,  and  at  the  end  of  three  months  he  will  have  done  something 
worth  while.  At  the  end  of  three  weeks  they  will  hardly  know  his  name.  That 
is  a  practical  suggestion. 

MR.  C.  F.  DEICHMAN  (American  Consul,  Santos,  Brazil)  :  I  can  state,  Mr. 
Chairman,  that  what  Mr.  Smith  has  just  said  will  apply  to  practically  all  the 
South  American  countries.  The  trouble  is  that  the  average  American  manufac- 
turer does  not  care  to  spend  the  money  necessary  for  a  trade  campaign.  In  most 
cases  he  expects  a  two-cent  stamp  and  a  letter  to  bring  him  a  large  order.  If  the 
correspondence  at  the  average  American  Consulate  could  be  read  it  would  sur- 
prise many  of  you.  The  way  to  get  foreign  business  and  to  get  it  not  only  in 
Argentina  but  in  all  the  other  countries  is  by  active  trade  campaigns  very  much 
in  the  same  manner  that  you  would  do  so  in  this  country.  It  is  necessary  to  send 
men  to  sell  your  goods  who  understand  them  thoroughly.  The  idea  is  to  find  out 
the  business  conditions,  and  such  a  man  should  be  thoroughly  familiar  with  what 
he  has  to  sell  and  be  given  sufficient  time  to  look  up  the  business  firms  in  the 
cities  he  is  visiting  and  in  which  he  expects  to  sell  his  goods. 

In  other  words,  he  must  familiarize  himself  with  the  conditions  in  that 
country,  be  there  a  certain  number  of  weeks  or  possibly  months  to  get  the  view- 
point and  to  have  an  opportunity  of  studying  the  firm,  to  find  out  which  firms 
are  reliable,  which  firms  are  in  a  position  to  handle  the  goods  and  also  able  to 
import  on  their  own  account  and  perhaps  sell  to  retailers  or  to  smaller  concerns 
in  that  country.  It  requires  an  active  and  intelligent  trade  campaign,  the  same 
as  would  be  necessary  to  introduce  or  to  sell  goods  in  this  country. 

In  Brazil,  where  I  have  been  stationed  the  past  three  years,  the  same  con- 
ditions to  a  certain  extent  hold  good.  There  are  a  number  of  large  American 
export  houses  which  have  branches  in  the  principal  cities  of  Brazil.  I  believe  also  in 
Montevideo  and  Buenos  Aires.  Those  are  firms  of  large  capital  and  they  are 
spending  it  freely  in  acquiring  trade  information.  They  will  sell  anything  on 
commission.  They  have  their  branch  or  distributing  houses  in  the  principal  sea- 
ports of  those  countries  and  are  able  to  study  the  markets  at  first  hand,  also  to 
know  the  firm  to  whom  they  are  selling  their  goods.  If  there  is  a  complaint  they 
are  on  the  ground  and  ready  to  adjust  it.  That  is  the  best  way  of  selling  goods 
in  those  countries. 

Large  firms  or  corporations,  and  especially  large  manufacturers  of  staple 
goods  should  have  a  selling  branch,  not  a  commission  agency,  but  a  branch  house 
and  an  expert  in  charge  who  can  at  each  place  organize  a  staff  from  capable 
young  business  men  of  that  country.  They  will  assist  him  to  sell  the  goods.  He 
is  there  to  give  information  about  the  goods  and  to  handle  the  financial  end  of  it. 
If  there  is  a  complaint  he  is  there  to  settle  it,  he  has  authority  to  make  good  any 
complaint  and  if  necessary  refund  the  money  or  replace  the  goods. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  will  now  ask  those  in  charge  of  the 
lantern  slides  for  Argentina  to  give  them  as  quickly  as  they  can  in  order  that  we 


18  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

may  have  those  of  Bolivia  following,  and  you  will  find  these  of  very  considerable 
interest,  I  am  sure. 

(Lantern   slides   showing  scenes   from   Argentina   shown.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Before  we  have  the  moving  pictures  of 
Bolivia,  which  are  very  interesting  and  have  been  carefully  prepared,  we  want  to 
devote  a  little  time  to  that  wonderful  country  in  its  commercial  aspects.  Dr.  Julio 
Zamora,  the  eminent  Financial  Agent  of  that  country,  was  expected  to  speak  here, 
but  he  has  been  prevented  by  illness.  His  paper  will  be  read  at  another  session. 

Statistical  reports  on  Bolivia  have  been  filed  for  the  printed  proceedings  of 
the  Conference. 

(Bolivian  pictures  are  shown  and  explained  by  Mr.  W.  A.  Reid,  Acting  Chief 
Clerk  of  the  Pan  American  Union.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  we  are  all  very  grateful  to 
Mr.  Reid,  and  that  I  express  your  appreciation  of  the  way  in  which  he  has,  not 
only  clearly  but  also  eloquently,  presented  these  very  interesting  and  instructive 
pictures  in  regard  to  a  country  of  which  we  should  know  more. 

( Announcements. ) 

Adjournment. 


19 

TUESDAY,  JUNE  3,  1919 
MORNING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  10  o'clock  by  Director  General  Barrett, 
who  presided  over  the  session.  He  announced  that  he  had  prepared  a  paper  on 
"Practical  Pan  Americanism"  in  its  relation  to  Pan  American  commerce,  but  that 
he  would  give  his  time  to  the  distinguished  speakers  of  the  day,  with  "leave  to 
print"  his  paper  in  the- proceedings  of  the  Conference.  (See  Appendix.) 

(Announcements.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  am  going  to 
introduce  to  you  the  distinguished  Ambassador  of  Peru,  one  of  the  great  statesmen 
of  that  country ;  a  man  whose  name  is  well  known  all  over  Latin  America ;  who 
has  changed  his  plans  for  departure  from  Washington  for  a  number  of  days  in 
order  that  he  may  be  here  and  speak  to  us  this  morning.  I  think  we  should  con- 
sider it  a  great  honor,  especially  when  we  are  to  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from 
him  in  English.  If  we  could  only  speak  Spanish  as  well  as  he  does  English  we 
would  indeed  be  fortunate.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  Dr.  Francisco 
Tudela  y  Varela,  Ambassador  of  Peru. 

THE  AMBASSADOR  OF  PERU:  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  Pan  Amer- 
ican Commercial  Conference  takes  place  under  extraordinarily  favorable  circum- 
stances, owing  to  the  initiation  of  the  period  of  reconstruction  and  balance  of  the 
economic  factors  of  the  world,  so  deeply  shaken  by  the  overwhelming  catastrophe 
of  the  great  war. 

The  laws  of  economics  are  fulfilled,  just  as  other  natural  laws,  by  virtue  of 
their  power,  commerce,  especially,  being  developed  through  the  impulse  of 
reciprocal  necessities,  which  spontaneously  seek  the  means  by  which  a  satisfactory 
solution  may  be  attained. 

The  former  notwithstanding,  no  one  can  minimize  the  importance  of  these 
meetings,  in  which  the  directive  energies  of  business  come  together  for  the  specific 
purpose  of  obtaining  the  most  perfect  knowledge  of  conditions  affecting  the  different 
human  centers  to  which  these  energies  belong. 

This  Conference  is  confronted  by  a  fact:  the  extraordinary  development  of 
Latin  American  commerce  with  the  United  States — not  as  the  result  of  artificial 
factors,  but  as  the  direct  consequence  of  the  natural  equilibrium  of  commercial  re- 
lations, altered  by  the  war. 

A  fact  of  this  importance  neither  can  nor  should  be  overlooked,  and,  indeed, 
deserves  to  be  carefully  studied  so  as  to  obtain  the  greatest  possible  advantages, 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  welfare  of  the  different  nations  of  America. 

This  result  must  be  achieved  through  the  cooperation  of  merchants  and  men 
of  business  of  the  whole  Continent,  assisted  by  the  administrative  element  as  well  as 
by  the  representatives  abroad  of  all  the  countries  of  this  hemisphere. 

Second  only  to  national  solidarity,  which  urges  each  country  to  supply  its 
own  needs,  this  last  crisis  has  affirmed  the  existence  of  a  continental  solidarity, 
still  more  potent  than  universal  solidarity. 

My  country  takes  part  in  this  Conference,  convinced  of  the  good  purposes 
which  its  fulfilment  implies;  eager,  also,  that  the  importance  of  Peru,  as  a  unit  in 
the  commercial  relations  of  America,  be  duly  recognized  and  appreciated. 

Before  the  outbreak  of  the  world  war  the  greater  part  of  my  country's  com- 
merce was  effected  in  Europe,  because  Peru  obtained  in  the  Old  World  at  the  same 
time  as  better  prices  for  its  products,  lower  prices  and  greater  facilities  for  the 
manufactured  articles  which  it  required. 

The  war  has  radically  changed  this  condition  of  affairs  and  in  support  of 
this  statement  I  would  point  out  that,  while  in  1913,  the  foreign  trade  of  Peru 
with  the  United  States  was  31  per  cent,  the  1917  statistics  give  this  proportion  as 
having  been  raised  to  65  per  cent. 

In  order  that  this  position  may  be  maintained  within  the  normal  boundaries 
set  by  the  recently  inaugurated  economic  life  of  the  word,  it  is  important  that  both 
the  buyer  and  seller  in  the  United  States  grant  the  Peruvian  exporter  and  importer 
greater  or,  at  least,  equal  advantages  which  the  buyers  and  sellers  in  Europe  are 


20  SECOND  PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

willing  to  grant-  This  must  necessarily  be  the  touchstone  by  which  to  judge  the 
future  importance  of  trade  between  Peru  and  the  United  States.  Neither  should 
the  matter  of  credits  be  forgotten  when  dealing  with  the  importation  of  manufac- 
tured articles  into  Peru.  And  this  holds  good  with  regard  to  other  Latin  American 
countries,  for  the  European  manufacturer  has  always  granted  facilities  which  have 
been  denied  by  the  American  manufacturer,  perhaps  for  the  reason  that  his  own 
credit  is  evolved  under  conditions  different  from  those  which  affect  the  European 
manufacturer.  This  is  a  matter  which  deserves  the  most  earnest  attention. 

With  regard  to  conditions  in  Peru,  these  are  such  as  to  warrant  the  state- 
ment that  my  country  is  well  prepared  to  receive  and  do  justice  to  all  enterprises 
tending  to  increase  commercial  and  economic  activities.  The  principal  items  among 
its  exports  being  represented  by  such  commodities  as  copper,  sugar,  cotton,  wool, 
petroleum,  rubber,  etc.,  the  product  of  industries  securely  established,  it  can  be 
readily  seen  that  the  wealth  of  the  country  is  constantly  progressing  and  its  people 
therefore  constitute  a  market  for  the  absorption  of  foreign  manufactures  necessary 
for  its  requirements. 

As  a  proof  of  its  solid  financial  condition  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  its 
gold  monetary  standard  is  established  on  a  firm  basis,  the  stabilization  of  the  value 
of  the  Peruvian  pound  in  relation  to  the  dollar,  having  been  obtained  through  an 
agreement  with  the  United  States  Government  by  virtue  of  which  part  of  the 
balances  accruing  from  commercial  transactions  with  this  country  are  deposited 
in  the  Federal  Reserve  Bank  of  New  York,  the  equivalent  thereof  being  put  into 
circulation  in  Peru.  Before  this  agreement  had  been  carried  out  the  Peruvian 
pound  was  quoted  at  a  premium  of  more  than  20  per  cent  over  the  American  dollar. 

The  class  of  products  which  Peru  exports,  the  fact  that  the  national  debt  is 
of  insignificant  proportion,  and  the  circumstance  that  the  revenue  of  the  country 
is  .constantly  increasing,  all  these  factors  constitute  the  surest  guarantee  that  can 
be  furnished  as  to  the  stability  of  the  monetary  system,  the  most  powerful  stimulus 
for  the  investment  of  foreign  capital,  which  in  Peru  is  not  exposed  to  the  risks 
consequent  to  fluctuation  of  the  currency. 

If  the  development  of  its  commerce  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  Peru, 
the  investment  of  capital  in  productive  undertakings  is  of  still  greater  moment. 

Few  countries  offer  a  better  field  for  remunerative  investments  than  Peru. 
Irrigation,  the  building  of  railways  and  good  roads,  as  well  as  mining,  are  especially 
to  be  recommended. 

Mr.  Charles  W.  Sutton,  a  distinguished  engineer  of  New  York,  who  has  lived 
in  Peru  for  some  years,  estimates  the  easily  irrigable  area  of  the  coast  at  one 
million  acres,  of  which  126,500  acres  the  same  authority  considers  are  immediately 
available  for  irrigation  with  practically  no  trouble.  The  lowest  estimate  is  $19 
and  the  highest  $105  per  acre  for  irrigating  this  land. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  arable  land  on  the  Peruvian  coast  increases 
in  value  every  day,  so  that  it  is  easy  to  calculate  the  very  productive  investment 
which  irrigation  constitutes  in  Peru. 

Cotton  and  sugar  cane,  whose  prices  have  been  so  much  increased  owing  to 
the  war,  are  products  that  have  been  so  extensively  grown  that  they  have  taken  the 
place  of  others,  the  want  of  which  has  made  itself  felt  by  consumers  in  my  country, 
with  the  corresponding  rise  in  the  price  of  these  commodities,  nearly  all  of  which 
are  articles  of  primary  necessity. 

With  regard  to  railways,  it  is  enough  to  state  that  the  whole  future  of 
Peru  is  bound  up  in  the  construction  of  railroads,  and  that  all  those  which  have 
been  projected  offer  returns  of  absolute  security  for  the  capital  which  may  be 
invested  in  them.  Several  mining  zones  of  great  richness  would  be  at  once  available 
by  the  construction  of  a  few  hundred  miles  of  railway  lines.  To  mention  coal 
alone,  although  Peru  possesses  immense  layers  in  different  regions  in  the  country, 
this  article  is  still  imported  from  abroad  to  make  up  the  deficiency  of  home  pro- 
duction. 

A  railway  of  only  fifteen  miles,  branching  from  the  one  which  starts  from 
the  splendid  port  of  Chimbote,  would  solve  the  problem  of  coal  supply  sufficient  for 
the  needs  of  all  the  Republic  and  would  initiate  an  era  of  domestic  prosperity  of 
almost  incalculable  value. 

The  petroleum  industry  in  Peru  is  another  extremely  profitable  opening  for 
foreign  capital.  The  very  rich  district  of  Talara,  at  the  extreme  north  of  the 
Republic  is  not  the  only  one  which  could  furnish  abundance  of  mineral  oil.  Talara 


TUESDAY   MORNING  SESSION  21 

itself  is  capable  of  further  development  through  the  establishment  of  other  com- 
panies in  that  region. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  state  that  Peru  considers  the  investment  of  American 
capital  with  the  warmest  interest.  A  proof  of  this  is  furnished  by  the  Cerro  de 
Pasco  Copper  Corporation,  which  has  obtained  brilliant  returns  on  its  investments 
and  which  is  at  present  considerably  increasing  its  capital  so  as  to  enlarge  its 
smelting  plants. 

The  wonderful  results  obtained  by  this  company  are  outlined  in  a  report, 
recently  published,  which  gives  the  gross  income  from  the  sale  of  metals  in  1918 
as  being  $22,867,000,  and  dividends  paid  totaling  $4,393,000.  It  has  been  proved, 
besides,  that  the  Cerro  de  Pasco  Copper  Corporation  can  be  considered  one  of  the 
lowest  cost  producers  of  copper  in  the  industry,  the  company  being  able  to  deliver 
metal  in  New  York  as  low  as  any  producer  and  even  lower  than  many  of  them. 

It  is  unnecessary,  at  this  time,  to  deal  at  length  with  the  importance  of  sea 
transportation  for  the  development  of  commerce  and  industry.  This  problem,  for- 
tunately, is  one  which  holds  the  happiest  augury  for  Peru,  which,  in  addition  to  its 
own  fleet  of  steamers,  those  of  the  Peruvian  Steamship  Company,  notes  with  much 
satisfaction  the  additions  made  to  existing  lines  and  the  bringing  into  service  of 
new  ones,  such  as  that  which  W.  R. .  Grace  &  Company  contemplate  establishing 
with  New  Orleans  as  the  home  port  in  the  United  States. 

I  have  only  to  add,  gentlemen,  while  thanking  you  for  your  attention  to 
these  brief  remarks,  that  the  Peruvian  representatives  to  this  Conference  will  give 
every  attention  to  such  questions  as  may  be  addressed  to  them  on  all  matters 
which  may  lead  to  the  better  understanding  of  the  conditions  of  the  country  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  development  of  its  commerce  and  specially  as  regards  the 
investment  of  capital  in  Peru. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure,  that  you  all  enjoyed  the  Am- 
bassador's address,  because  it  was  thoroughly  practical.  That  is  the  kind  of  a 
talk  we  like  to  have  from  the  representatives  of  Latin  America  and  the  kind  they 
like  to  have  from  those  of  the  United  States.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  an  address 
like  that  does  not  come  under  the  classification,  as  one  editorial  writer  said,  of 
"Latin-American  oratory,"  but  under  the  head  of  ''Latin-American  facts." 

I  cannot  tell  you  what  pleasure  I  have,  speaking  from  my  own  knowledge 
of  American  commercial  matters,  in  introducing  the  next  speaker.  Long  years 
before  he  became  Secretary  of  Commerce  I  knew  of  his  work  in  Congress.  He 
was  one  of  the  few  men  who  were  sympathetic  with  those  of  us,  a  small  band, 
who  were  trying  in  those  days  to  awaken  an  interest  in  the  relations  of  the  United 
States  with  the  sister  American  Republics.  From  the  day  he  became  Secretary  of 
Commerce  he  has  demonstrated  the  practical  side  of  his  powers  of  vision,  and 
under  his  administration  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  its  Bureau  of  Foreign 
and  Domestic  Commerce  have  done  a  wonderful  work  for  the  building  up  of  the 
trade  between  the  United  States  and  the  other  American  republics. 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  the  Honorable  William  C.  Red- 
field,  Secretary  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States. 

THE  SECRETARY  OF  COMMERCE:  Mr.  Ambassador,  Mr.  Barrett,  Gen- 
tlemen of  the  Conference:  As  we  look  back  five  years  to  the  conditions  that  existed 
before  the  war,  it  is  as  if  we  were  looking  toward  an  ancient  period,  one  remotely 
separated  from  us  rather  than  one  divided  from  us  by  so  brief  a  time. 

At  that  time  the  United  States  was  itself  a  debtor  nation.  We  had  built  up 
our  transportation  systems,  our  public  utilities,  some  of  our  industries  by  borrowing 
from  others  the  free  capital  which  we  did  not  ourselves  have  in  sufficient  quantity. 
So  that  when  the  war  broke  out  in  1914  we  were  debtors  to  the  world  to  the  extent 
of  something  like  live  billions  of  dollars.  We  were  slowly  going  "over  the  top" 
of  financial  freedom — we  had'  begun,  but  had  only  begun  to  invest  our  own  capital 
in  countries  that  needed  fresh  resources  of  credit,  but  we  were  still  at  that  time 
drawing  upon  others  for  a  large  part  of  our  own  needs. 

We  lacked  at  that  time  the  tools  of  foreign  trade  which  our  competitors  had. 
You  are,  yourselves,  witnesses  that  in  many  of  the  great  South  and  Central  Amer- 
ican cities  there  were  banks  representing  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France,  Italy  and 


22  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

other  European  countries  which  afforded  to  those  nations  the  means  of  knowledge, 
the  means  of  supplying  credit,  the  means  of  conducting  business  which  we  at  that 
time  were  almost  wholly  without.  We  lacked  at  that  time,  also,  means  of  trans- 
portation within  our  own  control.  While  emerging  from  the  position  of  a  debtor 
nation,  though  not  yet  out  of  that  condition,  we  were  at  the  same  time  endeavoring 
to  conduct  our  foreign  trade  largely  through  the  facilities  provided  by  our  com- 
petitors for  their  own  purposes — an  extraordinary  position  for  as  great  a  nation 
as  our  own,  but  one  which  every  man  familiar  with  the  foreign  field  knows  to 
have  been  a  real  one.  We  did  our  business  with  Central  and  South  America 
through  the  aid,  in  major  part,  of  foreign  owned  and  controlled  banking  institutions 
and  we  utilized  the  fleets  of  others  for  conveying  our  commerce. 

It  has  always  been,  to  my  mind,  one  of  the  most  vital  proofs  of  the  competing 
power  of  America  in  the  world  that  under  these  conditions  she  did  a  steadily  increas- 
ing trade  in  manufactured  products  so  that  the  great  expanding  item  in  our  foreign 
trade  was  that  of  fully  finished  products  which  had  grown  to  a  point  before  the  war 
where  they  exceeded  the  sales  of  our  agricultural  products.  I  cannot  too  strongly 
emphasize  the  picture  of  those  times  and  the  conditions  under  which  we  then 
labored  because  they  afford  a  dark  background  against  which  to  project  the  picture 
of  the  present  hour. 

We  were  a  debtor  nation,  we  were  using  the  banks  of  our  competitors,  we 
were  using  their  ships,  the  detailed  operations  of  our  commerce  passed  through  the 
hands  of  those  with  whom  we  competed  and  were  open  to  their  scrutiny.  Never- 
theless, under  those  conditions,  such  was  the  competing  power  of  the  United 
States  that  our  competitive  trade  /grew  steadily ! 

With  the  passage  of  five  years  those  conditions  have  gone,  never,  we  hope, 
to  return.  It  is  no  longer  necessary  in  a  great  South  or  Central  American  city  for 
us  to  use  the  banking  institutions  of  our  competitors  to  do  business.  Information 
can  be  brought  to  our  exporters  from  practically  every  portion  of  the  great  conti- 
nent to  the  southward^  without  its  being  divulged  to  any  other  than  the  person  for 
whom  it  is  obtained,  and  we  are  able  ourselves  now  to  extend,  not  as  we  ought  but 
as  a  beginning,  the  credits  in  the  field  of  commerce  and  industry  which  we  were 
not  able  to  grant  at  all  before  the  war,  and  which  our  competitors  did  extend  when 
we  could  not.  That  power  has  come  to  us  in  some  measure  with  the  promise  of 
growth. 

Furthermore,  we  are  no  longer  dependent  upon  the  fleets  of  our  com- 
petitors for  doing  business  with  the  world  at  large,  nor  need  we  be  confined  as 
respects  our  shipments  of  goods  to  routes  which  may  be  laid  down  by  lines  whose 
interests  are  not  our  own.  I  have  suggested  within  the  past  ten  days  at  the  request 
of  the  Chairman  of  the  Shipping  Board  two  new  routes,  one  along  the  Eastern 
arid  Northeastern  coast  of  South  America  and  one  along  the  Northern  shore  of 
South  America,  primarily  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  needs  of  American  com- 
merce and  incidentally  for  the  purpose  of  providing  not  merely  facilities  for  the 
outside  world  to  do  commerce  with  South  America  but  also  means  of  intercom- 
munication between  the  states  of  South  America  themselves. 

For  the  spirit  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  fully  expressed  is  this:  That 
these  things  are  mutual  interests,  that  there  are  not  and  in  the  long  roll  of  time 
there  cannot  be  diverse  interests  between  the  peoples  of  the  same  continent,  for 
we  are  essentially  one  in  any  large  and  deep  view  of  commerce  and  industry;  that 
the  prosperity  of  South  and  Central  America  is  inextricably  interwoven  with  ours, 
and  the  things  which  seem  at  times  to  divide  us  are  superficial,  while  the  basic 
things  all  tend  to  union. 

We  are,  therefore,  equipped  as  never  before  with  the  tools  of  trade.  We  did 
a  growing  trade  without  them,  with  them  we  expect  to  do  a  larger  and  more 
fruitful  trade. 

I  want  to  speak  to  you  of  two  phases  of  foreign  trade  and  then  to  pass  on 
to  certain  details  of  that  commerce  which  I  wish  to  bring  to  your  thought.  There 
are  two  ways  in  which  foreign  commerce  may  be  carried  on.  Back  of  both  lies 
our  need  of  an  export  trade.  That  need  can  be  very  simply  shown.  Before  the 
war,  even,  the  industries  of  America  were  so  productive  that  the  domestic  market 
of  the  United  States,  vast  as  it  is,  was  not  permanently  able  to  absorb  all  the 
products  of  all  our  industries  running  continuously  full  time.  There  came  times 
when  there  was  surplus  production  for  which  a  market  had  to  be  found  abroad. 

Furthermore,  there  were  growing  up  in  America  industries  which  depended 
nearly  or  quite  exclusively  upon  the  foreign  market  and  which  adapted  themselves 


TUESDAY   MORNING   SESSION  23 

peculiarly  to  it.    There  was  also,  as  I  have  suggested,  the  beginning  of  an  outreach 
of  capital  into  the  foreign  fields. 

Today,  as  another  result  of  the  war,  the  output  of  American  industries  has 
been  grealty  increased.  For  several  years  every  effort  possible  was  made  to  ex- 
tend the  productive  capacity  of  our  industries.  This  was  indeed  done  for  purposes 
of  war  but  it  was  very  wisely  guided,  in  many  industries  with  a  definite  expectation 
of  using  it  for  peace  when  the  war  should  have  ended.  So  that  today  the  pro- 
ductive power  of  the  United  States  is  very  much  larger  than  it  was  before  the  war. 

If  it  was  true,  therefore,  that  our  productive  power  before  the  war,  when 
running  continuously  for  long  periods  of  time,  touched  and  at  times  exceeded  the 
capacity  of  our  own  country  to  absorb  it  all,  it  is  even  more  true  today  that  we 
need  as  a  matter  of  our  own  economic  security,  foreign  markets  for  our  products 
else  we  shall  not  be  able  continuously  to  run  our  industries  full  time.  There,  is, 
therefore,  in  our  outreach  after  foreign  trade,  a  normal  seeking  to  supply  a  home 
necessity. 

As  I  have  said,  this  foreign  trade  can  be  roughly  divided  into  two  kinds.  It 
is  not  easy  to  define  them  exactly,  because  the  necessity  for  definition  has  but  just 
arisen  and  our  thought  has  hardly  become  clear  upon  the  subject.  But  I  may  say 
that  one  is  the  competitive  and  the  other  the  constructive  foreign  trade.  Or  to  state 
it  differently  one  I  might  call  commercial  trading  and  the  other  national  develop- 
ment. The  one  is  of  the  hour  and  the  day  and  the  month ;  the  other  is  for  long 
periods  of  time.  The  one  is  temporary,  the  other  permanent.  The  one  is  strictly 
competitive,  the  other  is  strictly  constructive. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  on  these  two  possible  phases  of  foreign  trade.  The 
second,  which  is  the  greater,  the  better,  the  more  helpful,  has  but  just  become 
possible  to  the  United  States.  The  other  is  the  one  upon  which  hitherto  we  have 
based  nearly  or  quite  all  our  foreign  transactions.  It  is  a  comparatively  simple  thing 
to  send  out  into  the  foreign  field  traveling  salesmen,  to  order  them  to  go  through- 
out the  length  and  breadth  of  South  and  Central  America,  to  offer  standard  goods 
now  required  in  those  markets  at  slightly  lower  prices  than  they  are  offered  by 
our  competitors.  That,  I  say,  is  a  comparatively  simple  thing  to  do.  It  needs  no 
special  brains  or  acumen  to  see  that  if  goods  are  offered  of  equal  quality  at  a  lower 
price  on  similar  terms  and  with  equal  transportation  facilities,  the  better  economic 
advantage  will  win. 

But  that  process  is  not  one  which,  carried  to  an  extreme  as  it  tends  always 
to  go,  is  in  the  long  run  generally  helpful.  For  the  hour,  for  the  time,  for  the  im- 
mediate transaction,  it  may  amply  serve.  It  builds  nothing,  it  is  not  of  a  permanent 
character,  the  countries  in  which  and  from  which  that  business  is  done  do  not 
gain  from  it  any  large  and  permanent  increase  of  wealth  and  power.  It  is  of  im- 
mediate and  temporary  benefit  only.  It  closes  one  transaction  and  passes  on  to  the 
next.  Competition  of  that  character,  at  its  extreme,  tends  always  to  destroy  the 
weaker  element,  to  aggrandize  the  stronger  element.  In  any  such  class  of  business 
as  that  the  drift  is  always  toward  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  the  organization  which 
is  economically  most  fit.  The  progress  of  that  competitive  trading,  carried  to  its 
ultimate  and  logical  conclusion,  is  always  toward  monopoly. 

In  competition,  unregulated  save  by  the  power  of  the  competitor,  the  end  is 
the  survival,  of  the  strong  and  the  passing  of  the  weak.  It  is  not  that  class  of 
tiade  which, _ in  my  judgment,  is  best  either  for  South  and  Central  America  or  for 
North  America.  Trade  of  that  kind  is  passing  into  secondary  importance. 

The  kind  of  trade  for  which  we  seek  is  that  which  is  permanent  and  which 
sheds  its  benefactions  alike  upon  buyer  and  seller  and  upon  all  who  serve  on 
either  side.  For  commerce,  if  it  is  to  stay,  must  be  a  servant  of  the  public.  Com- 
merce is  not  a  servant  of  the  public  unless  it  is  based  upon  permanence  of  mutual 
interest,  unless  we  deal  together  as  those  who  buy  because  it  is  desirable  they  should 
buy  and  those  who  sell  because  it  is  desirable  that  they  sell,  and  those  who  in  this 
way  cooperate  for  the  mutual  good.  Unless  we  do  that  our  commerce  is  essentially 
faulty. 

Furthermore,  there  must  not  enter  into  the  background  of  the  purpose  of 
trade  any  pursuit  of  national  power  or  any  extension  of  political  authority  however 
indirect.  The  world  has  had  one  very  sad  example  of  great  national  selfishness. 
It  has  seen  the  downfall  of  a  great  power,  wonderfully  equipped  for  industry, 
guided  by  the  hand  of  science  to  a  degree  equalled  by  no  other  nation — in  every 
material  factor  powerful  and  strong  but  upon  its  spiritual  side  selfish  and  weak. 
This  generation  has  seen  the  great  tragedy  of  the  collapse  of  that  selfishness  and 


24  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

its  exposure  to  the  world.  The  spirit  of  Germany  entering  into  America  was  not 
a  spirit  intended  in  its  essence  to  be  helpful  to  America,  it  was  not  a  spirit,  whether 
manifested  in  Buenos  Aires  or  New  York,  that  was  for  the  ultimate  advancement 
of  Buenos  Aires  or  New  York,  it  did  not  go  to  Valparaiso  or  Lima  that  either  of 
the  countries  in  which  those  great  cities  are  located  should  be  the  chief  beneficiary 
by  their  coming  there.  German  enterprise  went  outwardly  indeed  for  the  same 
purposes  that  others  went,  but  in  its  inward  spirit  for  the  growth  of  the  power 
which  sought  to  reach  and  to  control  the  world  for  its  own  purposes.  Those  facts 
the  world  now  knows. 

And  strong,  mighty  and  effective  as  the  great  commercial  and  industrial 
giant  Germany  was,  it  was  like  the  image  in  Holy  Writ  standing  upon  feet  of  clay 
which  were  finally  broken  away  and  the  purposes  revealed  in  their  essential  weak- 
nesses. 

No  nation  is  powerful  enough  to  take  the  place  that  was  thus  occupied  and 
to  assume  the  spirit  that  was  thus  used.  There  does  not  lie  in  economic  power 
ability  to  overthrow  the  human  spirit  and  the  human  spirit  revolts  and  will  always 
revolt  against  attempt  at  enthrallment  by  economic  force.  There  must  come  into 
our  mutual  trade  the  spirit  of  service  and  if  it  is  in  my  power  to  say  any  one  word 
to  you  or  to  my  fellow  countrymen  which  I  would  write  deep  into  their  hearts  and 
vours  as  the  basis  of  all  our  mutual  transactions  in  the  future  days,  it  is  this  thought 
of  mutual  service.  Unless  we  serve  you,  we  shall  fail-  Unless  you  serve  us,  you 
will  fail.  Unless  together  we  serve  the  world  by  our  trade,  we  shall  all  fail  and 
those  who  will  serve  will  come  and  take  our  places. 

The  law  of  service  through  trade  may  not  as  yet  be  written  as  clearly 
before  the  minds  of  the  world  as  is  the  danger  arising  from  selfishness  in  trade, 
yet  it  is  the  antithesis  of  that  selfishness  and  the  reaction  of  the  commercial,  the 
intellectual  and  the  spiritual  forces  of  the  world  must  lead  them  to  recognize  in 
principle  and  carry  out  in  practice  the  ideal  of  service  in  trade. 

The  United  States  is  suffering  now  from  an  overdose  of  prosperity.  We 
have  paid  the  five  billions  we  owed  and  there  is  something  like  twelve  billions  due 
us  from  those  to  whom  we  ourselves  were  debtors  not  many  years  ago.  We  have, 
as  I  have  said,  an  enormous  productive  capacity  which  we  seek  the  means  to  use. 
We  have  a  huge  reserve  of  gold  behind  our  currency  and  in  every  element  of  eco- 
nomic power  stand  at  the  very  height  of  prosperity.  But  if  we  glory  in  that  position, 
if  we  regard  it  as  power  to  be  used  only  for  greater  gain,  we  shall  default  the 
moral  obligations  we  owe  the  world. 

This  very  condition,  however,  brings  with  it  serious  problems.  For  example, 
how  shall  we  be  paid  the  billions  due  us  from  the  world  at  large?  From  whence 
and  by  what  method  shall  the  payment  come?  There  are  but  three  ways  known 
in  which  debts  can  be  paid.  They  can  be  paid  in  cash  or  in  credit,  which  is  a 
deferred  form  of  cash,  they  can  be  paid  in  services,  or  they  can  be  paid  in  goods. 
Are  there  any  other  ways  of  paying  debts  than  these  three? 

Now,  if  that  proposition  be  true,  it  is  basic  as  regards  all  our  thought  of 
commerce  in  the  coming  days,  for  how  shall  the  twelve  billions  with  its  interest 
t>e  paid  ?  In  goods  ?  Those  who  owe  have  not  the  goods  with  which  to  pay  the 
twelve  billions  and  if  they  had,  it  is  not  at  all  certain  we  should  want  them  at  the 
time  and  in  the  quantity  and  the  kind  in  which  they  might  be  offered  for  payment. 

Before  the  war  we  accepted  services  from  other  nations.  We  used  their 
ships,  we  used  their  insurance  companies,  we  used  other  facilities.  Now  we  do 
away  with  those  services  and  use  our  own  ships  and  are  forming  our  own  marine 
and  other  insurance  companies.  The  nations  cannot  pay  us  in  services  as  once  in 
part  they  did.  The  nations  have  not  the  cash  with  which  to  pay  or  the  credits  to 
give  us  in  payment.  There  is  not  in  the  world  sufficient  free  liquid  cash  to  pay 
these  great  obligations  due  us. 

How,  then,  shall  the  problem  of  our  prosperity  be  met?  We  are  in  the 
position  of  a  creditor,  a  kindly  and  I  trust  a  generous  creditor,  who  has  due  him 
huge  sums  from  friends,  thank  God ! — friends  who  are  abundantly  able  so  far 
as  assets  are  concerned  to  liquidate  their  debt  but  who  have  not  those  assets  ready 
to  be  speedily  turned  into  goods,  services,  cash  or  credits  to  pay  the  debt  at  once. 
There  is  certainly  no  occasion  for  impatience,  for  neither  you  nor  I  as  business 
men  would  treat  a  debtor  who  was  our  friend  hardly  when  he  was  in  such  a  case. 
There  would  be  but  one  way  for  the  business  man  to  act  toward  such  a  debtor : 
trTat  is  first  to  say,  "Take  such  time  as  you  require  and  as  we  can  afford  to  give." 
and  second  to  extend  to  him,  because  he  is  a  friend  and  because  he  is  dependable. 


TUESDAY  MORNING  SESSION  25 

the  hand  of  helpfulness  to  aid  him  to  pay.     That  is  the  proposition  which  faces  the 
United  States. 

Simply  because  we  are  creditors  on  an  enormous  scale,  we  must  help  those 
who  owe  to  pay  us  what  they  owe.  For  it  would  be  interesting  to  see  what  would 
be  said  by  an  advocate  of  some  other  method,  if  there  be  one,  whereby  these  vast 
sums  can  be  repaid  to  us  with  interest  in  reasonable  time.  If  there  be  some  other 
way  than  these  three  that  I  have  mentioned,  I  should  be  glad  to"  have  it  suggested. 

There  does  dawn,  however,  out  of  this  problem  the  very  constructive  or 
development  type  of  foreign  trade  to  which  a  few  moments  ago  I  referred  and  so 
far  as  my  thinking  goes,  it  offers  the  only  solution  to  these  great  problems.  It 
also  applies  with  peculiar  force  and  opportunity  to  the  nations  that  have  great 
undeveloped  natural  resources 

We  have  accumulated  a  great  wealth  of  free  capital  in  the  United  States 
What  shall  we  do  with  it?  It  is  my  belief  that  our  constructive  service  to  the 
world  calls  on  us  to  let  this  capital  of  ours  now  flow  out  into  the  world  that  needs 
it  for  the  world's  enrichment.  You  observe  I  do  not  say  for  our  enrichment.  There 
will  come  inevitably  to  the  United  States  rewards  from  such  use  of  its  wealth 
abroad.  There  will  come,  I  hope,  to  the  lands  in  which  that  wealth  is  used  far 
greater  rewards  than  we  can  receive  thereby. 

The  principle  and  practice  I  am  now  advocating  are  not  strange  to  you. 
Your  countries  have  gone  to  Great  Britain,  to  Belgium,  to  France  and  in  part  to 
Germany  and  Italy  for  funds  with  which  to  develop  your  own  lands  just  exactly 
as  we  ourselves  did  in  the  last  century.  The  money  that  was  thus  invested  in  your 
lands  and  in  our  land  from  abroad  brought,  of  course,  a  reward  to  those  that 
loaned  it  as  it  should  have  done,  but  it  brought  a  far* richer  reward  to  your  lands 
and  to  ours.  Our  great  industries  and  railways  and  utilities  were  in  no  small  de- 
gree due  to  it.  By  that  building  we  have  been  gainers.  In  greater  or  less  degree 
the  same  is  true  of  every  land  here  represented. 

Now,  but  with  a  new  spirit  of  service,  we  must  take  up  this  duty  ourselves. 
We  were  not  able  to  do  it  before  the  war.  Others  are  not  able  to  do  it  now-  Your 
peoples  can  no  longer  call  upon  Vienna  and  Berlin  and  Paris  and  London  as  they 
did  because  things  have  changed.  There  are  other  problems  yonder,  problems  of 
great  difficulty  which  they  must  needs  face  first,  and  while  in  some  measure  as  we 
all. know  some  of  those  nations  may  still  be  able  and  willing  to  continue  this  fruit- 
ful investment  of  their  funds  abroad,  the  ability  to  do  so  has  been  very  greatly 
reduced.  That  ability  has  come  to  us  with  great  increase  and  now  we  must  adjust 
our  commercial  vision  to  the  opportunity  which  Providence  has  placed  in  our  hands. 

But  with  that  adjustment  of  vision  and  on  that  ability  must  be  superimposed 
always  the  spirit  of  service.  I  hope  to  see  the  constructive  and  the  development 
commerce  of  the  United  States  take  the  form  whereby  the  securities  of  all  the  lands 
here  represented  shall  be  readily  sold  in  the  markets  of  the  Unitd  States,  not 
merely  national  securities  but  municipal  and  industrial  and  railway  and  corporate 
securities.  I  hope  to  see  developed  here,  and  soon — the  sooner  the  better — an  appre- 
ciation of,  interest  in  and  a  reaching  out  for  the  securities  which  the  countries  of 
South  America  shall  offer  in  our  markets.  From  that  process  I  hope  for  a  two- 
fold result  which  can  only  be  helpful  if  we  can  keep  out  the  spirit  of  grasp  and 
greed. 

I  look  first,  as  an  American,  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  for  a  three- 
fold benefit  to  the  United  States  from  investment  in  the  securities  of  all  the  lands 
you  represent.  I  look  to  the  direct  return  from  the  investments,  to  the  normal  flow 
of  trade  to  us  from  operations  thus  carried  on  by  the  use  of  American  capital  in 
your  countries,  and  to  the  development  of  wealth  by  the  use  of  this  capital  in  your 
lands  which  shall  add  to  your  buying  power  and  so  to  your  ability  to  become 
larger  customers  of  ours — three  real  and  definite  contributions  to  our  prosperity 
from  this  process. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  in  any  broad  view  of  the  matter  the  larger  gain 
should"  be  yours  as  the  larger  gain  in  the  past  has  been  ours.  By  the  development 
of  the  untouched  lands,  by  the  bringing  into  use  of  the  unused  resources,  by  the 
discovery  of  riches  that  as  yet  I  think  you  do  not  know  and  we  certainly  are  not 
aware  of,  by  the  expenditure  of  large  sums  in  the  employment  of  labor  in  your 
countries,  by  the  organization  of  the  countries  for  a  larger  and  more  rapid  eco- 
nomic growth — in  all  these  ways  the  use  of  our  capital  abroad  on  fair  and  generous 
terms  should  be  mutually  constructive  and  generally  helpful.  We  should  want  you 
to  know  and  to  understand  and  to  desire  that  the  United  States  profited  as  I  have 


26  SECOND  PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

suggested.  We  should  want  to  know  on  our  part,  and  to  desire  that  the  larger 
and  the  more  permanent  gain  would  be,  yours.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  only 
safe  ground  of  international  commerce.  When  it  is  done  upon  a  constructive 
basis,  when  it  passes  far  beyond  the  mere  competitive  trading  of  the  hour  and 
builds  up  both  parties  to  the  contract — then  and  then  only  I  am  willing  to  work 
for  its  extension  at  present  and  in  the  coming  days. 

The  war  brought  conditions  in  South  America  into  an  unusual  state  and  there 
is  now  going  on  a  very  rapid  process  of  change.  It  may  interest  you  to  have 
stated  here,  though  I  assume  that  you  are  all  more  or  less  familiar  with  it,  the  fact 
that  the  nations  of  South  and  Central  America  in  their  trade  with  the  United 
States  during  the  calendar  year  19t8  had  a  credit  balance  against  the  United  States 
of  approximately  four  hundred  million  dollars.  The  largest  sharers  in  this  credit 
balance  were  Argentina,  where  the  credit  balance  was  nearly  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  million  dollars;  Chile,  where  the  credit  balance  was  almost  a  hundred  million 
dollars;  Mexico,  where  the  credit  balance  was  sixty-one  million  dollars,  and  Cuba, 
where  it  was  over  fifty-one  million  dollars. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  account  the  nations  which  showed  a  balance  due 
us  were  Panama,  twelve  million  dollars;  the  Dominican  Republic,  nearly  eight 
millions;  the  British  West  Indies,  six  millions;  British  Guiana,  five  millions,  and 
others  under  five  millions.  The  result  was  a  favorable  balance  for  South  and 
Central  America  against  the  United  States  of  a  little  less  than  four  hundred  million 
dollars.  It  is  certain,  of  course,  that  in  very  large  part  that  was  brought  about  by 
war  conditions  which  will  be  familiar  to  you  all  and  into  which  I  need  not  now  go. 

We  may,  however,  bring  to  your  attention  certain  facts  of  the  first  four 
months  of  1919  which  will  indicate  the  state  of  change  which  is  going  on.  For 
example,  during  the  calendar  year  1918  we  bought  from  Argentina  twenty-two 
million  dollars'  worth  of  hides.  For  the  first  four  months  of  1919  the  amount  is 
less  than  four  million.  We  took  hides  from  Brazil  in  1918  to  the  extent  of  nearly 
three  millions  of  dollars ;  for  the  first  four  months  of  1919  the  amount  is  six 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  thousand  dollars.  We  took  linseed  from  Argentina  in  the 
year  1918  to  the  amount  of  twenty-three  millions  of  dollars.  For  the  first  four 
months  of  the  present  year  the  amount  is  a  little  in  excess  of  two  and  a  quartei 
millions  of  dollars.  We  took  from  Argentina  wool  in  1918  to  the  amount  of  almost 
a  hundred  and  nineteen  millions  in  value  and  in  the  present  year  in  the  first  four 
months  a  little  less  than  eight  millions  in  value. 

A  somewhat  similar  comparison  runs  through  other  products.  I  mention  it 
only  that  there  may  be  made  clear  to  you  a  state  of  change,  a  condition  in  which  we 
may  not,  unless  things  alter,  assume  the  continuance  of  this  four  hundred  million 
dollars  of  balance  in  your  favor,  and  I  wish  to  point  out  that  there  are  certain 
products  of  South  and  Central  America  that  we  greatly  need  and  which  we  should 
like  to  have  offered,  for  we  do  not  and  cannot  produce  them  ourselves.  In  this 
way  our  neighbors  may  have  the  larger  balances  against  which  to  buy  the  goods  that 
we  hope  we  may  be  able  to  sell  them  to  mutual  advantage. 

We  should  like  to  see  a  development  in  the  business  already  reaching  con- 
siderable proportions  of  skins  and  pelts  as  those  of  nutria,  rabbit,  etc.,  the  business 
in  vegetable  oils,  waxes  and  gums,  tke  business  in  timber  and  cabinet  woods,  some 
of  which  are  being  (we  are  informed)  exported  from  Brazil  to  Norway  but  are 
practically  unknown  to  most  if  not  to  all  of  our  manufacturers.  There  are1' ex- 
tensive supplies  of  lignum  vitae  and  boxwood  available  in  tropical  South  America. 
There  are  vegetable  fibers  that  we  need,  some  of  which  are  not  even  known  in 
the  regions  where  they  grow.  There  are  special  tropical  products  such  as  mandioca 
flower  from  Brazil  used  in  the  manufacture  of  starch  and  glue.  There  are  medicinal 
plants  and  vegetable  dyes  of  many  kinds  and  minor  minerals  not  yet  exploited,  such 
as  thorium  and  zirconium  and  others. 

I  mention  these  things  not  in  any  sense  as  desiring  to  give  you  a  perfect 
picture  but  a  suggestive  one,  showing  the  avenues  to  a  peace  trade  of  a  constructive 
character  which  should  enable  the  countries  to  the  south  of  us  to  grow  as  their 
own  resources  and  to  buy  from  us  as  they  will  against  the  sales  of  those  materials 
to  us,  so  that  both  of  us  may  get  what  we  need. 

I  am,  of  course,  aware  that  the  prices  at  which  we  are  at  present  able  to 
offer  many  goods  to  South  and  Central  America  are  lower  than  the  prices  that  are 
now  being  offered  by  such  of  our  competitors  in  Europe  as  are  able  to  offer  them 
at  all.  We  are  advised  that  our  European  competitors  in  their  need  for  raw 
materials  are  offering  prices  for  them  in  South  and  Central  America  higher  than 
we  are  paying.  That  is  natural  under  the  circumstances.  Their  need  is  vital. 


TUESDAY    MORNING   SESSION  27 

As  against  that  we  have,  of  course,  only  the  weapon  of  trade  (if  I  may  use 
that  phrase  coming  from  an  archaic  time  when  one  spoke  of  the  "weapons"  of 
trade  as  having  edges  and  points),  we  have  as  an  offset  our  present  ability  to  quote 
lower  prices  than  our  European  competitors  are,  at  least  for  the  time,  able  to  offer. 
We  rejoice  heartily  in  such  transactions  as  that  which  but  recently  took  place  in  this 
country  when  the  bonds  of  the  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  were  taken  so  eagerly  that 
double  the  amount  could  have  been  readily  placed.  That  I  regard  as  an  admirable 
beginning.  We  rejoice  to  know  that  other  South  American  countries  are  seeking 
leans  here  for  the  development  of  railroads.  We  hope  and  believe,  we  certainly 
desire,  that  the  terms  on  which  those  loans  are  to  be  made  shall  be  constructive 
terms,  constructive  for  the  countries  getting  the  loans,  and  that  in  them  there 
shall  not  be  hidden  away  any  jokers  which  shall  give  to  any  one  arf  undue  power 
over  the  industry,  the  commerce  or  the  transportation  of  the  country  to  which  the 
loans  are  made.  We  must  deal  as  brethren,  side  by  side,  for  only  so  is  there  any 
permanence  to  our  mutual  prosperity. 

I  want  to  suggest  to  you  a  few  practical  considerations  on  the  subject  of 
foods,  and  to  lay  before  you  a  few  facts  respecting  certain  foods  which  we  have 
and  desire  to  sell  and  which  our  friends  in  South  and  Central  America  would,  if 
they  understood  them,  probably  desire  to  buy.  We  do  not  now  supply  them  to  you 
in  large  quantities  as  we  do  to  others. 

It  has  been  my  own  belief  that  the  peculiar  attitude  of  the  South  and  Central 
American  countries  toward  these  particular  foods  has  arisen  from  a  basic  mis- 
understanding of  their  nature.  There  have  been  placed  before  me  by  the  United 
States  Tariff  Commission,  because  it  is  not  a  matter  which  is  within  their  care, 
the  facts  respecting  certain  grades  of  manufactured  foods  as  we  may  call  them, 
including  canned  foods,  dried  fruits  and  vegetables.  These  I  venture  to  suggest 
for  your  consideration,  not  as  a  matter  of  complaint  but  because  we  think  there  is 
an  opportunity  for  service. 

Wre  furnish  to  Great  Britain  great  quantities  of  certain  grades  of  food  run- 
ning up  into  the  millions,  but  these  are  not  imported  by  South  and  Central  America 
because  oi  duties  sometimes  amounting  to  200%  which  are  prohibitive  in  their 
effect,  so  that  there  is  no  revenue  received  from  these  goods  by  the  nations  of  the 
South  nor  is  the  food  used.  These  are  cheap  foods,  and,  as  I  believe  food  is  high 
pretty  much  all  over  the  world,  this  would  seem  to  be  an  opportune  time  to  call 
attention  to  any  possible  relief  from  high  prices. 

Into  Great  Britain  in  1913  we  shipped  canned  fruits  and  vegetables  to  the 
extent  of  $4,275,000  in  value.  We  sent  them  to  Argentina  to  the  amount  of  $35,000. 
We  sent  them  to  Brazil  to  the  amount  of  $26,000.  We  respectfully  suggest  that 
they  would  be  found  as  palatable  and  healthful  in  one  country  as  in  another.  The 
reason  lies  in  what  is  apparently  a  belief  that  these  are  articles  of  luxury.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  they  are  articles  of  the  commonest  consumption  in  the  homes  of 
the  poor,  they  are  cheap  foods,  not  dear  ones. 

We  sent  into  Great  Britain  these  same  goods  in  1915  to  the  amount  of 
$5,500,000,  into  Argentina  to  the  amount  of  $16,000,  to  Brazil  to  the  amount  of 
$10,000.  Why  should  the  one  have  these  cheap  and  palatable  foods  and  the  other 
not  have  therri?  We  do  not  wish  in  any  way  even  to  suggest  intrusion  into  matters 
of  domestic  concern.  That  is  not  our  purpose.  We  merely  wish  that  the  subject 
be  considered,  for  the  United  States  is  the  largest  producer  in  the  world  of  these 
food  products  which  are  bought  by  many  foreign  nations. 

We  make  them  abundantly  and  of  good  quality  and  we  sometimes  wonder 
why  one  nation  accepts  and  another  rejects  that  which  is  apparently  for  the  benefit 
of  the  average  man  and  woman  of  any  country. 

I  might  pass  to  the  larger  field  of  canned  products  in  general  and  point  out 
to  you  that  the  duties  imposed  in  Latin  America  are  frequently  200%,  so  that  it 
is  impossible,  except  in  the  very  small  way  mentioned,  to  furnish  these  goods  at  all. 
As  to  the  product  which  we  make  in  greater  quantity  than  any  other  country  in  the 
world,  canned  and  evaporated  milk  and  cream,  we  find  the  same  condition  prevailing. 
While  we  may  send  to  Cuba  600,000  cases  of  canned  milk  in  a  single  year,  we  are 
prevented  by  the  duties  from  sending  like  quantities  to  other  countries  to  the  south- 
ward, which  are  thereby  deprived  of  a  food  at  once  nourishing  and  healthful,  which 
keeps  in  any  climate  and  which  is  used  in  other  parts  of  the  world  for  the  daily 
needs  of  the  ordinary  family. 

The  sole  point  I  feel  justified  in  urging  in  this  miatter  is  that  these  are  not 
articles  of  luxury,  but  are  articles  of  cheap  and  every  day  consumption. 


:-.  IM.  *  84-5, 331,000. 
,  151,376,000. 
,  99  6,707,000 


COMMERCE  VYJT«  TflE 


IMPORTS  *  3,031,304-,  721 
EXPORTS  *  6,14-9,  392,64-7 
TOTAU    $  9, 180, "69 7, 368 
\ 


AREA.  18,045  5Q.MI. 


IM.  4  17,400, 000- 


\  X COMMERCE  WITH  LATJN  AMERICA  x\  \>  x 
^IMPORTS  «  1  105^38,897.  x  \  \  \> 

685,936',  2  3  9. 

XTOTAL       $  1,T91,175,136. 
.POPULATION  1O6.O62.297 


TOTAL  *  39,84-5, 000. 


Vx^\\EXPOR-Ts 


AREA  10.&03  SQ.M  I 


EX.  *  13,000,000. 


TOTAL*  23, 000. 000. 


ffREA.  44,217. 6QMI 


767,168 
POP.  15,160,369 


1M.*2T2,573,000 


EX.4  366,646,000. 


^210,000,000. 
#352,000, 


AREA  47  99  7  SQ.MI 


IM.46,393,000. 


EX.  *  5. 9 75, 000- 


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POP.  1.Z87.722 
IM.*  6,863.000. 
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TOTAL*  22,919  000, 


AREA  4  5, 56  3.  SQ.M1. 


TOTA1/*  12, 365,000 


EX>  7,810.000. 


TOTAL  *16. 802.000. 


POP. '59  2. 675 
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EX.*  5, 624- 000 

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TOTAL'14-,  84-7  000 


TOTAL*  16, 977000. 


PAN  AM£#/CAV  UNtOM 


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MvTOTAL    s\fc\\\\>^                             T0.*134-.918,000. 

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PAN  AMER/CAH  UMfOM 

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BOUMDAR/ES  or  COC/A/TT?/ES 

30  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

If,  now,  I  may  speak  of  an  article  which  is  rapidly  developing  in  this  country 
and  has  been  found  of  great  value  in  humble  homes,  dried  or  dehydrated  foods,  I 
find  that  our  dried  fruits  were  supplied  to  Great  Britain  in  the  year  before  the  war 
to  the  value  of  over  $2,225,000;  to  Argentina,  $47,000;  to  Brazil,  $55,000.  The 
reason  for  the  difference  is  the  same,  these  useful  and  inexpensive  food  products  are 
shut  out  by  duties  which  seem  to  us  to  be  based  upon  the  misconception  that  they 
are  articles  of  luxury. 

I  should  not  have  ventured  to  intrude  into  the  field  that  I  have  thus  briefly 
touched  if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  the  world  at  large  presents  this  curious 
picture :  Europe,  hungry  and  in  places  starving,  is  calling  upon  us  and  upon  some 
of  you  for  all  the  products  we  can  send,  so  that  we  have  had  to  postpone  some  of 
our  commercial  trade  for  the  sake  of  great  shipments  of  food,  while  side  by  side 
with  that  exists  this  curious  situation  in  which  large  quantities  of  cheap,  nutritious 
and  palatable  foods  are  in  effect  barred  from  entry  into  countries  which  we  feel 
reasonably  sure  would  benefit  by  their  use  as  others  have  done. 

Finally,  gentlemen,  I  must  end  as  I  began.  The  spirit  of  conquest  by  trade 
has  received  a  mortal  blow.  It  can  no  longer  prevail  in  the  world.  I  do  not  argue 
that  all  the  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  are  unselfish  men, 
for  that  statement  would  be  too  sweeping.  I  do  not  suppose  that  you  would  argue 
that  all  your  importers  are  men  whose  sole  conception  is  that  of  the  national  pros- 
perity and  good.  Probably  you  have  your  share  of  selfish  men  as  we  have.  None 
the  less,  the  world's  conscience  has  taken  a  great  step  forwardrin  these  last  five 
years  and  the  gospel  of  gouge  and  greed  is  discredited  in  the  business  world  here 
as  with  you.  And  when  we  come  into  your  markets  we  come  with  the  spirit  of 
friends.  I  hope  we  shall  bring  the  means  to  serve  you  in  such  a  way  that  while 
we  gain  thereby  you  shall  be  the  larger  gainer. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  are  now  going  to  take  up  Brazil, 
and  I  will  ask  the  Brazilian  delegation  to  come  on  the  platform. 

I  have  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you,  to  lead  the  discussion  on  Brazil,  Senhor 
Langgaard  de  Menezes,  the  Commercial  Attache  of  the  Brazilian  Embassy. 

SENHOR  LANGGAARD  DE  MENEZES  read  the  paper  which  appears  on 
page  116. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  calling  upon 
Senhor  Sebastiao  Sampaio,  the  enterprising — I  might  say  Yankee — Brazilian  Consul 
at  St.  Louis. 

SENHOR  SEBASTIAO  SAMPAIO    read  the  paper  which  appears  on  page  121. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Now  I  call  for  some  practical  questions 
regarding  exchange  of  trade  between  Brazil  and  the  other  American  countries. 

MR.  LANGWORTHY  MARCH  ANT,  of  the  Pan  American  Union:  Mr. 
Sampaio  mentioned  two  or  three  points  that  I  thought  very  important.  One  was 
with  regard  to  the  beef  exportation ;  the  other  with  reference  to  manganese.  We 
think  we  know  a  good  deal  about  the  manganese  situation  in  Brazil  in  our 
statistics  and  I  had  brought  a  good  deal  of  knowledge  about  it  when  I  came,  but 
he  spoke  of  it  as  though  he  possessed  a  certain  amount  of  fresh  knowledge  on 
the  subject  and  I  think  the  house  would  be  pleased  to  hear  him  say  something  about 
the  manganese  situation  after  the  war. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  The  question  is:  Because  manganese 
enters  so  importantly  into  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel,  will  Mr.  Sampaio 
tell  us  what  the  prospects  are  for  that  business  after  the  war. 

SENHOR  SAMPAIO:  I  do  not  know  much  about  manganese,  but  I  will  tell 
you  what  I  can.  Before  the  war  our  exportation  of  manganese  was  very  small; 
it  was  not  counted  as  an  export  item.  But  during  1916  and  1917,  as  I  have  just 
told  you,  all  our  manganese  was  exported  to  the  United  States,  where  it  was  used 
in  manufacturing  steel  for  the  war.  In  1916  we  exported  to  the  United  States  one 
million  and  a  half  sterling  pounds,  while  in  1917  we  exported  three  million  pounds 
sterling.  Before  the  war  the  United  States  imported  .manganese  from  many  lands, 
but  during  the  war  the  quality  of  manganese  was  considered  and  then  all  manganese 
imported  by  the  United  States  was  from  Brazil. 

MR.  HENRY  E.  CORONADO  (Akron,  O.)  :  The  point  has  been  brought  out 
here  that  one  of  the  principal  industries  in  Brazil  is  the  coffee  industry.  The 


TUESDAY   MORNING   SESSION  31 

United  States  has  today  developed  another  industry,  the  rubber  industry,  to  such 
great  proportions  that  we  have  what  is  called  the  center  of  the  world  today  in  the 
city  of  Akron,  Ohio.  Mr.  Sampaio  only  gave  us  a  few  statistics  about  that  and  I 
would  like  for  him  to  be  so  kind  as  to  give  us  some  more  information  about  the  won- 
derful industry  of  crude  rubber  in  Brazil  because  there  are  not  only  myself,  as  a  dele- 
gate from  one  of  the  largest  rubber  companies  in  the  United  States,  but  many 
other  gentlemen  here  present  at  this  Conference  who  would  like  to  hear  something 
about  that. 

It  is  true  that  coffee  took  a  great  part  in  helping  win  the  war  and  the  armies 
in  Europe,  but  I  may  say  that  rubber  took  the  same  part  also  because  all  the  auto- 
mobiles of  the  army,  all  the  trucks  carrying  the  ammunition  and  everything  like 
that  were  equipped  with  rubber  for  the  tires  and  different  things.  The  motorcycles 
of  the  army,  which  carried  messages  all  over  the  front,  had  to  have  rubber  for 
tires,  etc.  For  that  reason,  may  I  ask  one  of  the  Brazilians  to  give  us  a  little  talk 
in  regard  to  rubber. 

SENHOR  SAMPAIO:  The  world  is  being  supplied  with  two  kinds  of  rub- 
ber— plantation  rubber  and  the  natural  rubber^pf  Brazil.  England  was  the  first 
country  to  realize  that  rubber  could  be  cultivated  on  plantations  and  today  the 
English  colonies  have  the  greatest  quantity  of  rubber — plantation  rubber — to  furnish 
for  consumption.  However,  Brazil  does  not  fear  the  competition  of  the  English 
colonies  with  the*artificially  grown  rubber,  because  the  quality  of  the  Brazilian 
rubber  is  so  superior  to  that  of  the  plantation  product. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Marchant,  will  you  give  us  just  a 
minute  and  a  half  on  that — the  future  of  rubber  in  Brazil,  at  least  with  reference 
to  the  trade  of  the  United  States?  Mr.  Marchant  is  the  expert  on  Brazil  for  the 
Pan  American  Union. 

MR.  MARCHANT:  In  my  opinion  the  future  of  rubber  in  Brazil,  in  com- 
petition with  the  production  of  the  plantation  rubber  produced  in  the  Malay  states, 
depends  a  great  deal  on  the  ability  of  the  Amazon  Valley  to  feed  the  people  em- 
ployed in  the  industry  there  in  its  extraction.  The  reason  why  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction in  rubber  at  present  in  the  Amazon  Valley  is  very  high  is  that  the  valley 
itself  is  not  put  in  such  a  condition  as  to  furnish  or  supply  the  food  necessary  to 
support  the  people  engaged  in  its  industry.  They  get  their  supplies  from  the  south- 
ern part  of  Brazil,  and  that  is  why,  for  instance,  in  the  city  of  Manaos  (which  is 
the  capital  of  the  State  of  Amazonia)  the  cost  of  living  is  so  high  as  to  appear 
very  fabulous — five  or  six  times  what  it  would  be  in  any  other  part  of  Brazil. 

This  condition  naturally  will  be  changed  as  time  goes  on.  There  was  a  great 
plan  organized  some  time  ago  to  bring  about  a  better  arrangement  of  this  situation. 
The  plan  contemplated  the  development  in  the  Amazon  valley  of  farms  which 
would  furnish  enough  produce  to  support  the  rubber  industry  and  also  the  ameliora- 
tion of  sanitary  conditions,  but  unfortunately  these  various  measures  could  not  be 
carried  into  effect  on  account  of  the  financial  crisis  which  supervened  in  1913  and 
became  worse  in  1914.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  when  these  conditions  are  corrected, 
as  they  will  be  gradually,  it  will  be  possible  for  all  kinds  of  good  rubber,  not  only 
the  avia,  which  gives  the  best  quality — the  hard,  fine  quality  which  competes  in 
advantageous  conditions  with  the  eastern  rubber — but  also  other  rubbers  which  can 
be  produced  to  advantage. 

MR.  CHARLES  A.  LAMSON  (U.  S.  Shipping  Board)  :  I  rather  welcome  this 
discussion  here  today,  Mr.  Chairman,  because  I  have  been  in  Brazil  for  ten  years 
in  the  Amazon  valley.  I  was  one  of  the  earliest  buyers  of  crude  rubber  in  the 
Amazon  and  lived  there  continuously  except  for  two  months.  Rubber  has  been  my 
business  for  a  great  many  years  and  I  began  it  with  spending  ten  years  in  the 
Amazon  valley.  I  was  going  to  ask  Senhor  Menezes  about  the  rubber  situation  in 
the  Amazon  valley.  Roughly  speaking,  there  are  45,000  tons  exported  from  the 
Amazon  valley.  I  know,  and  some  of  you  know,  that  the  quantity  of  rubber  from 
the  Malay  States,  Ceylon,  etc.,  has  made  it  a  dangerous  problem  for  Brazil  in  its 
exports  of  crude  rubber.  They  are  even  growing  avia,  as  well. 

I  think  Senhor  Sampaio  is  a  little  wrong  where  he  states  that  the  quality  of 
fine  Para  is  better. 

SENHOR  SAMPAIO:  If  I  am  wrong  it  is  my  English  and  not  my  meaning. 
I  referred  to  the  quality  of  Brazilian  rubber,  and  not  to  the  quantity. 


32  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

MR.  LAMSON:  I  have  been  a  great  deal  worried  through  this  war  that  we 
had  to  depend  on  the  British  settlements  for  our  rubber.  What  is  to  become  of 
this  great  output  of  Brazilian  rubber  from  the  Amazon?  I  believe  that  today  the 
price  of  the  fine  Para  rubber  was  quoted  at  fifty-six  and  a  half  cents.  I  am  frankly 
worried  about  the  condition  of  the  rubber  industry  of  the  Amazon  as  affected  by 
the  planted  rubber  of  the  Malay  States  and  I  wish  to  know  what  measures  has  the 
Brazilian  Government  taken  to  prevent  the  annihilation  of  the  natural  product. 

The  first  year  of  the  war  I  suggested  that  the  duties  be  lowered.  I  know,  of 
course,  that  the  revenues  of  the  States  of  Manaos,  Amazonia,  and  Para  were  mainly 
derived  from  the  revenues  from  crude  rubber  shipments;  also  the  import  duties 
vvhich  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  has  referred  to  are  is  many  cases  very  high. 
Those  duties  must  be  reduced,  in  my  opinion,  to  cheapen  the  food  supplies  for  the 
rubber  gatherers  of  the  Amazon  Valley.  With  the  cheapening  of  food  supplies  and 
with  lower  export  duties,  the  Amazon  rubber  which  right  in  our  doors  and  in  many 
ways  is  better  compared  with  East  Indian  rubber,  should  be  protected.  The  problem 
of  a  greater  production  of  natural  rubber  is  not  so  much  a  question  of  food  supply 
as  of  larger  population  in  the  Amazon  Valley.  If  there  had  been  a  double  popula- 
tion in  the  Amazon  for  years  we  would  have  had  double  the  amount  of  rubber  from 
the  Amazon.  The  whole  population  of  the  Amazon  Valley  worked  in  rubber,  and 
the  reason  why  they  did  not  produce  more  was  because  there  were  no  more  people. 
I  will  welcome  anybody  who  will  tell  me  what  is  the  future  of  the  supply  of  crude 
rubber  from  the  Amazon  Valley.  • 

SENHOR  SAMPAIO:  I  will  reply  first  to  the  point  on  the  economic  future 
of  rubber.  The  economic  future  of  Brazilian  rubber  is  absolutely  guaranteed.  The 
rubber  production  of  the  English  colonies  may  be  larger  in  quantity  than  Brazilian 
rubber  and  maybe  in  competition  of  price  the  facilities  about  the  plantations  of 
the  English  rubber  give  little  advantages  of  slight  differences  in  price  in  favor  of 
the  English  rubber.  But  Brazilian  rubber  is  of  a  much  better  quality  because  it  is 
not  planted,  it  is  natural ;  there  are  great  forests  of  it,  while  English  rubber  is  planted 
and  cultivated  artificially.  That  is  the  difference.  Experts  all  over  the  world  are 
of  the  opinion  now  that  Brazilian  rubber,  because  it  is  natural,  is  the  best,  giving 
as  it  does  more  and  better  industrial  results.  It  is  also  more  durable. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Coutinho,  you  have  just  returned  a 
short  time  ago  from  the  Amazon  district.  Can  you  give  us  a  word? 

SENHOR  JOACHIM  DeS.  COUTINHO,  of  the  Pan  American  Union:  The 
rubber  situation  in  Brazil  is  very  poor.  The  cost  of  production  is  very  much 
higher  than  in  the  Malay  States.  During  the  war  there  was  a  real  crisis  for  rubber. 
Great  amounts  of  Brazilian  products  were  just  stored  away  because  there  was  no 
chance  to  export  them.  During  the  war  it  was  very  hard  for  Brazilian  exporters 
to  secure  licenses  to  send  rubber  over  to  the  United  States. 

The  only  thing  that  I  see  which  will  help  the  rubber  situation  is  for  either 
Brazilians  or  Americans  to  establish  rubber  factories  in  the  rubber  region.  The 
Para  rubber  is  too  good  for  tires.  I  know  of  several  people  who  use  Para  rubber 
in  tires  and  they  say  the  Brazilian  Para  rubber  will  last  three  times  longer  than 
the  ordinary  tires.  Of  course,  the  price  is  a  little  higher.  And  what  the  tire  manu- 
facturers want  is  poor  rubber  so  they  can  sell  more  tires.  I  don't  see  any  other 
solution  for  the  problem  unless  factories  are  started  in  Brazil.  Brazilians  have 
been  thinking  seriously  of  this,  and  if  the  idea  can  be  carried  through,  rubber  will 
be  the  second  industry  in  Northern  Brazil. 

MR.  CHARLES  RAY  DEAN  (Washington)  :  This  is  a  practical  suggestion. 
We  are  hearing  from  these  different  gentlemen  of  the  undeveloped  resources  ot 
their  country.  We  are  hearing  from  our  Secretary  of  Commerce  of  the  free  avail- 
able capital  which  will  be  used  in  helping  to  develop  those  resources.  Now,  it 
v/ou.ld  seem  very  helpful  if  these  gentlemen  representing  these  various  countries 
would  make  specific  suggestions  with  regard  to  the  resources  that  are  to  be  de- 
veloped and  it  might  be  well  for  this  Conference  to  have  a  committee  appointed 
to  gather  together  the  definite  data  that  these  gentlemen  bring  so  that  it  may  be 
used  afterwards  in  aiding  financiers  to  bring  about  the  development  of  those  re- 
sources. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  A  full  report  of  the  proceedings  of  this 
Conference  will  be  published,  in  which  will  appear  all  that  has  been  said  or  pre- 
sented to  this  Conference. 


TUESDAY  AFTERNOON  SESSION  33 

We  are  obliged  now  to  pass  on  from  further  consideration  of  Brazil.  As  I 
said  last  night,  we  have  twenty  countries  to  consider,  and  the  time  is  limited.  I 
want  to  say  in  closing  the  discussion  on  Brazil  that  these  gentlemen  are  ready  to 
answer  any  questions  that  may  be  submitted  to  them  in  private  conferences. 

Passing  now  to  Chile,  we  have  already  had  the  privilege  of  hearing  the 
notable  remarks  of  its  distinguished  Ambassador  at  the  inaugural  session.  This 
morning,  I  take  pleasure  in  calling  upon  Sefior  Ernesto  Montenegro  to  lead  the  dis- 
cussion on  Chile.  I  am  very  glad  to  introduce  him  to  you  as  the  able  representa- 
tive of  one  of  the  greatest  newspapers  in  Latin  America,  "El  Mercuric,"  of  San- 
tiago and  Valparaiso. 

SENOR  ERNESTO  MONTENEGRO:  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen: 
I  come  to  speak  before  you  without  any  preparation,  because  I  thought  it  was 
agreed  to  postpone  the  Chilean  discussion  for  a  while.  What  I  have  to  say  now 
as  the  representative  of  a  Chilean  paper  is  that  we  feel,  as  newspapermen,  that 
we  have  a  very  great  part  in  moulding  North  and  South  American  sentiments  and 
interests.  I  think  the  newspapers  in  both  the  English  and  the  Spanish  language 
can  do  very  much  to  further  the  unanimity  of  sentiment  between  the  two  countries. 

As  a  representative  of  "El  Mercuric,"  I  can  only  say  that  this  newspaper 
seems  to  be  predestined  to  do  this  work,  because  it  was  founded  more  than  ninety 
years  ago  and  is  today  one  of  the  strongest  papers  in  Chile  and  one  of  the  oldest 
newspapers  in  our  American  Continent.  You  all  know  very  well  wjaat  the  Amer- 
ican press  has  been  doing  to  mix  together  and  make  one  entity  of  this  immense 
territory  that  we  call  the  United  States.  You  know  very  well  that  without  the 
press,  without  the  daily  papers,  the  periodicals  and  the  magazines,  this  enormous 
land,  populated  by  so  many  races,  by  so  many  different  people  of  different  lan- 
guages, never  would  be  one  nation  as  it  stands  now.  Without  the  help  of  the 
press,  without  this  marvelous  moulder  of  sentiment  and  ideas  which  the  press  has 
been  diffusing  through  this  territory  of  all  that  is  great  and  good  to  make  this 
great  melting  pot  one  solid  nation  in  the  United  States,  that  would  never  have 
been  accomplished. 

The  American  press  can  do  very  much  to  cordinate  the  sentiments  and  in- 
terweave the  interest  of  the  two  Americas,  and  as  the  representative  of  "El  Mer- 
curio"  I  think  you  will  excuse  me  for  saying  that  we  feel  glad  of  what  "El  Mer- 
curio"  has  been  doing,  has  done  for  the  furtherance  of  this  interest  and  for  the 
coordinating  of  sentiment  and  ideas  of  the  two  great  races  of  America-^the  Eng- 
lish and  the  Spanish. 

In  following  discussions  I  expect  my  colleagues  of  the  Chilean  delegation 
to  be  ready  to  answer  any  questions  that  you  like  to  put  up  to  us.  Now  I  simply 
congratulate  you  for  this  splendid  meeting  in  which  so  many  interesting,  practical 
things  are  being  discussed  and  which  I  am  sure  will  bear  very  fruitful  results.  (See 
page  129  for  Sr.  Montenegro's  paper.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:    The  discussion  on   Chile   shall  be  con- 
tinued in  the  afternoon  session. 
(Announcements.) 
Adjournment.  

AFTERNOON   SESSION. 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  2.45  o'clock  by  Director  General 
Barrett  who  presided  over  the  session. 

(Announcements.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Continuing  this  morning's  session,  we 
shall  now  resume  the  discussion  on  Chile.  The  Chilean  delegates  are  here  to 
answer  any  questions  which  you  might  have  in  regard  to  the  commercial  relations 
with  Chile. 

MR.  R.  W.  ORCUTT  (New  York)  :  I  should  like  to  ask  Mr.  Montenegro 
what  steps  are  being  taken  in  Chile  today  to  develop  its  manufacturing. 

SR.  MONTENEGRO:  I  think  that  is  a  very  broad  question  to  put  up 
and  so  it  could  be  answered  only  in  very  general  terms.  Since  the  war  started  in 
1914,  Chile  received  an  impetus  toward  the  development  of  its  industrial  resources 


34  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

in  proportionately  the  same  way  as  the  United  States  received  in  the  general 
trade  business,  so,  as  soon  as  the  imports  began  to  fall,  Chile  by  way  of  necessity, 
by  the  spirit  of  its  inhabitants,  began  to  show  a  determination  to  develop  its  own 
resources  and  to  manufacture  with  its  own  means  the  things  which  it  most  needed. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  manufacture  of  paper.  They  have  been  for  about 
ten  years  manufacturing  gummed  wrapping  paper  in  Chile  at  the  Puente  Alto  Com- 
pany, supplying  the  needs  of  the  merchants  in  that  product  but  not  venturing  to 
go  any  further.  Since  the  war  started,  however,  this  factory  has  enlarged  its 
plant  and  now  I  think  has  succeeded  in  making  a  better  kind  of  paper,  not  quite 
so  good  as  writing  paper,  but  we  expect  that  we  will  have  something  of  the  kind 
in  the  near  future. 

In  the  furniture  and  in  the  foundry  business,  we.  have  developed  very 
materially,  as  was  shown  at  the  Exposition  we  held  at  Santiago,  in  1915  where 
almost  every  home  article  was  manufactured  in  the  Chilean  factories  and,  what  is 
more  important  yet,  by  Chilean  workingmen.  Many  of  these  concerns  are  foreign 
named — French,  English,  American — but  all  the  personnel  is  national  and  this,  I 
think,  shows  very  plainly  the  disposition  of  the  Chilean  race  to  assimilate  and 
work  together  with  foreign  industrial  men. 

SR.  H.  E.  CORONADO:  I  would  like  to  ask  a  question  regarding  the  con- 
dition of  the  highways  and  roads  of  Chile. 

SR.  MONTENEGRO:  I  think  I  can  say  that  the  Chilean  roads  are  no  worse 
than  other  South  American  roads.  On  the  other  hand,  Chile  has  been  trying 
through  two  agencies  to  improve  the  roads.  We  should  begin  by  mentioning  the 
unusual  condition  of  the  country — a  very  rough,  mountainous  land  that  makes  it 
very  difficult  and  expensive  to  improve  the  highways.  Under  this  conditions  Chile 
has  been  working  for  many  years  to  improve  its  public  ways,  and  we  have  two 
agents  working — the  Government,  which  improves  the  general  road,  what  we  call 
"el  camino  real,"  and  the  municipal  roads  that  are  improved  or  -should  be  im- 
proved by  the  municipality. 

In  and  around  Santiago  you  will  find  many  good  roads.  I  may  cite  an 
example  of  what  has  been  done.  We  have  been  making  trips  from  Santiago  to 
Concepcion,  about  300  miles,  in  record  time  without  accident  and  you  should  con- 
sider that  the  country,  as  I  said,  is  full  of  hills  and  rivers  and  very  difficult 
natural  surfaces.  Very  much  depends  upon  the  material  that  you  put  in  your 
roads  to  improve  them,  and  so  the  principal  aim  in  Chile  now  is  the  conservation 
rather  than  the  building  of  the  roads.  While  we  have  spent  a  great  deal  of  money 
in  fixing  up  the  roads,  I  must  confess  we  have  not  developed  yet  the  means  of 
keeping  them  in  good  repair.  In  this  regard,  I  think  the  American  engineers  can 
teach  very  useful  things  to  our  road  builders. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  There  being  no  further  questions  on 
Chile,  we  will  now  pass  on  to  Colombia.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to 
you  Sefior  Francisco  Escobar,  the  Consul  General  of  Colombia  in  New  York,  who 
will  lead  the  discussion  on  his  country. 

SR.  FRANCISCO  ESCOBAR  read  the  paper  which  appears  on  page  138. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  have  here  Mr.  Jose  M.  Coronado, 
of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff,  who  has  just  returned  from  Colombia,  and  I 
am  sure  he  will  be  glad  to  answer  any  question  he  can.  I  would  like  to  ask  him 
about  the  development  of  ports  on  the  west  coast  of  Colombia;  also  the  develop- 
ment of  railroads  into  the  interior. 

SR.  JOSE  M.  CORONADO:  On  the  Pacific  Coast  nothing  has  been  done. 
The  Government  has  just  signed  a  contract  with  a  firm  in  New  York  for  the  build- 
ing of  a  port  at  Buenaventura,  and  a  pier,  because  the  water  is  very  shallow  there, 
and  they  are  going  to  start  this  work  right  away.  (See  page  139.) 

MR.  C.  VOGEL  (Philadelphia) :  Then  the  only  way  to  get  into  the  interior 
there  would  be  via  Barranquilla? 

SR.  CORONADO:    By  Barranquilla  and  Cartagena,  both. 

CAPTAIN  A.  V.  DALRYMPLE  (Washington) :  I  would  like  to  know  if  any- 
thing is  being  done  to  standarize  the  railroads  or  the  different  lengths  of  railroads 
running  up  to  Bogota.  I  understand  there  has  to  be  a  trans-shipment  of  freight 
going  up  to  Bogota.  That  is,  you  have  a  short  section  of  railroad  and  then  you 
have  some  water  transportation.  Is  the  Government  of  Colombia  doing  anything 
to  standardize  this  method  of  transportation  so  as  to  avoid  trans-shipment  two  or 
three  times? 


TUESDAY  AFTERNOON  SESSION  35 

SR.  CORONADO:  The  Colombian  Government  has  a  forty-mile  railroad 
that  will  be  lengthened,  and  already  five  million  dollars  have  been  appropriated 
for  that  work.  The  commission  is  now  at  work,  though  it  will  take  several  years 
to  complete  the  project,  of  course.  They  have  a  special  service  now  called  the 
mail  service.  There  is  a  special  boat  leaving  every  Monday  afternoon  and  making 
connections  with  all  railroads  on  the  way  and  reaching  Bogota  the  following  week 
by  Tuesday  or  Wednesday.  The  other  way  takes  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  days 
to  go. 

CAPTAIN  M.  L.  McCULLOUGH  (Washington) :  I  would  like  to  ask  whether 
the  Government  of  Colombia  is  interesting  itself  in  any  way  in  aviation  as  an  aid 
to  the  commerce  of  the  country. 

SR.  CORONADO:  It  would  be  a  great  help  for  the  country  and  the  Gov 
ernment  has  had  several  offers  already.  The  Handley-Paige  Company  and 
another  English  concern  have  made  offers  to  Colombia,  but  the  Government  does 
not  want  to  accept  them  or  give  the  privilege  exclusively  to  anyone  in  particular. 
Anybody  can  carry  the  mails  and  they  are  going  to  make  application  for  that 
service  in  the  different  countries  The  Consuls  General  of  Colombia  in  New 
York,  London,  and  Paris  will  take  care  of  the  applications  in  the  different  coun- 
tries and  the  Government  will  consider  the  best  proposals  on  the  matter. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Now  we  come  to  Costa  Rica;  we  are 
very  fortunate  in  having  with  us  one  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of  San 
Jose,  whose  name  is  well  known  there  and  in  this  country — John  Meiggs  Keith, 
who  although  ill  and  indisposed,  has  consented  to  come  here  and  say  a  few  words 
of  a  practical  nature  in  regard  to  the  commerce  of  Costa  Rica. 

MR.  JOHN  MEIGGS  KEITH  (San  Jose,  Costa  Rica),  read  the  paper  which 
appears  on  page  144. 

MR.  BOAZ  LONG,  American  Minister  in  El  Salvador:  Would  you  mind 
giving  us  just  a  little  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  development  of  mines  near  Punta 
Arenas  on  the  western  coast? 

MR.  KEITH:  Costa  Rica  has  only  three  large  and  prosperous  mines,  one  the 
Abengares,  which  produces  about  fifty-five  thousand  tons  a  month ;  the  Aguacate 
mine  which  produces  about  fifteen  thousand  tons  a  month,  and  the  Union  mine, 
more  or  less  the  same. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  are  going  to 
pass  on  to  Cuba. 

It  is  necessary  for  me  now  to  absent  myself;  so  I  am  going  to  turn  over 
the  meeting  for  the  time  to  the  First  Assistant  and  Secretary  of  the  Conference, 
Mr.  John  Vavasour  Noel. 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  next  speaker  on  the 
program  is  a  brilliant  .diplomat  from  Cuba  who  will  tell  us  about  that  country.  I 
am  sure  that  Senor  Porfirio  A.  Bonet,  Commercial  Attache  of  the  Cuban  Legation, 
will  be  able  to  give  us  some  interesting  information. 

SR.  PORFIRIO  A.  BONET  read  the  paper  which  appears  on  page  146. 

SR.  BONET:  I  want  to  state  before  I  go  that  the  Cuban  Legation  has 
a  commercial  department  where  we  would  be  very  glad  to  give  all  kind  of  in- 
formation regarding  commerce. 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  We  are  fortunate  in  having  with  us  today  an  able 
and  intelligent  official  from  one  of  the  countries  in  South  America  that  has  a  great 
future.  I  refer  to  Senor  Gustavo  R.  de  Ycaza,  Consul  General  of  Ecuador,  who 
has  left  his  occupations  in  New  York  to  come  especially  to  say  something  to  us 
about  his  native  land. 

THE  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  ECUADOR  IN  NEW  YORK  read  the  paper 
given  on  page  156. 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  We  have  on  the  program  now  a  very  interesting 
country  which  we  know  a  great  deal  of.  It  is  Guatemala.  I  have  the  honor  to 
present  Senor  Francisco  Latour,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Guatemala,  who  will  give 
us  some  illuminating  facts  about  his  picturesque  land. 


36  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

THE  CHARGE  D'AFFAIRES  OF  GUATEMALA  read  the  paper  which  ap- 
pears on  page  158. 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  If  any  questions  relating  to  Guatemala  may  come  into 
your  mind,  Mr.  Prem,  Adviser  to  the  Special  Guatemalan  Mission,  and  Mr. 
Arenales  are  also  here. 

SR.  H.  E.  CORONADO:  I  should  like  to  ask  a  question  regarding  the  ex- 
ploitation of  the  mines,  whether  or  not  the  mechanical  tools  that  have  been  used 
so  successfully  in  the  United  States  have  been  used  in  the  mines  there.  This 
applies  especially  to  rubber  goods  used,  for  instance,  on  transmissions.  Leather  is 
very  scarce  today  on  account  of  the  European  war,  and  rubber  has  been  of  won- 
derful value  in  the  mines  of  the  United  States. 

SR.  LATOUR:  There  are  many  mines  there;  unfortunately  they  are  not  very 
well  developed  as  yet,  but  in  those  that  are  developed  we  use  as  "much  modern 
machinery  as  we  can.  I  should  be  very  glad  to  discuss  this  matter  with  you  pri- 
vately, for  it  is  something  in  which  I  arn  interested. 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  We  are  honored  today  by  the  presence  of  a  member 
of  our  Governing  Board,  M.  Charles  Moravia,  Minister  of  Haiti,  who  was  for  a 
considerable  time  Consul  General  in  New  York  and  who  has  a  deep  and  funda- 
mental knowledge,  not  only  of  the  commercial  situation,  but  of  the  intellectual 
development  of  his  country,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  brilliant  literary  men.  I 
take  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr.  Charles  Moravia,  the  Minister  of  Haiti. 

THE  MINISTER  OF  HAITI  read  the  paper  given  on  page  166. 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  The  next  country  that  is  going  to  be  discussed  is 
Honduras.  We  have  with  us  today  Sefior  R.  Camilo  Diaz,  Charge  d'Affaires,  whom 
I  take  pleasure  in  introducing. 

THE  CHARGE  D'AFFAIRES  OF  HONDURAS  read  the  paper  given  on 
page  171. 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  We  will  now  proceed  to  the  next  country  on  the 
program.  Gentlemen,  we  have  the  honor  of  having  here  today  the  distinguished 
Charge  d'Affaires,  Sefior  Juan  B.  Rojo,  one  of  the  brilliant  young  diplomats  of 
Mexico,  who  will  now  address  the  Conference. 

THE  CHARGE  D'AFFAIRES  OF  MEXICO  read  the  paper  given  on  page  175. 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  On  account  of  the  unavoidable  absence  of  His 
Excellency,  Sefior  Diego  Manuel  Chamorro.  the  Minister  of  Nicaragua,  I  will  ask 
an  able  young  business  man  of  the  modern  type  from  Nicaragua,  a  member  of  a 
well  known  house  of  that  country,  to  say  a  few  words  about  Nicaragua  in  its 
commercial  aspects.  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  Sefior  Pedro  Gomez,  of 
Nicaragua. 

SR.  PEDRO  GOMEZ  read  the  paper  given  on  page  178. 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  I  have  now  the  honor  to  introduce  to  you  Sefior 
J.  E.  Lefevre,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Panama. 

THE  CHARGE  D'AFFAIRES  OF  PANAMA:  Gentlemen:  I  will  not  take 
much  of  my  time.  My  address  is  rather  brief  and  will  be  limited  to  the  time 
allotted  to  every  one  of  us.  I  will  give  you  just  a  little  information  about  my 
country  in  a  few  brief  points.  (He  then  read  the  paper  on  page  182.) 

MR.  NOEL,  presiding:  Are  there  any  questions  on  Panama  which  anyone 
desires  to  ask? 

MR.  R.  H.  HEPBURN  (Philadelphia):  What  are  the  agricultural  develop- 
ments in  the  neighborhood  of  Chiriqui. 

SR.  LEFEVRE:  It  is  one  of  our  largest  and  most  progressive  provinces, 
the  main  industry  there  being  cattle  raising,  and  agriculture  follows  second.  Then 
comes  sugar  cane,  at  present  a  large  American  corporation,  the  Panama  Sugar 
Company,  has  a  large  sugar  mill. 

The  Government  has  built  in  Chiriqui  our  first  national  railroad  which 
starts  in  the  lower  sections  and  will  be  extended  to  the  new  sugar  region  of  La 
Chorrera;  so  sugar  cane  is  really  the  next  important  agricultural  item  that  has 


TUESDAY   EVENING   SESSION^  37 

been  developed  there.  Of  course,  it  is  a  good  rice  country,  not  only  producing  rice 
for  local  consumption,  but  exporting  considerably.  However,  lately  the  demand  for 
labor  in  other  lines,  I  would  not  advise  anybody  to  go  into  rice  unless  he  went  on  a1 
very  large  scale.  The  largest  trouble  would  be  with  the  threshing  of  the  grain, 
which  requires  certain  delicate  machinery.  The  coffee  which  they  raise  makes 
it  self-supporting  and  also  contributes  to  the  necessities  of  business. 

(Director  General  Barrett  resumed  the  Chair.) 

(  Announcements. ) 

Adjournment. 


EVENING  SESSION 

The  conference  was  called  to  order  at  8.30  o'clock  by  the  Director  General, 
who  presided  over  the  session. 

(Announcements. ) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  now  pass  to  the  consideration  of 
Paraguay.  It  is  with  real  pleasure  that  I  shall  present  to  you  one  of  the  great 
constructive  statesmen  of  that  country,  which  occupies  such  an  interesting  place 
in  the  heart  of  South  America,  bounded  as  it  is  by,  and  connecting  up,  Brazil  and 
Argentina  and  Bolivia,  a  country  of  great  potentiality  with  a  wonderful  history. 
The  man  who  will  speak  to  you  has  done  more  than  almost  any  other  man  to 
make  Paraguay  what  she  is  at  present.  I  have  great  satisfaction  in  introducing  to 
you  the  Minister  of  Paraguay  to  the  United  States — Senor  Gondra. 

THE  MINISTER  OF  PARAGUAY:  Mr.  Chairman— Gentlemen :  The  pres- 
ent being  a  commercial  conference,  the  Chairman  has,  with  happy  thought,  applied 
to  oratory  the  principle  of  allocation. 

I  shall  have  then  to  avail  myself  of  the  regulation  ten  minutes  by  telling  you 
in  substance  what  might  be  of  interest  with  respect  to  the  commerce  of  my  country. 
I  shall  begin  by  saying  for  you  that  the  figures  extracted  from  our  commercial  statis- 
tics are  made  up  in  accordance  with  the  old  Tariff  of  Valuation  of  1909  for  the 
collection  of  customs  dues — valuations  that  are  now  much  too  low.  Accordingly,  as 
may  be  seen  from  the  recent  report  of  the  American  Consul  at  Asuncion,  the  total, 
actual  value,  of  the  commerce  of  Paraguay  for  1917  amounts  to  more  than  100,000,- 
000  francs,  or  nearly  $21,000,000.  The  figures  for  1916 — incomplete — are  possibly 
slightly  below  this  amount,  due  to  the  rigid  embargo  beginning  1912.  It  will  be 
interesting  to  note  that  during  the  first  nine  months  of  1918,  in  imports  and  exports 
the  United  States  stood  third  and  second  respectively,  as  against  fourth  and  eleventh 
in  1914.  In  addition  let  me  say  that  the  statistics  that  we  are  accustomed  to  quote, 
are  not  exact,  because  all  the  foreign  trade  of  Paraguay,  an  inland  country,  is  effected 
through  the  ports  of  neighboring  countries,  and  oftentimes  they  are  credited  to  the 
countries  of  these  ports — this  being  particularly  the  case  with  one  important 
product,  quebracho  extract.  Furthermore,  many  are  the  American  articles  that 
we  purchase  in  the  markets  of  neighboring  countries,  through  lack  of  direct  ship- 
ping communication  with  the  United  States. 

Of  recent  years  direct  relations  have  been  more  earnestly  sought,  and  today 
the  number  of  consignments  made  by  means  of  the  parcel  post  is  considerable.  The 
war,  producing  an  almost  complete  stoppage  of  commerce,  imposed — so  as  to  speak — 
a  dietary  regime,  which  is  always  an  advantage  when  commercial  credit  is  in  the 
question.  Favored  by  this  forced  restriction  and  by  the  enormous  advance  in  the 
prices  of  merchandize  previously  introduced,  our  commerce  has  paid  almost  all 
the  balances  of  its  foreign  accounts,  and  according  to  the  last  message  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Republic,  is  well  on  the  road  to  recovery. 

Simultaneously  with  the  commercial  improvement,  a  financial  reaction  has 
taken  place.  Strict  and  administrative  retrenchment  has  resulted,  during  the  last 
fiscal  year,  in  producing  a  surplus  of  4,500,000  pesos  paper,  a  circumstance  which 
united  with  the  lowering  of  the  exchange  rate,  indicated  the  time  as  opportune  to 
attempt  the  problem  of  stabilizing  the  value  of  our  currency. 

Important  to  the  same  end  are  the  favorable  balances  of  our  trade,  through 
the  development  of  certain  industries  whose  growth  may  be  taken  as  assured,  such  as 
the  meat  industry — three  important  American  plants  having  been  installed  within 
the  past  two  years — the  tanning  business,  sugar  refining  and  other  agricultural  enter- 
prises. 


38  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

In  this  regard  the  economic  policy  of  my  country  is  that  of  limiting  to  its 
capacity  for  consumption  those  domestic  products  that  are  not  of  export  demand, 
or  that  are  of  a  disadvantage  in  competition  with  like  foreign  articles.  Instead  it 
vigorously  encourages  the  production  of  those  that  are  adapted  to  meet  competition 
in  the  world  trade. 

In  this  sense  the  Banco  Agricola  encourages  the  cultivation  of  tobacco, 
regarding  which  staple  I  may  say  that  in  the  opinion  of  foreign  experts  who  have 
made  a  close  study  of  the  Paraguayan  leaf  it  promises  to  be  among  the  best  to  be 
found  in  the  market. 

The  growth  of  cotton — once  cultivated  on  a  large  scale,  and  of  a  superior 
quality,  is  being  stimulated.  As  indicating  the  importance  of  this  product  I  may 
state  that  Mr.  Atkinson,  an  American  expert,  has  declared  that  the  cotton  of  Para- 
guay is  one  of  the  very  few  that  might  with  success  compete  with  that  of  the 
United  States.  Likewise,  yerba  mate,  cultivated,  a  product  formerly  found  only 
in  its  wild  state;  generally  known  as  Paraguay  Tea,  it  is  commencing  to  make 
steady  inroads  into  the  markets  of  the  United  States  and  Europe. 

With  these  few  remarks  I  have  consumed  the  time  that  has  been  assigned  by 
the  Chairman.  A  paper  to  be  included  in  the  proceedings  of  the  conference,  will 
contain  in  detail  data  with  respect  to  our  general  commerce,  and  in  particular  with 
regard  to  Paraguay's  relation  with  the  United  States. 

In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Walter  B.  Graham,  who  is  connected  with  the  Legation 
under  my  charge,  and  a  participant  in  this  conference,  will  give  whatever  informa- 
tion may  be  desired,  regarding  matters  related  to  our  economic,  industrial  and 
commercial  conditions. 

In  conclusion  permit  me  to  congratulate  the  illustrious  colleagues  of  the 
Governing  Board  and  the  Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union  who  have 
so  successfully  organized  this  conference.  (The  paper  on  Paraguay  is  on  page  184.} 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Is  there  anyone  here,  aside  from  the 
Minister,  who  is  prepared  to  answer  questions  in  regard  to  Paraguay? 

Mr.  Chandler,  formerly  of  the  State  Department,  now  of  the  Corn  Exchange 
National  Bank,  Philadelphia,  has  the  floor. 

MR.  CHARLES  LYON  CHANDLER:  Paraguay  has  a  population  of  six 
hundred  thousand  people.  It  is  a  great  cattle  raising  country.  Tex  Riccard,  you 
know,  the  man  who  got  up  the  prize  rights,  went  up  there -and  is  organizing  his 
big  cattle  ranches  in  Paraguay  and  raising  the  finest  kind  of  cattle,  meat  and  beef 
and  has  had  experts  come  there  to  look  things  over,  and  Paraguay  is  going  to  be 
the  land  of  the  cheap  meats  very  soon.  Asuncion  is  a  beautiful  city  of  eighty 
thousand  people,  where  Remington  Typewriters  have  been  sold  since  1896. 

MR.  W.  B.  GRAHAM  (Washington) :  There  are  one  or  two  things  I  would 
like  to  mention.  The  Honorable  Vice-President  yesterday  was  good  enough  to 
mention  the  Yerba~ Mate  as  one  of  the  special  products  of  the  country.  Now,  a 
great  many  of  you  don't  know  what  it  is.  If  you  will  take  care  before  you  leave 
the  Conference  here  and  step  into  the  office  of  the  Secretary,  you,  can  get  a  sample 
of  this  product  of  the  country.  It  is  drunk  by  perhaps  twenty-five  or  thirty  million 
people,  generally  throughout  the  southern  part  of  South  America  and  a  great  part 
of  Europe  and  it  is  being  introduced  now  into  the  United  States.  There  are 
several  dealers  in  Baltimore,  Washington,  Philadelphia,  San  Antonio  and  San 
Francisco  who  handle  it. 

It  is,  in  the  first  place,  pleasant  to  the  taste;  in  the  second  place,  it  is  very 
reasonable  and  sells  in  the  ground  for  five  to  ten  cents  a  pound  and  one  pound 
of  it  will  last  as  long  as  four  pounds  of  the  ordinary  kind  of  tea.  It  contains  no 
tannin,  which  is  the  one  agent  of  China  tea  which  is  deleterious  to  the  stomach. 
When  you  drink  a  cup  of  China  tea  and  go  to  bed  you  cannot  sleep.  You  can 
drink  a  dozen  cups  of  Yerba  Mate  and  fall  into  the  pleasantest  slumber  and 
sweetest  dreams  you  ever  had,  and,  as  the  Vice-President  stated,  you  wake  up  the 
next  morning  with  a  clear  head. 

There  is  one  point  about  Paraguay  and  that  is  it  is  going  to  be  the  great 
meat  producer  of  South  America.  Our  experience  in  the  United  States  has  shown 
that  their  land  is  good  for  agriculture  only  and  where  the  grazing  land  of  the 
west,  where  years  ago  we  found  agriculture  driving  the  cattle  away,  where  there 
is  less  than  one-sixth  per  cent,  of  one  animal  per  capita  in  the  country,  we  find  in 
Paraguay  the  per  capita  animal  population  is  about  6%.  During  the  last  two  years 
there  have  been  three  great  branches  of  the  United  States  packers  established 
there— the  International  Products  Company,  of  New  York;  Swift  &  Co.,  of 


TUESDAY   EVENING   SESSION  39 

Chicago,  and  Morris  &  Co.,  of  Chicago,  and  at  present  there  are  other  people  on 
the  ground  planning  further  extensions. 

The  only  thing  that  Paraguay  needs  immediately  is  better  transportation 
facilities.  At  the  present  time  all  goods  sent  from  Paraguay  must  be  shipped  at 
Montevideo  or  Buenos  Aires.  This  entails  additional  expense  and  a  loss  of  time. 
If  some  enterprising  shipping  concern  could  arrange  bi-monthly  or  monthly  ship- 
ments direct,  they  would  be  assured  of  a  full  cargo  for  return  and  also  be  assured 
of  customers  down  there  to  take  the  capacity  of  the  ship. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Tell  us  something  about  the  banking 
and  financing  and  shipping  connections  there. 

MR.  GRAHAM:  The  shipping  connections  with  Paraguay  are  by  way  of 
Buenos  Aires  and  Montevideo.  When  you  make  a  shipment  there  it  is  necessary 
to  have  your  papers  stamped  also  by  the  Consul  of  Argentina  or  Uruguay.  This 
is  an  expense  in  the  case  of  Uruguay  but  Argentina  has  arranged  so  that  there  is  no 
additional  expense.  But  after  the  shipping  has  reached  the  port,  it  is  necessary  to 
then  move  it  by  lighter  to  a  smaller  boat  for  shipment  up  the  river.  It  takes 
about  twenty-five  or  thirty  days  for  a  shipment  to  go  from  New  York  to  Asuncion 
as  a  rule,  and  about  the  same  time  for  a  shipment  back.  The  rate  before  the  war 
was  about  $20  a  ton,  sometimes  more,  depending  upon  the  quality  and  the  classes 
of  goods. 

It  is  necessary  down  there  to  cater  to  the  domestic  wants,  to  their  tastes. 
For  instance,  in  men's  clothing  and  shoes,  they  used  English  leather  and  followed 
English  styles;  for  women's  clothing  they  used  French  styles.  They  use  the 
metric  system,  and  if  I  must  use  a  homely  expression  that  George  Ade  once  used, 
I  can  give  you  the  principle  of  their  buying  in  a  few  words — they,  give  the  people 
what  they  think  they  want,  not  what  they  want.  If  the  American  dealers  will 
do  that,  they  will  find  the  Paraguayans  are  ready  buyers  and  good  payers. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARREJTT:  The  Ambassador  of  Peru  spoke  this 
morning,  and  there  will  be  nothing  further  on  Peru,  but  Mr.  Alvarez  of  Peru  is 
here  to  answer  any  question,  as  also  Mr.  Hurtler  and  Mr.  John  Vavasour  Noel. 
We  are  now  ready  for  any  question  in  regard  to  Peru.  Then,  as  there  are  no 
questions  I  will  give  Mr.  Alvarez  three  minutes  in  which  he  can  say  something 
practical  about  Peru. 

SR.  CARLOS  ALVAREZ  CALDERON,  of  Peru:  The  general  conditions  are 
extremely  good  because  the  war,  of  course,  has  formed  a  market  for  pur  products. 
Our  currency,  our  rate  of  exchange  has  gone  up  very  much  indeed  until  the 
Peruvian  pound  is  now  worth  over  five  dollars. 

There  is  much  new  railway  construction  contemplated  in  Peru.  We  have 
several  projects  under  study  and  some  of  them  have  been  begun.  There  is  the 
very  important  one  of  the  Pan  American  Railway  in  which  several  people  have 
been  very  much  interested  which  will  go  from  the  Pacific  Coast  right  into  the 
interior  and  tap  the  tropical  zone  where  all  the  different  ports  on  the  Amazon  River 
are  touched,  and  bring  the  products  of  that  zone  to  the  Pacific  side.  That,  of 
course,  has  been  studied  and  there  have  been  several  projects. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Noel,  we  will  allot  you  two  and 
a  half  minutes. 

MR.  NOEL:  The  question  is  that  the  time  allotted  to  me  does  not  permit  me 
to  do  justice  to  the  subject.  I  spent  five  years  of  my  life  in  Peru,  I  know  the 
country  and  I  am  ready  to  answer  questions  and  help  anybody  who  wants  to  go 
there.  I  have  done  that  for  years.  Some  months  ago  a  young  man  came  to  me 
who  wanted  to  know  what  the  opportunities  were  in  Peru  and  I  encouraged  him 
to  go  there.  I  am  going  to  refer  to  him  and  he  can  tell  you  briefly  what  his 
experience  was  as  a  young  American  in  Peru  and  what  his  impressions  were. 
I  refer  to  Mr.  Hurtler. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Hurtler,  we  will  be  glad  to  have 
you  occupy  the  rest  of  that  time. 

MR.  HENRY  HURTLER  (New  York):  About  a  year  and  a  half  ago  I  left 
for  Peru  where  I  was  seven  months.  I  traveled  from  the  northern  most  port  of 
Payta  down  the  coast  to  Mollendo.  I  visited  all  the  interior  towns  and  also  Lima. 
I  found  the  people  very  friendly  and  opened  a  business  especially  with  Americans, 


ARGENTINA 

FOREIGN*  COMMERCE  1917 

TOTAlc  ^71Z,598,000. 


UNITED  STATES 
*  64-,  989, 000. 


TUESDAY    EVENING    SESSION  41 

and  I  can  only  say  that  my  experience  in  Peru  has  been  very  pleasant  in  every 
respect.  I  believe  that  it  is  a  field  which  the  American  manufacturer  can  enter 
with  success  and  benefit,  and  I  hope  that  in  the  very  near  future  the  American 
manufacturer  will  show  more  interest  in  the  Peruvian  market. 

The  financial  conditions  are  very  good,  the  houses  are  of  the  highest  order 
and  would  like  very  much  to  trade  with  the  American  manufacturers,  who  should 
send  their  representatives  into  that  market.  They  will  find  that  the  business 
results  will  be  very  encouraging. 

I  hope  some  day  to  go  back  to  Peru  and  know  more  about  the  country, 
which  I  believe  has  very  great  possibilities. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  will  now  proceed  to  Salvador.  We 
have  here  the  distinguished  Secretary  of  the  Legation,  Senor  Atilio  Peccorini. 

THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  LEGATION  OF  EL  SALVADOR  read  the  paper 
on  page  204. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Has  anyone  here  a  question  about  El 
Salvador  before  we  pass  from  the  consideration  of  that  country. 

MR.  V.  L.  HAVENS  (New  York) :  I  would  like  to  know  what  the  condi- 
tions regarding  railway  connections  between  Salvador  and  Guatemala  are. 

SR.  PECCORINI:  There  -is  only  one  railroad  line  in  project  and  that  has 
been  for  some  time,  but  they  have  not  been  able  to  carry  it  through  to  execution. 

MR.  HAVENS:    What  is  that  on  account  of? 

SR.  PECCORINI:  It  was  on  account  of  the  war  that  the  execution  of 
the  project  has  been  delayed  so  long.  Communication  at  present  by  railroad 
reaches  very  nearly  to  the  frontier  of  Guatemala,  and  there  is  only  a  short  piece 
of  railroad  to  be  built  so  as  to  reach  as  far  as  Zacapa  and  from  there  to  the 
Atlantic. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  If  there  are  no  other  questions  about 
El  Salvador  we  shall  take  up  the  discussion  on  Uruguay.  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
introducing  to  you  Senor  Jose  Richling,  Consul  General  of  Uruguay  at  large.  I 
have  known  him  a  great  many  years.  He  is  one  of  the  most  efficient  representa- 
tives of  any  Latin  American  country  in  New  York  and  he  represents  a  country 
today  which,  though  small  in  area,  plays  a  mighty  part  in  the  commercial  and 
political  development  of  Latin  America.  There  is  no  President  of  all  Latin 
America  that  I  think  we  can  respect  more  than  President  Brum.  You  remember 
the  remarkable  visit  he  made  to  this  country  recently  and  the  great  sentiments  of 
Pan  Americanism  that  he  expressed. 

Uruguay  is  in  every  way  endeavoring  to  build  up  Pan  American  commerce, 
offering  opportunities  to  the  capital  and  to  the  business  of  this  country,  and  I 
am  sure  that  a  few  words  from  Mr.  Richling  will  be  most  appropriate,  instruc- 
tive and  interesting. 

THE  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  URUGUAY  AT  LARGE  read  the  paper  given 
on  page  206. 

MRS.  JOAN  CALLEY  (Washington) :  Would  you  tell  us  something  about 
the  moving  picture  theatres  of  Montevideo  and  Uruguay? 

SR.  RICHLING:  Practically  everything  important  from  the  United  States 
is  sold  by  contract  to  the  concerns  there,  but  I  think  there  is  something  which 
could  be  done  still. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Can  you  tell  us  just  a  word  about  the 
present  terminal  and  dock  facilities  of  Montevideo?  We  have  a  great  many  ques- 
tions about  that. 

SR.  RICHLING:  The  port  of  Montevideo  is  our  pride.  We  have  spent 
there  about  twenty  million  dollars  and  we  think  it  is  second  to  none  in  the  world. 
Ships  go  to  the  docks  and  unload  there  very  quickly.  The  charges  of  the  port 
are  supposed  to  be  the  lowest  in  the  world,  they  are  practically  nominal  as  we  are 
encouraging  tonnage  and  merchandise  to  come  to  Montevideo  even  if  it  is  not 
intended  for  the  country.  It  goes  from  there  to  Paraguay,  Bolivia,  and  even  to 
Argentina. 


42  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Is  there  much  demand  or  opportunity 
there  now  for  United  States  capital  ? 

SR.  RICHLING:  The  country,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  express  it  this 
way,  has  lots  of  money  now  and  we  are  taking  care  of  ourselves,  but  you  know 
that  money  is  merchandise  the  same  as  anything  else  and  whoever  offers  it  more 
cheaply  will  have  a  very  good  investment,  so  it  is  up  to  the  American  investors 
to  see  that  they  make  the  most  attractive  offer. 

SENHOR  SAMPAIO:  You  ask  about  the  navigation  and  transportation  of 
Paraguay.  There  are  two  lines  of  navigation  now.  One  line  comes  from  Buenos 
Aires  to  New  York  which  was  started  last  month.  Another  line  is  an  old  line, 
started  many  years  ago,  from  Rio  de  Janiero  into  Paraguay  serving  Montevideo, 
Asuncion  and  Buenos  Aires. 

LIEUT.  J.  P.  MOFFITT  (Washington) :  What  is  it  that  we  produce  in  the 
United  States  that  the  people  of  Uruguay  need  mostly;  on  the  other  hand,  what 
has  Uruguay  for  us?  I  would  like  to  get  your  ideas  as  to  just  those  two  points. 

SR.  RICHLING:  That  is  a  rather  difficult  or  comprehensive  question.  For 
instance,  last  year  what  you  exported  most  to  Uruguay  was  sugar — what  you 
bought  from  Cuba.  In  former  years  what  we  bought  from  you  was  machinery; 
during  the  war  it  was  iron,  steel  and  coal,  and  we  have  tried  to  trade  our  wool 
to  you  here,  hides  and  everything  that  we  do  not  sell  elsewhere. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  will  bring  this  session  to  a  close 
by  considering  a  country  which,  though  last  in  the  alphabet,  is  not  least  by  any 
means.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  we  have  on  the  platform  here  the  eminent  Minister 
of  Venezuela,  Dr.  Santos  A.  Dominici,  one  of  the  most  popular  and  best  loved 
of  the  American  diplomats  in  this  city,  and  Venezuela  has  named  as  its  special 
representative  at  this  Conference  its  special  agent  in  the  United  States,  Dr.  Jose 
Santiago  Rodriguez,  who  stands  in  the  foremost  ranks  of  those  men  who  are 
informed  on  all  South  America  and  especially  his  country,  Venezuela,  the  nearest 
point  of  which  is  less  in  distance  from  Key  West,  our  southernmost  point,  than 
Washington  from  Kansas  City. 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  Dr.  Jose  Santiago  Rodriguez. 

DR.  JOSE  SANTIAGO  RODRIGUEZ  read  the  paper  on  page  209. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Is  there  any  question  in  regard  to 
Venezuela? 

Before  we  proceed,  I  want  to  call  to  the  attention  of  this  audience  a  most 
remarkable  fact.  Here  more  than  twenty  papers  have  been  presented  by  distin- 
guished. Latin  Americans,  and  with  only  one  or  two  exceptions  they  have  been 
read  in  the  English  language.  I  wonder  how  many  Americans,  under  similar 
circumstances,  could  do  one  tenth  as  well  in  Spanish. 

.  There  has  never-  been  in  Washington  or  in  this  country  or  in  the  western 
hemisphere  a  more  Pan  American  Conference  than  this.  Up  to  the  present  time 
three-fourths  of  the  discussion  has  been  carried  on  by  Latin  Americans ;  the  United 
States  representatives  generally  have  the  habit  of  holding  all  those  things  to 
themselves,  but  I  am  glad  to  say  that  this  Conference  has  been  characterized  by 
exceptional  participation  and  attendance  by  distinguished  Latin  Americans.  We 
will  have  in  our  printed  proceedings  one  of  the  most  remarkable  records  that  has 
ever  been  printed  in  any  book. 

(Motion  pictures  are  shown.) 

Adjournment. 


WEDNESDAY,  JUNE  4,  1919 
MORNING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  9.30  o'clock  by  Director  General 
Barrett,  who  presided. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  In  welcoming  you  here  this  morning, 
there  are  two  or  three  general  observations  that  I  desire  to  make  for  the  benefit 
of  thos.e  who  are  here  for  the  first  time  this  morning. 

(Announcements.) 

I  cannot  tell  you  what  pleasure  I  have  in  introducing  the  first  speaker  of 
this  morning.  I  go  back  to  the  time  when  he  was  the  distinguished  President  of 
the  Illinois  Manufacturers'  Association,  and  I  said,  "There's  a  man  whom  I  want 
to  get  interested  in  Pan  American  affairs."  Through  his  own  natural  tendency 
to  take  an  interest  in  things  that  were  coming  on  and  through  my  own  little 
efforts,  we  finally  aroused  his  interest  to  a  splendid  point  where  he  led  a  great 
delegation  of  the  Illinois  Manufacturers'  Association  for  a  trip  around  Latin 
America.  On  that  occasion  his  eyes  were  opened  as  never  before  to  the  future  of 
the  United  States  in  Pan  American  commerce  and  trade.  He  came  back  and  made 
a  report  that  attracted  the  attention  of  the  entire  land.  From  that  moment  the 
sun  of  illumination  of  this  distinguished  man  began  to  rise  rapidly  in  the  heavens 
until  now  we  might  say,  in  the  opinion  of  the  American  people,  it  is  very  near  the 
zenith. 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you,  as  the  first  speaker  of  the  morn- 
ing, Hon.  Edward  N.  Hurley,  the  Chairman  of  the  United  States  Shipping  Board. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  U.  S.  SHIPPING  BOARD  delivered  the  address 
given  on  page  223. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  you  all  agree  with  me  that 
it  was  worth  holding  the  Conference  just  to  hear  from  Mr.  Hurley  those  words 
as  coming  from  one  who  has  been  intimately  associated  with  this  Pan  American 
movement  for  nearly  eighteen  years,  as  meaning  more  for  the  practical  develop- 
ment of  Pan  American  commerce  and,  therefore,  Pan  American  friendship,  than 
anything  that  has  been  said  from  this  platform.  Are  there  any  questions  you 
desire  to  ask  Mr.  Hurley? 

DR.  ROJO:  I  was  very  much  pleased  to  hear  the  speech  of  Chairman 
Hurley,  and  I  wish  only  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  commerce  between 
Mexico  and  the  United  States  will  be  tremendously  increased  with  better  means 
of  ship  communication.  During  the  last  year  Mexico  sold  to  the  United  State's 
three  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars.  Think  of  that,  three  hundred  and  fifty 
millions !  That  is  95  per  cent,  of  our  exports.  We  have  depended  only  on  railway 
communication,  but  I  am  sure  that  when  we  have  larger  shipping  transportation 
we  will  sell  and  buy  from  the  United  States  at  least  double  that  amount.  It  will 
be  a  great  assistance  for  our  mutual  commerce,  if  sometime  the  Shipping  Board 
would  consider  plans  for  a  larger  traffic  with  Mexico.  I  would  desire  to  know  if 
Mexico  is  considered  in  the  projects  of  the  Board. 

MR.  HURLEY:  I  will  be  very  glad  to  answer  your  question  by  saying  that 
in  balancing  our  fleet  and  planning  for  the  ships  we  now  have  to  the  respective 
ports  throughout  the  world,  we  have  Mexico  in  mind  and  our  plans  are  very 
complete.  We  will  be  glad  to  show  them  to  you  if  you  come  down  to  the  Shipping 
Board. 

MR.  W.  N.  DICKINSON  (New  York) :  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Hurley 
whether  or  not  they  confine  the  points  of  call  of  the  fast  steamers  to  Rio,  Monte- 
video and  Buenos  Aires,  or  whether  they  will  call  at  one  or  two  of  the  ports  on 
the  coast  further  north. 

MR.  HURLEY:  We  are  planning  to  have  a  real  fast  ship  and  then  a  slower 
ship  following,  and  divide  the  ports  of  call  between  the  two,  giving  service  to 
both,  not  interfering  with  the  fast  service  between  New  York  and  the  main  ports. 


44  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

MR.  DICKINSON:  The  fast  ships  would  call  at  the  three  capitals,  the 
others  pick  up  the  individual  points? 

MR.  HURLEY:  The  other  ports  will  be  divided  between  a  real  fast  ship 
and  a  slower  ship. 

MR.  H.  RICHARDS,  Jr.  (New  York) :  As  the  weights  and  measures  of 
South  America  are  metric,  I  would  like  to  ask  if  it  would  be  possible  to  have  the 
shipping  on  these  lines  arranged  to  be  in.  metric  weights  and  measures. 

MR.  HURLEY:  I  have  not  taken  that  up  yet.  I  am  troubled  enough 
with  trying  to  get  the  ships  themselves. 

MR.  S.  L.  WEAVER  (Los  Angeles) :  I  am  interested  in  this  trip  on  the 
Mount  Vernon  to  South  America.  May  I  ask  if  only  delegates  are  entitled  to  go 
on.  that  trip  and  how  soon  we  will  have  to  make  reservations  ? 

MR.  HURLEY:  Between  August  1st  and  November  1st.  And  first  come, 
first  served.  We  cannot  draw  the  line  and  say  who  is  going  to  go,  but  it  has  to 
be  representative  business  men  and  bankers  and  men  who  are  seriously  thinking 
regarding  the  future  of  Pan  American  trade.  No  tourist  will  go. 

MISS  C.  E.  MASON  (Pan  American  Round  Table) :  I  would  like  to  ask  if 
this  is  to  be  confined  entirely  to  gentlemen  interested  in  commercial,  financial 
lines  or  whether  it  would  be  in  order  for  a  special  delegation  of  women  to  go 
preparatory  to  their  later  larger  meetings  in  South  America — to  be  sent  there 
to  make  preliminary  arrangements  for  their  large  meeting  in  1921. 

MR.  HURLEY:   We  will  be  very  glad  to  include  a  delegation  of  ladies. 

MR.  WING  B.  ALLEN  (New  York) :  I  would  like  to  inquire  if  it  will  not 
be  possible  to  take  several  ships.  It  seems  to  me  I  know  about  seven  thousand 
people  who  want  to  go.  Can  you  only  give  us  one  ship? 

MR.  HURLEY:    We  are  lucky  to  get  that. 

MR.  ALLEN:  A  prominent  merchant  on  Fifth  Avenue  approached  me  the 
other  day  and  wanted  to  know  if  some  such  ship  could  not  be  arranged.  He  said 
there  would  be  a  thousand  merchants  on  Fifth  Avenue  in  New  York  who  would 
like  to  take  that  trip,  to  investigate  the  markets  down  there,  to  become  acquainted 
with  those  countries  and  to  extend  a  friendly  hand.  Can  we  only  have  one  ship  ? 

MR.  HURLEY:  You  are  going  to  have  weekly  sailings  in  about  two  or 
three  weeks  after  that.  We  can  not  take  them  all  on  one  ship. 

MR.  C.  S.  WELLS  (Boston) :  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Hurley  if  the  direct 
sailings  are  being  planned  from  other  ports  than  New  York.  Will  there  be  any 
sailings  from  Boston? 

MR.  HURLEY:     No,  sir.     From  New  York  and  New  Orleans. 

MR.  MONTENEGRO:  I  do  not  wish  to  bother  Mr.  Hurley,  but  there  are 
some  South  American  countries  that  have  their  own  merchant  marine,  I  know  my 
country  does,  and  I  wish  to  know  what  welcome  will  be  extended  to  ships  of 
foreign  countries  coming  to  the  States. 

MR.  HURLEY:  Every  ship  will  be  welcome  to  our  ports  the  same  as  we 
expect  our  ships,  with  pur  flags,  will  be  welcome  to  every  other  port  in  the 
world.  That  is  reciprocity.  We  particularly  welcome  the  Chilean  ships. 

MR.  MONTENEGRO:  TV«Vo  were  some  restrictions,  I  think,  for  foreign 
ships  in  the  United  States.  I  mean  that  the  American  flag  was  favored  in  man> 
ways.  Will  there  be  any  difference  between  the  treatment  of  ships? 

MR.  HURLEY:  No,  we  intend  to  carry  fifty  per  cent,  of  our  commerce 
only,  our  exports,  which  amounts  to  forty  million  tons  a  year.  Our  imports  are 
twenty  million  tons.  We  expect  you  to  bring  your  imports  in  here  in  your  ships, 
and  in  balancing  our  fleet  we  are  not  figuring  on  moving  100  per  cent,  of  our 
exports,  we  are  only  figuring  on  moving  50  per  cent.,  giving  you  an  opportunity 
to  take  a  cargo  back  to  Chile. 

I  will  say  for  the  benefit  of  the  gentlemen  here  that  are  not  familiar  with 
the  figures,  that  England  has  never  exported  or  moved  in  her  bottoms  over  57 
per  cent,  of  her  entire  commerce.  There  will  be  no  discrimination  against  Chile 
or  any  other  country. 

MR.  MONTENEGRO:  My  idea  was  the  difference  between  the  regulations 
of  one  country  and  another,  and  I  wish  to  know  if  you  will  make  our  crew,  or 
engineers,  for  instance,  to  conform  to  the  American  regulations  when  they  come  to 
the  States? 


WEDNESDAY    MORNING   SESSION  45 

MR.  HURLEY:  No,  but  you  must  conform  to  the  laws  and  regulations  of 
every  port  and  carry  out  our  instructions,  but  with  your  own  people.  If  your 
crew  deserted  here  and  you  wanted  to  employ  our  men,  you  would  have  to  comply 
with  our  regulations  but  if  a  ship  comes  in  here  with  a  full  crew,  and  no  one  in- 
terferes with  you  and  you  go  back  home  with  your  own  crew,  that  is  all  there  is 
to  it. 

MR.  C.  VOGEL  (Philadelphia) :  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Hurley  the  reason 
why  no  vessels  are  allocated  to  Philadelphia  for  the  eastern  coast  of  South 
America. 

MR.  HURLEY;  I  think  there  is  a  special  cargo  line  going  to  sail  from 
the  Philadelphia  port  and  also  from  Baltimore. 

MR.  VOGEL:  I  understood  you  to  say  New  York  and  New  Orleans. 

MR.  HURLEY:  Every  principal  port  in  South  America  will  have  special 
service,  and  that  applies  to  the  Pacific,  the  Atlantic  and  the  Gulf.  We  are  going 
to  try  and  divide  this  seventeen  or  eighteen  million  tons  of  shipping  that  we  have 
equitably  throughout  the  country  so  that  the  congestion  will  be  relieved.  Mobile, 
Galveston,  etc.,  have  facilities  that  they  can  use  to  much  better  advantage  than 
they  are  now  using  them.  I  am  now  working  with  Philadelphia  on  that  plan. 

MR.  MORRIS  B.  BOGART  (Buenos  Aires) :  Do  you  believe  that  in  nor- 
mal times  we  will  be  able  to  maintain  freight  rates  on  returning  cargoes  on  the 
River  Plate,  particularly  on  heavy  products,  from  the  United  States  on  the  same 
basis  as  rates  from  Continental  ports. 

MR.  HURLEY:  What  have  you  in  mind,  the  wage  scale  or  operation  of 
the  fleet? 

MR.  BOGART:  Whether  we  will  have  equal  freight  rates  on  goods  from 
the  United  States  as  from  European  ports  to  the  River  Plate.  Are  we  going  to 
be  able  to  buy  them  from  the  United  States  and  ship  them  on  an  equal  basis  as 
far  as  freight  rates  are  concerned? 

MR.  HURLEY:  First  I  will  say  yes,  and  second  if  we  do  not  we  are  out  of 
business  and  that  is  what  competition  is  going  to  develop.  We  are  not  fearful  of 
the  other  fellow  and  we  are  not  frightened  as  to  what  he  is  going  to  do  to  us. 
If  we  cannot  compete  first  in  freight  rates  and  second  in  our  products,  we  all 
know  what  is  going  to  happen.  The  South  American  is  going  to  buy  not  only 
where  he  can  get  the  best  and  cheapest  goods,  but  also  at  the  most  favorable 
freight  rates. 

The  question  of  the  cost  of  operating  the  fleet,  compared  to  other  nations — 
we  are  not  fearful  of  that  at  all.  We  can  compete  with  them  under  the  present 
conditions  that  exist  throughout  the  world.  The  wage  scale  on  the  different 
ships  outside  of  Greece  and  Japan  are  about  the  same  and  in  many  cases  they  are 
higher.  When  you  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  out  of  thirty-five  million 
tons  of  world  shipping  Greece  has  four  hundred  thousand  tons  and.  Japan  has  a 
million  and  a  half.  They  pay  lower  wages  to  their  seamen  and  their  crew,  but 
Norway  and  Sweden  pay  more  than  we  do.  England  pays  $72  for  a  seaman,  we 
pay  $75.  We  have  more  men  on  our  ships,  but  taking  into  consideration  the 
additional  crew,  the  additional  men  in  the  crews,  it  amounts  to  less  than  2  per  cent, 
of  the  cost  of  operation  and  the  total  cost  of  operating  a  ship  (that  is,  as  far  as 
wages  are  concerned)  is  about  6  per  cent,  of  the  total  cost  of  operating  a  ship. 
That  margin  is  so  small  that  it  is  not  going  to  interfere  with  the  freight  rates. 
Other  things  will  have  to  enter  into  it  and  we  are  going  into  this  thing  with  the 
feeling  that  we  are  going  to  compete  in  the  markets  of  the  world  fairly  and 
squarely,  first  with  our  products  and  second  with  our  ships,  and  if  we  do  not  go 
into  battle  saying  we  are  going  to  win,  you  gentlemen  know  what  will  happen 
to  us. 

MAJOR  HARRY  DAVIS  (General  Staff,  Washington) :  I  am  especially  in- 
terested in  the  commerce  of  Colombia  and  I  should  like  to  know  whether  it  is  the 
intention  of  the  Shipping  Board  to  send  shipping  facilities  to  the  coast  of  Colombia. 

MR.  HURLEY:  We  are  going  to  make  a  stop  on  the  coast  of  Colombia  and 
on  down  to  Valparaiso  the  same  as  we  are  planning  on  the  East  coast.  We  are 
going  to  have  sufficient  service  first  to  give  fast  service  to  the  principal  ports  like 
Valparaiso  and  New  Orleans  and  Mobile  and  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  the 
other  ports.  In  between  we  are  going  to  run  .ships  that  will  take  turns  in  making 
the  stops  and  give  first  class  service  to  Colombia.  We  are  planning  not  to  neglect 


46  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

a  single  country  in  Latin  America.  We  are  just  as  anxious  as  you  are  to  have 
our  ships  stop  and  give  you  real  service. 

MAJOR  DAVIS:  I  am  principally  interested  in  the  shipping  to  Barran- 
quilla. 

MR.  HURLEY:  We  have  it  all  worked  out  on  the  chart  showing  what  the 
regular  service  is  to  be. 

MR.  CRAWFORD  (Philadelphia):  I  would  like  to  ask  if  any  provisions 
are  being  made  toward  the  improvement  of  what  might  be  considered  the  lesser 
ports  of  South  America. 

MR.  HURLEY:     Yes,  it  is  all  included. 

MR.  H.  W.  HEEGSTRA  (Chicago) :  Is  the  purpose  of  this  trip  to  be  one 
purely  for  information  for  those  who  go  or  will  business  exploitation  be  permitted 
also? 

MR.  HURLEY:  You  can  talk  anything  you  want.  We  are  not  going  to 
have  any  restrictions. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  have  heard  from  the  Chairman  of 
the  United  States  Shipping  Board,  expressing  the  governmental  relationship  to 
this  problem.  Now  we  are  going  to  have  a  few  brief  words  from  the  head  of 
one  of  the  greatest  and  most  interesting  ports  of  the  United  States,  the  most 
interested  port  of  the  United  States  because  of  its  peculiar  location  in  the  field  of 
Pan  American  trade.  '  You  have  all  been  impressed  with  the  new  life  that  has 
come  to  New  Orleans,  you  have  been  reading  these  wonderful  advertisements, 
appearing  in  the  papers.  Back  of  this,  as  a  main  spring  of  this  interest  and  the 
one  who  has  been  eminently  constructive  in  the  era  of  New  Orleans  is  the  next 
speaker.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Honorable  Martin  Behrman, 
Mayor  of  New  Orleans. 

THE  MAYOR  OF  NEW  ORLEANS  delivered  the  speech  which  appears  on 
pag€  225. 

DR.  ROJO:  Mr.  Mayor,-!  want  to  ask  you:  New  Orleans  is  one  of  the 
ports  that  has  more  traffic  with  Mexican  ports,  especially  with  Progreso,  of  the 
State  of  Yucatan.  This  traffic  is  principally  of  hemp  (sisal).  There  have  been 
lately  in  your  port  some  restrictions  against  Mexican  shipments,  of  the  quarantine ; 
it  delays  freight  and  passengers  three  or  four  days  and  this  restriction  is  badly 
resented  both  by  American  and  Mexican  merchants.  I  feel  it  would  be  wise  to 
request  your  help  in  order  to  remove  that  quarantine  for  the  mutual  benefit  of 
your  port  and  the  Mexican  ports,  as  there  is  no  foundation  now  at  all  to  have 
this  quarantine  in  existence. 

MAYOR  BEHRMAN:  It  would  be  well  to  take  up  that  matter  with  the 
United  States  Public  Health  Service. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Any  other  questions  to  ask  Mayor 
Behrman?  If  not  we  shall  proceed  with  the  program.  I  am  very  glad,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  that  we  could  have  Dr.  Grosvenor  M.  Jones,  Assistant  Director  of  the 
Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  here  because  he  is  certainly,  without 
any  exaggeration  or  flattery,  one  of  the  b«st  qualified,  all-around  men  in  that 
splendidly  equipped  and  manned  Bureau  of  the  Department  of  Commerce.  I  have 
great  pleasure  in  introducing  him. 

DR.  GROSVENOR  M.  JONES:  After  that  flattering  introduction,  I  hardly 
know  where  to  begin,  but  the  Chairman  of  the  Shipping  Board,  in  his  address  and 
his  answers  to  the  questions  from  the  floor,  has  so  fully  covered  the  subject  that 
1  was  to  speak  about  that  I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  very  few  remarks. 

The  Department  of  Commerce  has  a  vital  interest  in  shipping.  Without 
ships  there  can  be  little  or  no  international  trade.  Fortunately,  due  to  the  splendid 
efforts  of  the  Shipping  Board,  we  have  not  had  to  concern  ourselves  very  much 
with  the  development  of  shipping.  That  has  been  a  great  relief  to  us  and  we  have 
been  able,  therefore,  to  concentrate  our  efforts  on  trade  promotion,  knowing  that 
as  our  trade  develops  ships  will  be  found.  (Dr.  Jones  then  read  the  paper  given 
on  page  227.) 


WEDNESDAY    MORNING    SESSION  47 

MR.  W.  C.  KRETZ  (New  York  City) :  I  have  listened  to  Mr.  Jones'  address 
with  a  great  deal  of  interest,  especially  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  traveler,  and 
particularly  what  he  said  about  the  inter-island  connections  because  I  have  traveled 
around  there  a  great  deal  and  I  know  it  is  very  hard  to  get  round.  But  the  point 
that  came  into  my  mind  was  whether  Mr.  Jones  or  the  Department^  of  Commerce 
had  in  mind  that  the  Government  would  assist  the  shipping  lines  in  any  way  to 
carry  out  that  program.  After  all,  it  costs  a  good  deal  of  money  for  a  steamer 
or  any  kind  of  vessel  to  make  a  port.  It  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  expensive 
operations  that  they  can  do — to  stop  and  start  again.  No  private  shipping  line 
would  therefore  make  a  port  like  St.  Thomas  from  and  to  which  freight  could  be 
moved,  presumably  quite  small,  without  some  sort  of  inducement.  If  they  had 
enough  passengers  or  freight  it  would  be  worth  while,  but  merely  as  a  matter  of 
convenience  it  would  not. 

Does  the  Shipping  Board  or  the  Department  of  Commerce  have  any  idea 
of  assisting  the  traveling  public  by  helping  the  shipping  lines  to  make  these  ports  ? 

MR.  JONES:  That  brings  up  a  question  of  policy.  A  few  years  ago  I  was 
called  upon  to  prepare  some  data  on  this  subject  for  the  Government,  and  the 
reviewers  of  my  book  (when  completed)  suggested  that  I  was  antagonistic  to  the 
policy  of  government  aid.  I  have  changed  my  notions  somewhat  in  the  last  four 
years  and  personally  I  should  favor  government  aid  in  the  form  of  mail  sub- 
ventions (not  a  general  subsidy  grant)  and  I  think  that  the  Government  would 
get  back  of  such  a  line  with  such  aid,  were  it  absolutely  necessary  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  such  a  line. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  are  very  fortunate  in  having  the  op- 
portunity of  listening  to  a  most  practical  man  on  the  shipping  question,  a  man  who 
has  studied  it  from  A  to  Z,  and  is  familiar  with  every  phase  of  it.  I  have,  there- 
fore, great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  that  export  on  Pan  American  shipping, 
Mr.  George  L.  Duval,  of  Wessel,  Duval  &  Co.,  New  York. 

MR.  GEORGE  L.  DUVAL  delivered  the  address  given  on  page  229. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  If  there  are  no  questions  on  the  very 
illuminating  address  delivered  by  Mr.  Duval,  I  am  going  to  allow  Congressman 
McDuffie  of  Mobile  to  express  the  idea  of  a  resolution  he  desires  to  read  to  the 
Conference. 

CONGRESSMAN  JOHN  McDUFFIE,  of  Mobile,  Alabama:  Mr.  Chairman:  I 
am  very  grateful  for  this  opportunity  and  I  will  not  detain  the  Conference  more 
than  two  minutes. 

In  my  judgment,  the  distinguished  Mayor  of  New  Orleans  has  sounded  the 
keynote  of  commercial  relations  between  this  big  family,  North  and  South  America. 
The  question  of  an  open  port,  a  free  port,  and  I  deem  it  not  a  mistake,  in  fact 
highly  important  that  this  great  body  of  representatives  should  think  along  that 
particular  line  not  for  the  benefit  of  Mobile,  not  for  the  benefit  of  New  Orleans 
or  any  other  single  locality  but  to  stimulate,  if  you  please,  the  commercial  and 
friendly  relations  between  these  nations. 

This  is  not  a  resolution  for  you  to  pass  on,  as  the  Chairman  has  explained, 
but  simply  contains  the  thought  that  I  am  trying  to  express — that  the  establish- 
ment of  the  zones  where  products  from  all  countries  can  be  assembled,  classified, 
manufactured  and  re-shipped  will  be  of  great  assistance  in  developing  full  cargoes 
both  ways  and  assure  the  permanency  of  our  American  merchant  marine.  The 
American  has  never  yet  set  his  heart  on  anything  that  he  hasn't  accomplished  it. 
Whenever  he  set  his  heart  on  the  field  of  battle,  he  has  won ;  in  the  air,  he  has  won. 
And  the  American  merchant  marine  will  meet  the  competition  Chairman  Hurley 
spoke  of  this  morning. 

"Whereas,  Congressman  J.  Y.  Sanders  has  introduced  to  Congress  bill  No. 
H.  R.  10892  for  the  establishment,  operation  and  maintenance  of  free  zones  in  or 
adjacent  to  ports  of  entry  in  the  Continental  United  States: 

"Whereas,  The  establishment  of  such  zones  where  products  from  all  coun- 
tries can  be  assembled,  classified,  manufactured  and  reshipped  will  be  of  great 
assistance  in  developing  full  cargoes  both  ways  and  assure  the  permanency  of  our 
American  Merchant  Marine,  and  Whereas, 

"Latin  American  countries  are  becoming  more  and  more  a  source  of  raw 
material,  and  as  none  of  these  countries  have  yet  developed  manufacturing  indus- 


48  SECOND  PAN    AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

tries  to  handle  home  consumption,  for  the  lack  of  capital  and  other  economic 
reasons,  and,  whereas : 

"The  establishment  of  those  free  zones  in  the  Continental  United  States  will 
promote  the  development  of  the  resources  of  these  marvelous  countries  by  turning 
them  into  finished  products  and  selling  them  to  the  world. 

"Resolved:  That  the  Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  recog- 
nizes the  wisdom  and  the  necessity  of  establishing  free  zones  within  the  Continental 
United  States  and  urges  that  Congress  favor  the  passage  of  the  said  bill. 

"Be  It  Further  Resolved:  That  a  copy  of  this  Resolution  be  sent  to  every 
Senator,  Congressman  and  Representative  of  the  United  States." 

Those  things  I  pray  you  may  think  of,  my  friends,  and  urge  your  representa- 
tive in  Congress  to  advocate  that  bill  which  has  been  introduced  by  Governor 
Sanders,  now  representative  from  Louisiana,  asking  Congress  to  give  every  port 
an  opportunity  to  declare  itself  a  free  port  in  the  event  it  sees  fit. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  when  we 
had  the  last  Pan  American  Conference  eight  years  ago,  if  anyone  had  suggested 
that  one  of  the  prominent  features  on  the  program  should  be  aviation  as  an  aid 
to  commerce,  they  would  have  said  "You  are  crazy!"  But  now  it  is  before  us  in  a 
most  practical  way.  I  wish  we  had  more  time,  a  whole  session,  to  devote  to  the 
consideration  of  this  subject.  I  am  going  to  call  upon  the  well-known  Secretary 
of  the  Aero  Club  of  America,  Mr.  Augustus  Post,  to  bring  a  message  from  the 
President  of  that  organization. 

MR.  AUGUSTUS  POST    read  the  paper   which  appears  on  page  235. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  will  hold  the  questions  until  we 
have  finished  the  leading  speakers.  Captain  Glidden,  I  have  great  pleasure  in  in- 
troducing you  because  you  are  an  old  personal  friend  of  mine.  I  once  made  a 
balloon  ascent  with  him  several  years  ago  in  Massachusetts  and  I  know  his  real 
quality.  We  will  be  very  glad  to  have  a  few  words  from  you. 

CAPTAIN  CHARLES  J.  GLIDDEN  read  the  paper  given  on  page  236. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  had  asked  General  Menoher  to  be 
here  and  speak  to  us.  I  am  sorry  he  could  not  have  been  here  himself.  I  have 
now  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  one  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  the 
relationship  of  aeronautics  to  Pan  American  commerce  and  I  am  sure  you  will 
be  glad  to  hear  from  him  in  a  brief  statement  of  what  he  has  in  mind.  Captain 
Max  L.  McCullough,  of  the  United  States  Army  Air  Service. 

CAPTAIN  MAX  L.  McCULLOUGH  delivered  the  address  given  on  page  237. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  These  three  papers  on  aviation  have 
been  most  interesting,  but  I  will  tell  their  authors  frankly  -that  none  of  them  have 
told  the  Latin  Americans  what  they  want  to  know,  which  is  exactly  how  and  what 
can  be  done  in  building  up  the  commerce  through  aviation.  I  hope,  therefore,  you 
will  bring  this  out  in  your  papers  specifically.  The  reason  this  was  put  on  the 
program  was  to  have  you  point  out  how  aviation  would  build  up  Pan  American 
commerce.  For  instance,  tell  us  how  aviation  would  promote  commerce  between 
Para  at  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  and  Manaos  or  Iquitos  up  the  Amazon,  or 
between  Santiago  across  the  Andes  to  Buenos  Aires?  What  are  the  specific  ways 
that  that  would  facilitate  commerce  above  the  present  method? 

MR.  POST:  I  can  answer  that  by  saying — put  the  airplanes  right  on  the 
routes  and  you  will  do  in  hours  what  you  do  in  days  by  your  present  methods  of 
transportation  across  the  plains  and  between  the  countries.  In  the  mail  service 
here  they  have  carried  nine  million  pieces  of  mail  from  New  York  to  Washing- 
ton, they  have  covered  a  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thousand  miles  in  the  year 
that  they  have  operated  the  mail  service  between  New  York  and  Washington 
and  have  done  it  at  a  cost  of  a  little  over  thirty  odd  cents  per  mile.  They  have 
exceeded  the  speed  of  any  other  method  of  transportation  in  the  carrying  of  the 


WEDNESDAY    MORNING    SESSION  49 

.  mail  and   it  is  only  a  question  of  carrying  express  and  later  passengers  on  this 
service. 

Second,  it  makes  accessible  all  those  places  in  South  America  that  are 
difficult  of  surveying  in  other  ways  for  topographical  reasons,  for  the  making  of 
maps,  for  commercial  investigation,  for  going  out  and  prospecting  countries,  for 
looking  over  your  rubber  plantations  or  your  mineral  deposits,  for  going  around 
to  herds,  to  oil  wells,  etc. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  want  to  ask  you  one  question  which 
four  or  five  Latin  Americans  have  asked  me.  What  are  the  early  prospects  of  fast 
mail  service  between  New  York  and  Mobile  or  Key  West,  and  New  Orleans,  with 
the  ports  of  Mexico,  Central  America  and  South  America? 

MR.  POST:  Mr.  Hoover  is  going  down  within  the  next  two  weeks.  He 
is  getting  married  on  Wednesday  and  then  he  is  going  down  on  this  expedition, 
flying  all  the  way.  If  big  boats  can  cross  the  Atlantic  carrying  twenty-eight 
thousand  pounds,  why  they  can  take  mail  and  express  right  down  to  Rio  or  any 
other  place. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Is  there  any  specific  plan  being  organ- 
ized? 

MR.  POST:  The  United  States  Post  Office  Department  has  already  laid  out 
routes  and  I  understand  as  soon  as  their  appropriations  are  available  they  will  ex- 
tend the  mail  down  the  Atlantic  Coast  to  Cuba,  and  I  know  the  President  of  Cuba 
through  his  representative  is  buying  two  ships  to  put  on  between  the  United  States 
and  Cuba.  That  is  a  start.  Havana  will  probably  be  the  central  point  between 
the  United  States  and  South  America,  and  they  are  preparing  by  making  their  har-r 
bors  and  landing  places,  and  getting  in  touch  with  the  practical  possibilities,  and  it 
is  going  to  cut  the  time  down  by  hours.  This  has  all  come  in  two  or  three  years — 
so  rapidly  we  can  hardly  keep  'up  with  it. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Here  is  another  question:  In  this 
service  that  may  be  established,  will  .there  be  government  airplanes  carrying  mail 
from  the  southern  coast  points  to  South  and  Central  America  or  will  they  be 
privately  owned  companies  under  contract  to  the  Government.  And  has  anything 
specific  been  started  along  that  line? 

MR.  POST:  The  Government  runs  the  mail  line  between  New  York  and 
Washington.  They  hope  to  extend  it  but  I  hope  that  they  will  have  to  have  the 
cooperation  of  the  army.  There  will  be  individual  firms  in  South  America  and 
other  parts  of  this  country  which  will  take  contracts,  and  that  is  the  way  it  should 
be  done,  I  believe,  with  a  subsidy  from  the  Government.  It  is  quite  possible  to 
work  out  these  plans  in  a  very  practical  manner,  so  we  will  know  exactly  every 
dollar  that  is  going  out  and  every  cent  of  profit  that  is  coming  in. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  What  would  be  the  average  cost  of  an 
airplane  capable  of  carrying  enough  mail  to  be  worth  while  from  Key  West  or 
New  Orleans  to  Panama  or  some  port  on  the  coast  of  Colombia  or  Venezuela? 

MR.  POST:  The  small  boats  that  would  take  that  service  might  be  had 
for  upward  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars;  larger  planes  up  to  fifty  thousand  dollars 
with  a  double  motor.  The  large  pknes  like  the  NC-1  would  cost  well  up  over 
a  hundred  thousand  dollars.  That  is  a  new  element  entirely,  but  we  find  the 
Mayor  of  New  Orleans  has  said  that  the  problem  will  be  worked  out  as  to 
whether  we  shall  take  speed  as  the  first  element  in  South  America.  I  am  sure, 
however,  it  is  a  factor  in  business  and  commerce  and  where  that  comes  in,  the 
airplane  is  bound  to  follow.  The  airplane  keeps  pace  with  all  the  other  new  in- 
ventions and  modern  possibilities  and  will  solve  our  problems  of  finance  as  well 
as  where  speed  is  an  important  element,  as  it  must  be  to  a  business  man  who  may 
have  to  spend  six  weeks  going  up  the  Amazon  River  when  he  could  go  up  in  six 
days  by  using  the  airplane.  In  Africa  they  go  over  the  desert,  doing  in  six  hours 
what  the  camel  trains  do  in  six  weeks.  Of  course  I  do  not  mean  that  you  have 
any  such  hard  conditions  in  South  America. 

MR.  L.  H.  LIPMAN  (New  York  City) :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  did  not  come  here 
to  advertise  my  company,  but  as  a  question  has  been  asked  as  to  what  practical 


BOLIVIA 

FOREIGN*  COMMERCE 1917 

TOTAL.  <fr  74,580,000. 


UNITED    STATES 
2^,193.000. 


WEDNESDAY    AFTERNOON    SESSION  51 

benefit  will  result  from  aviation,  I  would  like  to  say  that  the  company  I  repre- 
sent, the  Sapolio  manufacturers  of  New  York,  has  actually  made  a  shipment  of 
Sapolio  from  Key  West  to  Cuba  by  an  airplane  and  when  it  landed  in  Cuba  the 
people  there  gave  it  such  an  ovation  that  they  made  a  raid  on  the  airplane  and 
collected  every  cake  of  Sapolio  and  distributed  it  as  souvenirs  of  the  trip. 

MR.  POST:  I  know  of  two  other  large  companies  which  are  considering 
sending  their  salesmen  out  in  an  airplane  for  selling,  realizing  the  advertising  value 
thereof.  The  Standard  Oil  Company  has  bought  six  ships,  I  understand,  to  go 
along  the  border  of  Mexico  for  taking  the  pay  roll  around  to  the  different  oil 
companies. 

(Announcements  by  the  Director  General.) 

Adjournment. 


AFTERNOON  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  2:45  o'clock  by  Director  General 
Barrett,  who  presided. 

(  Announcements. ) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  The  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign 
and  Domestic  Commerce  probably  has  given  as  close  a  study  to  all  phases  of  the 
commerce  of  the  United  States  with  other  countries  as  any  man  today  in  the  fore- 
front of  governmental  activities  and  we  are  very  fortunate  in  having  him  with  us 
this  afternoon.  I  have  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Dr.  Burwell  S.  Cutler,  the 
Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  of  the  Department  of 
Commerce. 

DR.  BURWELL  S.  CUTLER:  Mr.  Director  General,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen 
of  the  Conference:  I  shall  lay  myself  open  possibly  to  criticism  now  and  then  in 
the  very  brief  discussion  in  which  I  will  indulge,  on  account  of  generality.  Since, 
however,  I  have  the  honor  of  opening  the  discussion,  I  cannot  very  well  encroach 
upon  the  ground  of  following  speakers  who  will  be  pleased  to  discuss  this  subject 
in  detail. 

It  has  ever  been  true  that  no  community  of  action  can  be  brought  about  be- 
tween two  or  more  individuals  without  a  community  of  interest.  (He  then  read 
the  paper  given  on  page  239.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Are  there  any  questions  on  this  paper? 

MR.  D.  R.  MARTINEZ  (Philadelphia) :  Is  there  any  arrangement  being  made 
by  the  Latin  American  Republics  in  regard  to  the  protection  of  the  copyright  or 
label,  or  trademark  or  name,  whereby  the  copyrighting  of  that  name  in  any  one 
designated  city  would  give  it  value  all  throughout  Latin  America.  We  are  having 
considerable  trouble  with  the  copyrighting  of  names. 

MR.  CUTLER:  I  can  tell  you  in  general  terms  that  for  the  last  two  years 
there  has  been  a  very  active  tendency  in  that  direction,  resulting  in  proposed  legis- 
lation and  the  adoption  of  a  bill,  which  may  lake  the  form  of  a  convention.  It  is 
proposed  to  have  headquarters  at  Havana  with  offices  north  and  south,  and  an  ad- 
visory office  there  looking  to  that  very  purpose  of  the  protection  of  trademarks 
mutually.  Considerable  progress  has  been  made  also  in  detecting  infringement 
everywhere  and  securing  remedy  through  that  central  office. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  That  subject  is  coming  up  for  discus- 
sion tonight  and  among  the  eminent  speakers  and  authorities  who  will  be  here  is 
Dr.  Mario  Diaz  Yrizar,  the  head  of  the  International  Trade  Mark  Bureau  in 
Havana. 

MR.  FREDERICK  TODD  (National  City  Bank) :  Mr.  Cutler  referred  to  an 
arrangement  being  made  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  Are  there  any  steps  being 
taken  to  make  similar  arrangements  with  other  stock  exchanges  of  South  America? 

MR.  CUTLER:  If  someone  representing  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the 
United  States  is  here  they  can  better  answer  that.  I  shall  say  from  my  own 
knowledge,  however,  that  invitations  have  been  extended  to  many  other  of  the 


52  SECOND  PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

Latin  American  countries  and  three  invitations  now  are  in  the  way  of  being 
accepted. 

I  see  Mr.  Robert  S.  Barrett,  former  Commercial  Attache  to  Buenos  Aires, 
who  can  answer  that  better  than  I  can. 

MR.  ROBERT  S.  BARRETT:  I  want  to  ask  a  question  to  bring  out  the  dis- 
cussion on  this  point.  I  want  to  ask  Mr.  Cutler  if  he  thinks  it  possible  or  reason- 
able to  establish  some  sort  of  licensing  system  in  the  United  States  by  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission  or  some  other  body,  by  which  firms  desiring  to  do  export 
business  would  be  compelled  to  file  a  statement  before  the  Federal  Trade  Com- 
mission or  some  similar  body  and  satisfy  them  that  they  are  financially  responsible, 
experienced  and  prepared  to  do  an  export  business  in  South  America.  The  trouble 
has  been  that  the  small  man,  the  beginner,  the  unprepared,  the  irresponsible  concern 
in  the  United  States  would  try  to  do  an  export  business  and  take  the  cream  off 
the  market  without  desiring  to  stay  therein.  We  all  know  that  the  small  and  irre- 
sponsible firm  who  fails  to  comply  with  his  contract  in  South  America  reflects  upon 
everyone  else  in  the  trade.  One  bad  apple  will  spoil  the  whole  basket,  and  so  it  is 
in  fore'ign  trade  and  particularly  in  Argentina,  where  they  have  very  little  means 
of  ascertaining  the  responsibility  of  American  concerns.  The  small,  irresponsible 
man  who  prints  his  letterhead  with  some  high-sounding  name  Export  and  Import 
Company,  with  the  picture  of  the  building  in  which  he  has  his  office,  puts  "Authorized 
Capital,  a  million  dollars,"  at  the  top  of  his  letterhead,  goes  down  into  that  country 
and  plays  havoc  with  all  the  responsible  merchants  who  are  dealing  legitimately 
in  the  South  American  market. 

Is  it  feasible,  is  it  desirable  to  have  some  governing  body  in  the  United 
States  adopt  some  form  of  investigation  or  some  form  of  license  before  a  firm  can 
go  into  the  export  business? 

MR.  CUTLER:  Personally,  I  should  very  much  like  to  see  some  such  clear- 
ing house  for  this  circulation  of  information  regarding  the  integrity  of  concerns 
who  are  trying  to  do  business  in  South  America.  At  present  the  new  American 
branch  banks  of  the  National  City  group,  the  Guaranty  group,  the  First  National 
of  Boston,  and  the  rest  of  them,  I  think  would  be  very  glad  to  report  on  the  re- 
liability of  any  concern  of  this  country  if  inquiry  is  made  of  them  down  there  a'nd 
without  any  charge,  unless  it  be  the  customary  cable  charges. 

I  think  it  is  quite  a  feasible  thing,  but  I  know  that  it  could  not  be  made 
compulsory.  If  the  best  concerns  in  the  United  States  voluntarily  submitted  them- 
selves to  be  inspected  and  passed  on  by  Federal  Trade  Commission  or  the  De- 
partment of  Commerce  or  any  other  reliable  agency,  and  being  thereby  listed  would 
be  known  to  South  American  traders,  it  would  help  a  lot-  It  certainly  would  do 
one  thing — it  would  legitimatize  commercial  curiosity  and  anybody  that  can  survive 
that  is  entitled  to  the  business. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  If  there  is  one  thing,  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, that  has  characterized  this  Conference,  it  has  been  the  large  number  of  dis- 
tinguished and  able  Latin  Americans  that  have  participated.  There  has  been  no 
Conference  ever  held  here  where  that  has  been  more  characteristic  than  it  has  in 
this  one.  We  are  now  to  hear  from  one  of  the  really  great  and  constructive  men 
of  Mexico,  a  man  who  has  been  the  Director  of  the  Bank  of  the  Nation  there,  who 
is  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  great  department  stores,  who  has  been  (if  not  now) 
the  President  of  the  Confederation  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  all  Mexico  and 
who  is  in  this  country  to  attend  to  private  business  matters.  He  has  consented  to 
come  here  and  say  a  few  words  to  us.  As  he  speaks  fluently  only  in  Spanish,  Dr. 
Jose  Romero,  of  the  National  City  Bank,  will  read  his  paper  in  English.  I  have 
great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Senor  Carlos  Arellano,  of  Mexico. 

SEftOR  CARLOS  ARELLANO'S  paper  was  read  by  Dr.  Jose  Romero  and 
appears  on  page  176. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Has  anyone  a  question  to  ask  or  a  sug- 
gestion to  make  in  connection  with  Senor  Arellano's  paper? 

DR.  ROJO:  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  speech  of  Mr.  Arellano,  who  is 
a  big  business  man  of  Mexico  with  no  official  connection  at  all.  He  is  an  inde- 
pendent man  and  is  not  connected  in  any  way  with  the  Government.  You  can 


WEDNESDAY   AFTERNOON    SESSION  53 

easily  see  the  kind  of  possibilities  that  Mexico  presents  for  international  commerce. 

Another  point  to  which  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  is  that  the  Mexican 
Government  wishes  to  increase  the  commerce  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States  and  has  recently  established  commercial  agencies  at  New  York,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Chicago,  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans.  Here  is  one  of  our  agents,  Mr.  Luque, 
who  is  established  at  St.  Louis.  He  will  be  able  to  answer  any  question  that  you 
wisj^  to  present  to  him,  and  Mr.  Arellano  as  a  business  man  undoubtedly  will  help 
you  better  than  I  can,  because  I  did  not  study  to  be  a  business  man. 

MR.  E.  N.  HEINZ  (Chicago):  We  in  Chicago  are  selling  right  along  a  lot  of 
goods  to  Mexico  f.  o.  b.  border,  this  side,  and  as  the  gentleman  has  said,  a  good 
deal  more  could  be  sold  under  different  conditions  with  time  terms.  Since  about  a 
month  or  so  ago,  the  Mississippi  Valley  sent  a  delegation  to  Mexico  and  found 
that  the  banks  in  Mexico  were  not  performing  their  usual  functions  such  as,  for 
instance,  issuing  letters  of  credit  which  I  think  has  a  very  important  bearing  on 
this  matter.  If  the  Mexican  banks  could  maintain  balances  in  Chicago  to  permit 
of  the  issuance  of  letters  of  credit  they  would  facilitate  these  transactions.  They 
have  discontinued  this  practice  entirely.  I  wonder  if  the  prospects  for  the  banks 
performing  that  function  are  good. 

SENOR  ARELLANO  (translated):  There  are  four  banks  which  are  now 
working  in  the  city  of  Mexico.  Under  normal  conditions  they  will  again  furnish 
extension  of  service  such  as  Mr.  Heinz  mentions. 

MR.  JAMES  E.  SMITH  (President  of  Mississippi  Valley  Waterways  Associa- 
tion): Mr.  Chairman,  the  house  with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  connected  has 
been  doing  business  in  Mexico  "for  at  least  thirty-five  years.  We  have  been  there 
long  enough  to  find  out  the  reputation  of  the  merchants  and  we  have  been  doing 
business  during  that  entire  period  of  time  with  great  satisfaction.  We  sell  them 
on  the  same  basis  of  credits  that  we  sell  our  own  customers  in  this  country  and 
our  losses,  I  really  believe,  in  Mexico  have  shown  a  smaller  percentage  than  in  our 
own  country  even.  That  is  due  to  the  fact  that  we  have  selected  our  customers 
and  we  are  selling  to  them  with  great  satisfaction. 

DR.  S.  M.  JOHNSON  (New  Mexico):  I  desire  to  state  in  this  connection 
that  in  New  Mexico  we  are  now  raising  thoroughbred  cattle  and  shipping  them 
to  the  nerthern  portions  of  Old  Mexico  and  it  is  possible  to  secure  the  supply  not 
only  of  range  stock  but  of  dairy  cattle  and  of  sheep  and  of  hogs,  so  that  within  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  miles  of  El  Paso  these  supplies,  so  important  for  the  enrich- 
ment of  any  country,  may  be  secured. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  wish  we  had  more  time  for  this  dis- 
cussion but  we  must  pass  on  because  our  time  is  limited.  The  next  speaker,  Mr. 
E.  T.  Simondetti,  of  John  W.  Thorne  &  Co.,  New  York,  is  a  well  known  exporter 
and  publisher  who  has  traveled  extensively  from  his  boyhood  in  South  and 
Central  America,  was  formerly  a  resident  of  Mexico,  where  he  was  a  successful 
publisher  and  man  of  affairs.  Besides  actually  developing  Latin  American  markets 
by  establishing  there  and  directing  branch  offices  and  agencies,  he  has  planned 
and  executed  many  selling  campaigns  for  American  goods  in  those  markets.  He 
is  also  known  as  a  writer  in  newspapers  and  magazines,  particularly  on  the  subject 
of  Latin  American  trade. 

MR.  E.  T.  SIMONDETTI    read  the  paper  given  on  page  243. 

MR.  H.  H.  MORSE  (Boston) :  I  would  like  to  inquire  if  the  experrse  of  col- 
lecting the  information  necessary  to  determine  a  fair  retail  price  to  the  consumer 
would  not  increase^  the  cost  of  the  goods  to  the  consumer. 

MR.  SIMONDETTI:  I  think  that  the  export  managers  here  would  be  able 
to  secure  that  anywhere  without  a  very  great  expense. 

MR.  MORSE:  I  am  afraid  my  question  was  not  perfectly  clear.  We  find 
this :  In  trying  to  establish  a  fixed  retail  price,  even  when  merchandising  goods  to 
our  own  stores  where  we  control  all  the  costs,  we  find  that  it  costs  us  more  to  sell 
goods  in  one  locality  even  in  this  country  than  it  does  in  another  locality  and  it 
would  naturally  be  true,  even  in  one  country — say  Mexico — that  it  would  cost 
more  to  sell  goods  at  some  interior  point  than  it  would  to  sell  them  at  Vera  Cruz. 
1  am  talking  now  about  retail  selling  cost,  which  was  the  point  Mr.  Simondetti 
brought  out  in  his  paper.  Would  it  not  be  well  to  get  information  regarding 


54  SECOND  PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

selling  costs  at  different  points  and  apply  it  to  the  direct  retail  prices,  or  would 
it  be  better  to  put  the  burden  on  the  consumers  buying  at  those  points  ? 

MR.  SIMONDETTI:  I  find  that  if.  you  mean  to  stay  there  for  a  number  of 
years  and  to  develop  the  trade  that  the  initial  cost  is  well  worth  the  effort. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  going  to  ask  Mr.  McQueen,  Chief 
of  the  Latin  American  Division  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce 
to  say  a  few  words  to  you.  I  am  sure  you  will  appreciate  the  opportunity  of 
hearing  him. 

MR.  CHARLES  A.  McQUEEN    delivered  the  remarks  appearing  on  page  244. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  very  sorry  to  announce  that  Hon. 
W.  B.  Colver,  the  Chairman  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  is  prevented  from 
attending  the  Conference.  He  has  sent  us,  however,  one  of  the  ablest  experts  of  the 
Commission,  who  will  speak  to  us  on  the  Webb-Pomerene  Act,  to  which  subject 
he  has  been  devoting  considerable  time  and  study.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  intro- 
ducing to  you  Dr.  William  Notz,  of  the  Export  Trade  Division  of  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission. 

DR.  WILLIAM  NOTZ    read  the  paper  given  on  page  247. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  now  going  to  ask  Mr.  Benjamin 
Catchings,  a  lawyer  of  Washington  and  New  York,  who  has  beeii  very  much 
interested  in  this  matter  to  take  the  same  amount  of  time  in  discussing  the  Webb- 
Pomerene  Act  in  relation  to  our  trade  with  Latin  America. 

MR.  BENJAMIN  CATCHINGS   read  the  paper  given  on  page  250. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  will  now  ask  Dr.  H.  Richards,  Sec- 
retary of  the  American  Metric  Association,  to  give  us  about  five  minutes  upon  the 
paper  of  the  President  of  the  same  association,  Dr.  George  F.  Kunz,  who  has 
been  prevented  from  attending  the  Conference. 

DR.  H.  RICHARDS,  JR..   read  Dr.  Kunz's  paper  given  on  page  266. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  1  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing 
Mr.  F.  A.  Halsey,  Commissioner  of  the  American  Institute  of  Weights  and 
Measures. 

MR.  F.  A.  HALSEY  read  the  paper  given  on  page  270, 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  we  are  very  grateful  to  the 
gentlemen  *who  have  addressed  us  this  afternoon.  Now  then  the  meeting  is  open. 
Mr.  Wing  B.  Allen,  I  wish  you  would  give  us  about  three  minutes  on  general  ob- 
servations. 

MR.  WING  B.  ALLEN  (New  York) :  I  have  not  a  single  thing  to  say  except 
the  thoughts  that  have  been  passing  through  my  mind  here  today  by  listening  to 
the  different  papers  read.  The  thing  that  impresses  me  most  is  that  all  these  papers 
are  discussions  about  how  we  can  sell  goods  in  South  America. 

I  read  a  story  once  about  a  convention  like  this  where  a  common  delegate 
got  up  and  after  they  had  talked  all  about  the  exports  of  the  United  States  he 
wanted  to  know  something  about  the  imports  to  the  United  States,'  especially  from 
Latin  America.  Most  of  us  are  Americans  here,  although  it  is  very  noticeable 
that  there  are  a  large  number  of  Latin  Americans  here,  but  there  ought  to  be  more 
of  them.  We  ought  to  have  equal  representation,  at  least. 

These  thoughts  have  been  going  through  my  mind,  that  we  are  too  selfish, 
we  are  always  thinking  about  what  we  can  sell,  what  we  can  get  from  Latin 
America  and  we  are  never  going  to  make  much  progress  along  this  line  until  _we 
consider  what  we  can  do  for  Latin  America,  what  we  can  buy  from  Latin  America, 
what  we  can  exchange  with  Latin  America. 

I  am  trying  to  do  some  work  along  this  line  myself.  If  you  will  permit  me 
this  personal  word,  we  are  publishing  two  papers,  one  of  them  is  devoted  to  Latin 
America  and  the  other  to  the  United  States.  They  are  both  related  to  each  other, 
they  are  working  for  closer  relations  and  better  acquaintance.  For  many  years  I 


WEDNESDAY    AFTERNOON    SESSION  55 

have  attended  these  conferences  and  conventions  where  the  subject  was  Latin 
America  and,  as  usual,  the  Latin  American  trade  which  we  might  obtain.  Time 
and  time  again  I  have  heard  public  men  say,  talk  about  our  help  to  Latin  America. 
Yes,  and  they  usually  wind  up  by  saying  that  what  is  needed  in  the  situation  is 
to  know  those  people  better  and  that  they  should  know  us  better.  I  have  heard 
that  so  much  that  I  wondered  why  something  wasn't  done  about  it,  why  some  effort 
wasn't  made  to  get  better  acquainted.  So  I  decided  to  do  something.  I  decided 
to  tell  the  people  of  the  United  States  something  about  South  America  and  we  are 
going  into  our  English  papers  as  South  Americans  and  printing  a  Spanish  paper 
and  trying  to  tell  the  Latin  Americans  something  about  the  real  United  States. 
We  are  not  getting  that  paper  up  like  commercial  dope,  we  are  not  bragging  about 
the  excellence  of  our  goods  or  the  credits  which  we  can  give  them  or  anything 
like  that;  we  are  trying  to  tell  them  the  ideals  of  the  United  States,  our  objects  in 
the  matter,  something  about  our  standards  of  living,  in  order  that  they  may  under- 
stand the  real  friendliness  of  our  people. 

We  are  telling  the  people  of  this  country  about  the  Latin  Americans,  ex- 
plaining the  things  about  them  that  we  haven't  understood.  We  have  studied  these 
things  and  we  are  trying  to  tell  what  we  have  learned.  You  men  can  do  the  same 
thing  in  your  business  with  these  countries.  You  might  stop  and  think  once  in  a 
while,  and  if  you  can  help  them  dispose  of  some  of  their  goods  up  here,  it  will  help 
a  great  deal  to  bring  about  those  friendly  relations  which  everyone  is  talking  about. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mrs.  Galley,  may  we  have  the  pleasure 

of  hearing  from  you  ? 

MRS.  JOAN  GALLEY  delivered  the  address  which  appears  on  page  356 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:    Thank  you  very  much. 

Will  Mr.  Alpers,  of  the  General  Drafting  Company,  give  us  a  word? 

MR.  ERNEST  ALPERS:  Mr.  Barrett,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
ference: For  some  years  the  General  Drafting  Company  has  been  collecting  geo- 
graphical, industrial  and  commercial  information  about  Latin  America  and  for  two 
years  has  had  in  preparation  a  commercial  and  economic  atlas  which  aims  to  clarify 
all  transactions  and  simplify  all  transactions  of  business  in  Latin  America.  The 
geographical  data  has  been  taken  from  the  best  maps  of  the  country,  supplemented 
and  corrected  from  the  field  notes  of  scientists  and  explorers  who  have  made 
a  life  study  of  the  subject.  The  information  has  been  taken  from  Departments  of 
the  United  States  Government.  This  volume  will  contain  among  other  subjects  of 
interest  to  the  American  business  man  a  new  map  of  all  of  the  Latin  American 
countries  arranged  in  an  easy  and  cheap  form.  This  will  all  be  on  the  same  scale. 
There  will  be  a  series  of  maps  of  the  various  countries  showing  climatic  conditions, 
economic  features  and  the  possibilities  of  each  country.  A  series  of  charts  will 
indicate  the  growth  and  development  of  the  export  and  import  trade  between 
Latin  America  and  the  United  States,  and  the  text  matter  will  as  far  as  possible 
treat  of  industrial  opportunities. 

A  special  article  by  Mr.  William  C.  Wells,  the  chief  statistician  of  the  Pan 
American  Union,  will  explain  in  detail  the  business  customs,  the  monetary  systems, 
the  tariff  laws  and  the  best  methods  of  selling,  packing  and  shipping  to  the  continent 
south  of  us.  In  short,  the  object  of  this  work  is  to  awaken  in  the  mind  of  the 
American  merchant  the  business  opportunities  in  this  hew  field  and  will  enable 
him  to  estimate  the  buying  power  of  each  of  these  countries  as  applied  to  the  goods 
he  himself  manufactures. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  will  next  call  on  Mr.  Henry  Coronado 
for  just  three  minutes. 

MR.  CORONADO:  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Many  interesting  points  have 
been  brought  to  the  consideration  of  the  Conference  during  these  past  sessions, 
but  I  wish  to  call  attention  to  one  special  point  which  is  of  great  interest  to  the 
American  manufacturers  and  their  representatives  in  the  United  States.  That  is 
what  we  may  call  salesmanship — how  to  approach  the  customer  in  South  or  Cen- 
tral America. 

There  are  two  different  ways  for  the  manufacturer  to  approach  a  customer 
in  the  Latin  American  countries  and  secure  his  interest.  One  is  what  we  may  call 
direct,  and  the  other  indirect.  By  indirect  approach  I  mean  advertising.  There  are 
different  ways  of  advertising.  We  can  use  the  newspapers,  we  can  use  catalogs, 


56  SECOND  PAN    AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

booklets,  pamphlets,  but  I  wish  to  call  to  your  attention  this  fact  which  is  of  great 
interest:  Many  of  the  American  manufacturers  who  have  sent  catalogs  to  the 
Latin  American  countries  have  undertaken  to  send  them  printed  in  the  English 
language.  We  are  very  fond  of  the  English  language  and  all  foreign  languages, 
and  we  appreciate  very  much  the  quality  of  the  catalogs  which  firms  of  the  United 
States  send  out,  but  I  might  say  that  90  per  cent  of  those  catalogs  and  booklets 
and  printed  matter  sent  in  English  is  worthless — they  go  right  into  the  waste- 
basket. 

The  consumer  does  not  understand  English,  therefore  the  merchant  is  losing 
money  in  printing  the  catalog  in  English. 

The  second  way  of  advertising  is  for  the  salesman  to  approach  the  customer 
personally.  That  is  another  thing  that  it  is  necessary  to  consider— the  knowledge 
of  the  language  of  that  country  which  the  salesman  must  possess.  For  instance,  if 
I  come  here  and  make  an  address  in  Spanish  or  Russian,  would  it  be  any  use  for 
you  to  hear  me?  I  might  have  a  great  deal  of  experience  in  South  America  and  in 
Europe  and  give  you  the  benefit  of  all  that  knowledge,  but  you  would  say,  "We 
don't  know  what  he  is  talking  about." 

A  knowledge  of  the  language,  as  well  as  a  knowledge  of  the  goods  which  he 
is  selling,  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  successful  salesman  in  South  America. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  will  ask  Mr  C.  F.  McHale  of  the 
National  City  Bank  to  say  just  a  word. 

MR.  CARLOS  F.  McHALE:  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  would  like  to  say  a 
few  words  in  reply  to  what  Mrs.  Galley  said  about  the"  ability  of  Americans  to  learn 
languages.  The  system  of  teaching  languages  has  not  been  a  very  good  one,  and 
we  cannot  expect  good  results  from  bad  methods.  I  do  not  pretend  to  think  that 
my  method  is  the  right  one,  but  it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  if  we  give  theory  only 
to  a  student  we  can  never  expect  very  much  when  we  want  to  put  the  theory  into 
practice.  We  have  no  time  to  think  of  the  grammatical  rules.  But  if  we  teach 
practice  all  the  time  and  do  not  take  grammar  as  the  only  basis  for  learning  the 
language,  we  will  be  successful. 

I  have  taught  Spanish  in  England,  in  France  and  in  this  country  also  to 
English-speaking  people  in  South  America.  I  have  had  a  great  many  hundreds  of 
students  who  come  from  all  the  colleges.  We  get  fifty  students  every  summer 
coming  from  the  different  colleges  in  the  country  who  have  been  studying  foreign 
languages  as  if  they  were  dead  languages.  They  know  all  the  rules  but  they 
cannot  ask  for  a  piece  of  bread.  It  we  change  our  system  of  teaching  Spanish 
(and  the  American  Association  of  Teachers  of  Spanish  is  doing  a  good  deal  along 
this  line),  we  can  be  sure  that  we  will  get  better  restilts. 

MRS.  CALLEY:  Mr.  Director  General,  I  did  not  wish  to  imply  that  there 
was  anything  wrong  with  our  heads;  I  was  merely  speaking  of  the  situation  as  it 
actually  is.  We  do  not  now  have  business  men  who  know  the  selling  end  and  also 
have  such  perfect  control  of  the  languages  of  South  America  that  they  are  not 
somewhat  hampered  in  their  commercial  relations  by  their  necessarily  thinking 
sharply  of  the  meaning  of  the  communication  all  the  time.  I  know  the  City  Bank 
classes,  but  you  cannot  teach  anyone  to  speak  any  language  fluently  in  three  montfis, 
not  with  our  average  American. 

MR.  McHALE:  That  is  true,  but  if  a  teacher  speaks  fluently  he  can  give 
practice  to  his  students  and  then  they  will  learn  something.  But  most  of  our 
teachers  simply  tell  them  to  prepare  for  the  next  class  from  page  17  to  page  23,  and 
they  simply  learn  a  lot  of  rules. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Now  I  must  bring  this  discussion  to  a 
close.  I  will  now  call  upon  Mr.  A.  B.  Howard  of  the  American  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce in  Buenos  Aires  to  address  us. 

MR.  A.  B.  HOWARD  (Buenos  Aires):  I  am  particularly  proud  to  represent 
here  the  United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the  Argentine,  because  as  an  Amer- 
ican resident  in  Buenos  Aires  and  a  Socio  of  the  Bolsa  de  Commercio  of  that  city, 
I  know  that  the  work  being  carried  on  by  the  North  American  Chamber  there  is  of 
inestimable  value  to  you  as  well  as  to  the  trade  in  general. 

The  United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Buenos  Aires  is  a  member  of 
the  North  American  organization  of  the  same  name,  and  is  the  body  universally 
reeognjzed  by  residents  of  Argentine  as  representative  of  North  American  trade 


WEDNESDAY   EVENING   SESSION  57 

and  interests  there.  Its  active  membership  consists  of  over  one  hundred  United 
States  firms  and  companies  doing  business  in  the  Argentine  as  well  as  rapidly 
growing  Associate  Membership  in  the  United  States. 

The  objects  of  the  Chamber  are  entirely  unselfish  and  altruistic,  being  to 
further  the  development  of  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  Argentine, 
promote  measures  calculated  to  benefit  and  protect  the  interest  of  companies  and 
citizens  of  the  United  States ;  to  represent  and  give  effect  to  the  opinions  of  the 
mercantile  community  of  the  U.  S.  in  Argentine,  and  to  maintain  on  a  high  plane 
the  civic  and  commercial  reputation  of  the  U.  S.  while  retaining  due  affiliation 
with  the  U.  S.  Chamber  of  Commerce  here,  and  like  bodies. 

The  Arbitration  Committee  of  the  U.  S.  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Buenos 
Aires,  in  which  I  have  the  honor  to  serve,  sat  upon  some  two  dozen  arbitration 
cases  in  the  first  two  months  of  its  existence. 

The  Chamber  maintains  in  Buenos  Aires  at  455  Calle  Bartolome  Mitre 
luxuriously  appointed  quarters  continuously  open  together  with  an  adequate  library 
and  information  files,  all  in  charge  of  a  competent  permanent  manager  furnished 
with  three  permanent  assistants,  which  staff  will  be  increased  as  needs  demand. 

We  are  exceedingly  anxious  to  extend  our  Associate  Membership  among 
North  American  business  men,-  not  on  account  of  the  financial  return,  as  the  dues 
for  such  membership  are  purely  nominal,  but  to  widen  our  sphere  of  influence, 
contact  and  helpfulness. 

I  shall  be  only  too  glad  to  speak  privately  with  any  here  who  would  like 
further  information  and  can  only  close  by  saying  that  we  are  on  the  ground  there, 
and  speak  not  only  Spanish  but  Argentine,  not  only  English,  but  American.  • 

Our  ideas  are  entirely  unselfish,  and  our  desires  are  to  further  the  good  name 
and  trade  of  each  country  in  the  other.  Our  services  are  yours  to  command  in  the 
general  interests  of  the  cause.  Can  you  ask  more? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Now  I  want  to  ask  the  dean  of  all  Con- 
ferences, Mr.  A.  B.  Farquhar,  to  say  just  a  word  before  we  close  the  afternoon 
session. 

MR.  A.  B.  FARQUHAR:  I  have  a  great  advantage  over  you,  of  course,  in 
being  older.  I  am  over  eighty  years  old  and  I  am  acquainted  with  more  people,  and 
the  more  people  I  see  the  fonder  I  am  of  them,  the  more  interested  in  them  I 
become. 

In  regard  to  South  American  trade,  you  must  make  it  your  interest  to  deal 
with  them  as  you  wish  them  to  deal  with  you — give  them  packages  as  they  want 
them,  give  them  time  to  pay  for  their  goods.  My  experience  of  sixty-three  years 
in  business  and  fifty  years  dealing  with  the  South  Americans  is  that  they  are  the 
safest  and  the  most  satisfactory  people  to  deal  with  of  any  in  the  whole  world. 
We  have  no  trouble  with  them  at  all.  We  simply  treat  them  rightly  and  fairly. 

(Announcements  by  Director  General  Barrett.) 

Adjournment. 


EVENING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  8.30  o'clock  by  the  Director  General, 
who  presided. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Whitney,  could  we  hear  from  you 
for  three  minutes  ? 

MR.  R.  I.  WHITNEY  (Washington)  :  One  of  the  things  that  has  suggested 
itself  to  me  during  this  Conference  has  been  the  need  of  more  information  in  North 
America  regarding  people  conditions  and  countries  of  South  America.  The  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  are  far  more  ignorant  of  their  Latin  American  brothers 
than  the  Latins  are  of  us.  It  would  be  a  good  idea  for  every  father  in  the  United 
States  to  see  to  it  that  his  children  study  Spanish  in  the  schools  and  to  further 
their  knowledge  of  Spanish  and  of  the  Latin  American  countries  by  subscribing 
to  any  one  of  the  many  excellent  newspapers  published  in  the  .Latin  American 
countries  and  have  them  in  their  homes.  Nothing  aids  the  members  of  a  family 
so  much  in  geography,  history  and  the  conditions  of  other  countries  as  the 
reading  of  the  newspapers  of  those  countries,  and  with  a  Latin  American  newspaper 
in  every  home,  the  women  and  children  would  quickly  become  interested  through 
their  efforts  to  read^the  newspaper  articles  in  those  publications,  and  this  would 
further  the  study  of* geography  and  history  as  well  as  of  language. 


58  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

My  five  year  old  girl  greets  me  every  morning  now  with  "Buenos  dias !" 
They  will  pick  it  up  very  quickly  and  readily  if  they  begin  young  enough. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  have  here  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished Argentinians,  a  great  lawyer  in  New  York  City  and  in  Buenos  Aires, 
Sefior  Enrique  Gil. 

SENOR  ENRIQUE  GIL:  In  answer  to  the  kind  suggestion  of  the  Director 
General,  I  just  want  to  deliver  a  message  to  you.  About  a  year  ago  I  was  in 
Argentina  and  I  am  very  glad  to  be  able  to  tell  you  tonight  that  Americans  are 
the  best  liked  foreigners  in  my  country  today.  This  has  been  brought  about  due 
to  three  factors: 

In  the  first  place,  the  speeches  of  President  Wilson  are  read  and  commented 
upon  by  everyone  in  Argentina.  In  the  second  place,  the  newspaper  propaganda 
down  there,  and  in  the  third  place  the  enormous  development  of  the  American 
moving  picture  business  in  Argentina  which  has  given  to  us  a  better,  wider,  and — • 
even  if  the  word  may  amuse  you — a  more  romantic  idea  of  what  the  United  States 
really  is.  (Mr.  Gil's  paper  appears  on  page  283.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Alves  de  Lima,  we  are  having  just 
a  little  open  discussion  here  with  two  minute  speeches.  I  request  you,  as  the  Con- 
sul General  at  large  of  Brazil  to  say  something  to  the  Conference  in  regard  to 
Brazil. 

SENHOR  J.  C.  ALVES  DE  LIMA:  All  I  can  say  about  Brazil  is  this:  So 
far  Brazil  has  been  a  great  coffee  district  but  there  is  something  more  important 
than  coffee.  I  am  just  now  preparing  an  article  that  I  am  going  to  offer  to  you 
about  the  Brazilian  palm  trees.  Coffee  of  course  is  very  important  but  this  is 
more  important  than  coffee  and  I  should  be  glad  to  have  you  read  this  article. 
(See  page  117.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  In  just  three  or  four  words,  tell  us 
what  you  consider  the  prospects  for  development  of  commerce  between  Brazil  and 
the  United  States? 

MR.  ALVES  DE  LIMA:  The  problem  of  developing  commerce  with  any 
country,  especially  with  the  United  States,  is  to  have  reciprocity.  I  have  been 
writing  about  this  matter  for  some  time  and  I  am  satisfied  that  the  Brazilian 
Congress  has  authorized  the  entering  into  an  alliance  with  any  country  that  will  be 
willing  to  exchange  our  products.  I  hope  that  hereafter  the  business  men  will 
realize  that  Brazil  will  produce  what  the  United  States  cannot  produce,  and  vice 
versa,  and  I  do  not  see  why  we  cannot  have  free  interchange.  We  produce  what 
you  cannot  produce,  therefore  there  will  be  no  conflict  of  interest.  As  I  see  it, 
a  free  interchange  between  the  United  States  and  Brazil  is  a  necessity.  I  under- 
stand the  United  States  receives  more  than  four  hundred  million  pounds  of  coffee 
from  Asia,  when  you  might  get  it  right  from  Brazil. 

MR.  R.  C.  DE  WOLF:  While  listening  to  Mr.  Gil  it  occurred  to  me  that 
American  moving  pictures  have  done  so  much  to  acquaint  the  South  Ameri- 
cans with  our  customs  and  mode  of  living  and  of  our  business,  that  it  would 
be  a  good  idea  to  begin  constructing  motion  pictures  of  South  American  life  so 
that  we  might  get  an  equal  idea  of  their  customs.  Of  course  we  have  pictures 
of  South  American  scenery  such  as  we  have  here,  but  what  we  need  is  something 
which  will  truthfully  and  at  the  same  time  dramatically  represent  social  condi- 
tions and  the  life  of  the  people  there. 

One  of  the  greatest  instrumentalities  for  disseminating  correct  ideas  and 
mutual  understanding  between  the  two  Continents  that  can  possibly  exist  is  the 
motion  picture.  (Mr.  De  Wolf's  paper  is  given  on  page  285.) 

MR.  GIL:  I  would  like  to  explain,  in  answer  to  the  question  about  the 
lack  of  news,  that  La  Nation  of  Buenos  Aires,  one  of  the  leading  newspapers  in 
Argentina,  has  initiated  a  cable  news  service  from  Buenos  Aires  and  from  all 
South  America  with  some  Mexican  newspapers  and  with  La  Prensa  of  New  York 
and  with  El  Diario  de  la  Marina  of  Havana,  which  has  a  day  service  of  about 
3,000  words  a  day. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  will  now  proceed  with  the  regular 
program.  The  initial  paper  is  by  Honorable  Otto  Praeger,  who  has  made  a  most 
careful  study  of  this  important  question  of  the  parcel  post.  I  have  great  pleasure 
in  introducing  to  you  as  the  first  speaker  of  the  evening  a  man  who  has  not  only 


WEDNESDAY   EVENING    SESSION  59 

studied  the  parcel  post  from  the  standpoint  of  the  United  States  but  also  from  the 
standpoint  of  Latin  America — Honorable  Otto  Praeger,  Second  Assistant  Post- 
master General  of  the  United  States. 

THE  SECOND  ASSISTANT  POSTMASTER  GENERAL  (after  reading  the 
paper  given  on  page  275)  :  Gentlemen,  I  have  vaguely  sketched  our  parcel  post 
regulations,  our  relations  with  South  and  Central  America,  in  the  hope  that  it  may 
suggest  to  you  problems  that  are  uppermost  in  your  mind,  questions  that  you  would 
desire  clarified  in  our  relations  and  I  will  be  glad  to  be  of  any  assistance  and  reply 
to  any  questions  that  may  suggest  themselves  to  you. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Following  the  address  of  the  Second 
Assistant  Postmaster  General,  I  want  to  ask  if  anyone  here  desired  to  propose  a 
question  or  make  a  suggestion? 

MR.  McHALE  (New  York)  :  I  hear  there  has  been  some  trouble  in  the  parcel 
post  service  between  Chile  and  the  United  States,  and  I  would  like  to  know  if  it 
has  been  settled. 

MR.  PRAEGER:  All  trouble  has  been  eliminated.  The  treaty,  after  long 
negotiations,  was  signed  by  the  Postmaster  General  and  the  Ambassador  of  Chile 
and  has  been  sent  to  Chile  for  ratification.  Chile  has  meanwhile  authorized  the 
sending  of  parcel  post  to  this  country  and  we  will  do  likewise. 

MR.  H.  S.  HORRISON  (Philadelphia)  :  This  morning  there  was  a  discussion 
of  the  commercial  and  air  transportation  and  while  the  question  of  the  mail  was 
alluded  to,  I  would  like  to  ask  what  plans,  if  any,  the  Government  has  for  the 
use  of  the  airplane  for  carrying  foreign  mail,  including  parcel  post. 

MR.  PRAEGER:  The  air  mail  is  just  now  my  special .  hobby.  We  are 
going  thoroughly  and  deeply  into  that  problem.  The  air  mail  service  has  been 
outlined  to  cover  Cuba,  the  West  Indies,  with  the  southernmost  point  of  the 
Panama  Canal  Zone.  It  depends  upon  two  things — (1)  the  development  and  con- 
struction of  a  suitable  and  powerful  enough  airplane  to  cross  the  large  stretches 
of  water  that  will  be  encountered  between  the  Isle  of  Pines  and  Panama,  and  (2) 
the  extent  that  Congress  is  willing  to  enter  upon  an  aerial  mail  program,  costing 
approximately  $3,000,000,  to  carry  out  the  Post  Office  Department  air  mail  program 
which  includes  going  to  the  West  Indies  and  Panama. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  For  the  next  speaker  I  am  going  to 
call  upon  a  man  who  has  a  national  reputation  because  of  his  knowledge  of  trading 
relations  between  a  great  firm  in  the  United  States  and  Latin  America,  and  other 
foreign  countries — Sefior  Frutos  Plaza,  of  Montgomery  Ward  and  Company,  of 
Chicago. 

SENOR  FRUTOS  PLAZA    read  the  paper  given  on  page  277. 

MR.  F.  E.  TITUS  (Akron,  O.)  :  The  speaker  differentiated  between  the 
standards  of  packing  for  the  interior  and  coast  cities.  Do  you  consider  that  the 
purchaser  in  a  foreign  country  should  pay  the  difference  in  the  packing  for  the 
interior  points  as  against  the  packing  for  the  coast  cities  ?  In  price  I  assume  that 
both  customers  are  identical  and  yet  the  tin  lined  or  oil  paper  box,  more  expen- 
sive on  a  small  low-priced  article  would  not  be  absorbed  in  the  cost  as  against 
the  ordinary  paper  wrapping  used  for  the  coast  city. 

MR.  PLAZA:  In  the  first  place,  in  ordinary  paper  we  do  not  make  any  charge 
to  the  customer  at  all.  Then  we  make  a  very  slight  charge  for  tin  lined  boxes  and 
explain  to  our  customers  why  we  do  it.  We  pass  that  charge  on  to  the  cost. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  If  there  are  no  other  questions,  I  call 
upon  the  next  speaker.  You  are  going  to  listen  now  to  one  of  the  younger  genera- 
tion coming  on  in  Cuba,  a  man  who  has  already  made  a  reputation  there  which 
places  him  among  the  foremost,  who  has  been  chosen  because  of  his  quality  to 
be  the  head  of  this  great  new  International  Trade  Mark  Bureau  in  Havana,  a  man 
picked  for  his  peal  quality.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  Dr.  Mario 
Diaz  Yrizar,  Director  of  the  International  Trade  Mark  Bureau  of  Havana. 

DR.  MARIO  DIAZ  YRIZAR       read  the  paper  which  appears  on  page  281. 

MR.  C.  VOGEL  (Philadelphia):  I  should  like  to  ask  the  speaker  three  ques- 
tions. The  first  one  is  regarding  the  Berne  trade  mark  convention.  Certain  coun- 
tries are  members  of  that  convention.  If  a  firm  in  Europe  registers  in  this  country, 


BRAZIL. 

FOREIGN*  COMMERCE  191? 

*  505,393,  OOO. 


SPA1K 


UNITED  STATES 
^H01,0^^.000. 


UNITED  STATES 
131, OOO. 


WEDNESDAY   EVENING    SESSION  61 

that  trade  mark  will  automatically  be  registered  in  South  America  where  they  have 
a  membership  in  this  convention.  If  an  American  should  register  in  the  Latin 
American  countries,  should  there  be  interference  with  the  Berne  convention  or 
would  it  be  automatically  excluded  if  it  has  already  been  registered  in  the  Berne 
convention? 

DR.  YRIZAR:  The  Berne  convention  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  Buenos 
Aires  convention.  The  Berne  convention  applies  to  nations  in  Europe  and  some 
of  America,  while  that  of  Buenos  Aires  is  for  American  nations  only. 

MR.  VOGEL:  A  question  regarding  trade  mark  piracy,  the  stealing  of 
trade  marks.  Will  any  recommendation  of  a  remedy  be  offered  to  American 
firms  who  have  clear  right  to  priority  .of  a  trade  mark  which  is  very  evidently 
appropriated  unjustly  by  a  firm  in  a  South  American  country? 

DR.  YRIZAR:  Well,  I  do  not  know  about  the  South  American  countries.  I 
know  that  the  Cuban  laws  prohibit  piracy,  and  anyone  who  attempts  it  is  put  in 
jail. 

MR.  VOGEL:  If  one  should  have  registered  your  trade  mark  in  Cuba  before 
you  have  done  so,  would  you  be  able  to  recover  your  rights  under  this  conven- 
tion if  you  are  the  clear  original  owner  of  the  trade  mark? 

DR.  YRIZAR:  Yes,  there  is  a  six  months  priority  provided  for  by  the  con- 
vention. If  you  apply  for  a  trade  mark  six  months  before  any  merchant  applies 
for  the  same  trade  mark  in  any  of  the  American  countries,  that  rule  applies. 

MR.  VOGEL:  The  third  question  refers  to  the  time  that  is  now  lost  by 
registering  previously  in  the  United  States  Patent  Office. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sorry -that  we  have  not  a  longer 
period  of  time  to  listen  to  siich  an  eminent  authority  as  the  Hon.  James  T.  Newton, 
but  he  has  kindly  yielded  out  of  his  time  to  our  distinguished  visitor  from  Havana. 
In  the  few  minutes  that  are  left,  I  am  going  to  ask  Mr.  Newton,  the  distinguished 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Patents  to  say  a  few  words,  very  briefly,  and 
then  if  anyone  wishes  to  ask  him  a  question,  I  am  sure  he  will  be  glad  to  answer. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  COMMISSIONER  OF  PATENTS:  Ladies  and  Gen- 
tlemen. In  1910  a  convention  was  adopted  between  the  American  Republics  for 
the  protection  of  trade  marks.  When  I  say  trade  marks,  most  of  you  see  visions 
of  something  that  you  do  not  understand  but  a  trade  mark  is  nothing  but  a  name 
and  the  object  of  this  convention  was  to  protect  these  trade  marks. 

A  man's  reputation  in  his  business  is  his  principal  asset.  A  trade  mark  is 
nothing  but  the  name  of  his  reputation.  If  I  should  tell  you  the  amount  of  money 
that  was  spent  on  advertising  and  getting  a  reputation  through  trade  marks,  you 
would  not  believe  me.  I  know  of  issues  of  papers  that  charge  fifty  thousand  dollars 
for  one  advertisement  of  a  trade  mark. 

Trade  marks,  therefore,  become  valuable  because  they  are  a  manV  reputa- 
tion, they  stand  for  him,  they  are  the  principal  assets  of  a  great  many  businesses. 
It  is  for  the  protection  of  these  trademarks  that  this  convention  was  entered  into 
and  after  the  convention  was  adopted  by  these  Republics  in  1910  it  practically  lay 
dormant  until  a  few  years  ago,  two  or  three  years  ago,  when  Dr.  Rowe,  and  Dr. 
Magtiire  began  to  agitate  it,  and  they  have  succeeded  in  getting  several  of  the 
Latin  American  countries  to  join  with  the  United  States  in  ratifying  this  con- 
vention. 

The  convention  divided  the  Republics  into  two  groups — the  northern  group 
consisting  of  the  United  States,  Canada,  Guatemala,  Costa  Rica,  Hayti  and  several 
others,  fifteen  in  all,  enough  of  them  have  adopted  this  convention  to  authorize 
the  establishment  of  a  Bureau  at  Havana  of  which  Dr.  Yrizar,  whom  you  have 
just  heard,  is  Director. 

My  object  in  coming  here  tonight  was  to  appeal  to  my  friends  in  the  Latin 
American  Republics  to  enter  into  this  convention.  Four  of  the  southern  group  of 
countries  have  adopted  the  convention — Bolivia,  Uruguay,  Paraguay  and  Brazil.  We 
need  two  more  to  adopt  it  in  the  southern  group  before  we  can  establish  a  registra- 
tion bureau  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  my  only  object  in  presenting  this  to  you  tonight 
is  to  urge  upon  those  delegates  from  the  other  states  to  join  the  convention.  You 
will  benefit  by  it  as  well  as  we.  Your  countries  have  different  trade  mark  rules 
and  regulations  than  ours,  you  have  no  trade  mark  until  it  is  registered.  We  do 
not  require  registration  and  it  has  required  some  effort  on  our  part  to  reconcile 


62  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

these  laws  of  ours  with  yours  in  order  to  have  them  make  provision  for  the  use 
of  these  conventions. 

I  wish  you  could  realize  the  importance  of  this  matter  from  a  practical 
standpoint  as  I  realize  it.  I  have  thousands  of  applications  in  the  Patent  Office 
only  waiting  the  ratification  of  this  treaty  and  the  establishment  of  these  bureaus 
for  the  South  American  republics  before  American  business  men  will  rush  there 
to  register  their  trade  marks.  I  had  one  firm  last  week  file  five  thousand  dollars 
worth  of  applications  for  registration  of  their  trade  marks  in  South  American 
countries  and  we  only  ask  that  you  ratify  this  convention  and  enter  into  it  with 
the  spirit  that  we  do  to  protect  your  honest  dealers  and  the  reputation  of  those 
men  who  have  spent  fortunes  in  making  their  reputations,  to  establish  them  there, 
and  nothing  that  I  know  of  will  enhance  the  trade  relations  between  the  Republics 
more  than  this  step. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:     Are  there  any  questions? 

I  have  great  pleasure  now  in  introducing  to  you  one  of  those  men  who  is 
as  much  North  American  as  he  is  South  American,  bearing  a  Latin  American 
name,  who  is  known  throughout  this  country  as  one  of  the  best  authorities  on 
Pan  American  commerce.  Senor  Vicente  Gonzales,  Foreign  Trade  Adviser  of  the 
Mercantile  National  Bank  of  the  Americas. 

SEftOR  VICENTE  GONZALES:  The  subject  on  which  I  am  requested  to 
speak  to  you  tonight  is  not  my  choice.  It  has  been  wished  on  me,  but  you  know 
Mr.  Barrett — you  have  to  do  what  he  wants.  He  is  so  big,  you  know,  and  so 
good,  always  doing  all  he  can  for  the  trade  relations  between  the  Americas-  and 
you  feel  like  you  have  to  please  him.  He  has  asked  me  to  speak  about  a  subject 
which  I  dislike,  because  I  have  to  knock  it.  If  I  annoy  you,  please  blame  him  and 
not  me  for  it. 

I  am  to  speak  to  you  about  the  consular  and  customs  regulations  with  our 
Latin  American  trade,  which  I  call  a  regular  nuisance.  I  do  not  want  to  criticize 
and  be  personal  with  any  country,  but  the  variety,  the  continuous  changes  have 
made  them,  as  you  will  all  agree  with  me,  a  real  nuisance.  The  consular  invoices 
were  intended  to  assist  the  Governments  in  compiling  statistics  and  checking  in 
ports,  but  they  have  gradually  become,  little  by  little,  an  essential  document  with- 
out which  shipping  documents  are  not  complete.  (Senor  Gonzales  then  read  the 
paper  given  on  page  287.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  now  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing 
to  you  Mr.  F.  B.  Purdie  of  R.  G.  Dun  and  Company,  one  of  the  best  informed 
men  on  Latin  America. 

MR.  F.  B.  PURDIE    read   the  paper  given  on  page  256. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  introduce  Dr. 
F.  R.  Rutter,  the  Statistical  Adviser  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Com- 
merce, and  one  of  the  best  authorities  on  the  tariffs  and  other  regulations  govern- 
ing Pan  American  trade. 

DR.  F.  R.  RUTTER:  Mr.  Director  General,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  is 
a  very  embarrassing  position  for  a  man  with  nearly  a  theoretical  legal  knowledge 
of  the  tariff  regulations  of  South  American  countries  to  speak  after  Mr.  Gonzales 
has  discussed  the  subject  in  such  a  thorough  way.  Like  him,  and  like  one  other 
speaker,  I  fear  that  I  must  apologize  for  saying  some  unpleasant  things.  (Dr. 
Rutter  then  delivered  the  remarks  given  on  page  292.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Has  anyone  a  question  to  ask  Mr. 
Rutter  ? 

I  have  a  telegram  here  from  the  very  efficient  Chief  Clerk  of  the  Pan 
American  Union,  Mr.  Franklin  Adams,  who  is  now  in  South  America,  sent  from 
Santiago,  Chile.  He  says:  "The  Chilean  press  reflects  marked  and  notable  interest 
in  the  Pan  American  Conference.  Congratulations  from  us  here."  That  is  a  good 
thing  to  hear,  considering  that  is  twenty-five  thousand  miles  away. 

(  Announcements. ) 

(Motion  pictures.) 

Adjournment. 


63 

THURSDAY,  JUNE  5,  1919 
MORNING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  10  o'clock  by  Director  General  Barrett. 
The  session  was  presided  by  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Dr.  Leo 
S.  Rowe. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  are  entering  this  morning  on  the 
third  day  of  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  conference,  in  attendance  and  represen- 
tation, that  has  ever  been  held  in  this  building. 

(Announcements.) 

I  now  have  real  pleasure  in  introducing  one  of  the  dearest  and  best  friends 
and  collaborators  I  have  had  in  the  cause  of  Pan  Americanism  during  the  last 
seventeen  or  eighteen  years,  a  man  who  has  given  so  much  of  his  time  from  the 
Treasury  Department  to  helping  to  organize  the  International  Joint  High  Com- 
mission and  now  is  promoting  the  commercial  and  financial  relations  of  North  and 
South  America.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  Dr.  L.  S.  Rowe,  the  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  who  will  preside  over  this  session. 

THE  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY:  Your  Excellencies, 
Mr.  Director  General,  Members  of  the  Conference,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  want 
in  the  first  place  to  express  to  this  Conference  the  warm  greetings  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  express  to  each  and  every  one  of 
you  his  sincere  regret  that  imperative  official  engagements,  which  have  taken  him 
out  of  the  city,  have  prevented  him  from  attending  these  sessions. 

I  also  wish  to  express,  and  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  join  thereto  my  own 
deep  sense  of  appreciation,  to  the  Governing  Board  as  well  as  to  the  Director  Gen- 
eral of  the  Pan  American  Union  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  for  the  very  real  national  and  international  service  that  they  have  per- 
formed in  bringing  together  this  notable  body  to  discuss  questions  of  such  deep 
import  to  the  present  and  to  the  future  of  this  continent. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  has  also  authorized  me  to  make  an  important 
announcement  to  this  Conference.  The  President  of  the  United  States,  on  the 
recommedation  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  has  decided  to  convene  the  Second 
Pan  American  Financial  Conference  on  January  12,  1920.  You  will  all  recall  that 
the  first  Conference  was  held  in  May,  1915,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  then 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Honorable  William  G.  McAdoo,  and  it  was  called  at 
that  time  in  order  to  discuss  the  very  difficult  situation,  financial  and  industrial, 
that  had  been  created  for  all  the  countries  of  the  American  continent  by  reason 
of  the  outbreak  of  the  European  war. 

The  Second  Financial  Congress  will  convene  at  the  close  of  the  war  for  a 
further  interchange  of  view,  of  experience  and  counsel  with  reference  to  the  many 
and  difficult  problems  that  are  confronting  both  Governments  and  peoples  of  the 
American  Continent  at  the  close  of  the  European  War. 

The  delegations  from  each  of  the  countries  will  be  presided  over  by  the  re- 
spective Ministers  of  Finance,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States  will  have  the  opportunity  at  that  time  to  hold  a  special  conference  with  the 
Ministers  of  Finance  of  all  the  Republics  of  the  American  Continent  with  a  view 
to  this  interchange  of  experience,  of  counsel  and  of  policy.  I  may  add,  however, 
that  the  period  between  the  first  and  the  second  Conference,  a  period  now  of  little 
over  four  years,  has  been  fruitful  of  important  results  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
the  first  Conference  provided  for  a  definite  mechanism  and  organization  through 
which  the  Resolutions  of  the  Conference  were  to  be  put  into  execution. 

I  will  not  burden  you  with  a  recital  of  the  problems  to  the  study  of  whose 
solution  the  International  High  Commission  has  devoted  itself.  I  shall  content 
myself  with  a  reference  first  to  the  installation  of  the  great  Bureau  of  International 
Registration  of  Trademarks  at  Havana,  the  organization  and  operation  of  which 
was  so  eloquently  placed  before  you  by  the  distinguished  Director  of  that  Bureau 
whom  I  see  here  this  morning,  Dr.  Mario  Diaz  Irizar  of  Havana;  and,  second 
with  the  expression  of  the  constant  hope  and  expectation  that  prior  to  the  as- 
sembling of  the  Second  Pan  American  Financial  Conference,  the  Southern  Bureau 
to  be  established  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  will  have  been  organized,  because  for  the  pur- 


64  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

pose  there  is  now  only  required  the  approval  of  two  further  States  of  the  South 
American  group.  With  their  approval,  the  registration  of  trademarks  throughout 
the  American  Continent,  their  complete  protection  will  have  become  an  accom- 
plished fact. 

I  refer  furthermore  to  the  advance  of  the  principle  of  commercial  arbitration 
as  a  substitute  for  the  long  and  weary  judicial  procedure,  and  which  is  now  in 
successful  operation  between  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  and 
that  of  Buenos  Aires. 

Furthermore,  the  extension  of  the  commercial  travelers'  treaty  under  which 
the  vexatious  local  tax  is  placed  upon  commercial  travelers,  will  be  eliminated  and 
business  men  will  know  exactly  before  sending  a  commercial  traveler  to  any  Latin 
American  country  the  precise  amount  which  they  will  have  to  pay  as  a  license  to 
do  business. 

Moreover,  the  gold  clearance  fund  treaty  has  been  brought  to  a  stage  which, 
prior  to  the  assembling  of  the  next  Conference,  will  make  it  an  accomplished  fact, 
at  least  between  some  of  the  countries,  and  will  thus  avoid  the  constant  shipment  of 
gold  from  one  country  to  another.  . 

But,  gentlemen,  I  feel  that  my  duties  and  my  conscience  are  weighing  rather 
heavily  on  me  this  morning  and  I  must  therefore  summarize  the  work  that  has 
been  done  during  these  four  years  by  the  International  High  Commission  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  forthcoming  Conference  to  be  held  in  January  next. 

Before  introducing  the  first  speaker  of  this  morning,  there  is  one  matter  to 
which  I  want  to  direct  your  attention.  We  have  become  so  accustomed  to  the 
phrase  that  the  world  is  entering  upon  a  new  epoch  of  development  that  I  fear  it 
has  lost  its  real  significance  for  many  of  us.  I  fear  that  our  senses  have  become 
somewhat  dulled  by  reason  of  the  series  of  deep  and  moving  impressions,  which  we 
have  received  during  the  last  four  years,  and  that  when  people  now  speak  of  the 
world  entering  upon  a  new  period  of  development,  we  regard  it  as  one  of  a  series 
of  phrases  to  which  we  do  not  give  much  heed  or  much  thought. 

The  remarkable  address  delivered  by  Mr.  Vanderlip  last  week  in  New  Yor,k 
was  at  once  an  indication  and  a  warning  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  bear 
in  mind  the  fact  that  we  are  at  a  turning  point  and  that  it  depends  upon  our  effort, 
whether  that  turn  shall  be  to  the  right  or  to  the  extreme  left.  We  are  at  a  period 
at  which  Europe  looks  to  America  for  assistance,  for  the  means  of  rehabilitation, 
for  the  wherewithal  to  prevent  starvation,  and  that  world  situation  places  new 
obligations  upon  the  countries  of  this  Continent. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  talk  and  to  discuss  as  if  the  amount  of  capital 
available  were  unlimited.  Gentlemen,  we  are  now  at  the  point  at  which  there  is  by 
no  means  an  adequate  sum  of  capital  goods  with  which  to  meet  the  needs  of 
Europe  and  of  America,  and  in  the  world  reconstruction  that  is  now  taking  place, 
the  countries  of  this  Continent  and  especially  our  neighbors  to  the  south,  the 
countries  of  Central  and  South  America,  must  also  feel  a  new  obligation  resting 
upon  them.  The  entire  American  Continent  might  very  well  be  designated,  and 
probably  will  be  designated  a  hundred  years  hence,  as  the  wasteful  continent.  There 
is  no  part  of  the  world  that  has  any  conception,  that  can  offer  anything  like  the 
parallel  to  national  and  individual  waste  such  as  all  the  countries  of  the  American 
Continent  can  offer. 

The  United  States  until  very  recent  years  never  developed  the  amount  of 
capital  for  its  own  development  which  should  have  been  the  case.  Many  years 
ago,  if  we  had  been  a  thrifty  nation,  if  we  had  had  any  conception  of  what  thrift 
meant — compared  with  the  French  or  the  Italians  or  the  Belgians  or  the  Dutch — 
we  might  have  furnished  to  the  countries  of  Central  and  South  America  ten,  yes 
twenty  times  the  capital  that  we  have  furnished;  we  might  long  ago  have  become 
a  creditor  rather  than  a  debtor  nation,  and  it  was  only  under  the  strong  compulsion 
of  war  and  of  dire  necessity  that  we  established  our  new  position. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  now  a  matter  of  world  importance  that  every  country  of  the 
American  Continent  develops  for  itself  a  far  larger'  amount  of  domestic  capital 
than  heretofore,  and  that  means  that  every  country  of  the  American  Continent — the 
United  States  included — shall  impress  upon  its  people,  if  necessary  through  educa- 
tional campaigns,  the  importance  as  a  duty  to  themselves  and  as  a  duty  to  the 
world  to  develop  new  capital  through  thrift,  through  saving. 

That  is  a  campaign  which  is  also  quite  as  necessary  in  every  country  of  Cen- 
tral and  South  America  as  it  is  in  the  United  States.  In  our  discussions  we  often 
assume  that  these  countries  are  going  to  be  indefinitely  dependent  on  foreign  capital. 


THURSDAY    MORNING    SESSION  65 

It  is  not  well  that  they  should  be.  It  is  not  well  for  themselves ;  it  is  not  well  foe 
the  world. 

Up  to  the  present  time  we,  as  well  as  they,  have  been  permitted  to  indulge 
in  the  luxury  of  wastefulness  because  it  did  not  seem  to  do  great  harm  to  our- 
selves and  it  did  not  do  any  real  harm  to  anyone  else.  But  wastefulness  today  is  an 
offense  against  the  civilized  world,  especially  when  you  stop  to  view  the  picture 
which  Mr.  Vanderlip  has.  so  vividly  painted  in  his  recent  addresses,  and  I  know  of 
nothing  that  "is  so  important  as  a  campaign  of  education  in  every  country  of  the 
American  Continent,  a  campaign  which  shall  have  as  its  purpose  that  domestic 
capital  shall  meet  domestic  needs  and  that  it  shall  do  so  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

In  the  next  few  years  to  come,  owing  to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  countries  of 
Central  and  South  America  have  not  the  available  capital,  close  financial  coopera- 
tion will  be  necessary,  but  even  there  we  are  in  a  sense  trustees.  That  capital  should 
be  directed  to  the  purposes  which  will  increase  the  food  supply,  the  supply  of  raw 
material  which  the  entire  world  needs  so  greatly.  America  during  the  next  few 
years  must  regard  herself  as  a  trustee  for  the  world  at  large.  By  so  doing,  she  will 
benefit  herself,  even  to  a  greater  degree  than  she  will  benefit  the  war-stricken  coun- 
tries. She  will  benefit  herself  and  she  will  incidentally  carry  a  step  forward  the 
development  of  her  own  industrial  democracy  and  accompanying  that  large  benefit 
to  herself  she  will  also  be  doing  a  real  service  to  mankind. 

But,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  is  a  point  which  I  .hope  very  much  will  be 
touched  upon  by  the  first  speaker  of  this  morning,  coming  as  he  does  direct  from 
the  scenes  and  from  the  conditions  which  require  such  immediate  assistance  from 
America.  I  have  always  regarded  Mr.  Vanderlip  as  one  of  the  greatest  educators 
of  the  United  States.  His  interests  have  always  been  in  finance  and  in  banking 
and  in  the  formation  of  great  projects,  .great  statesman-like  projects  of  national 
and  international  betterment.  I  have  always  regarded  him  fundamentally  as  an 
educator,  and  I  venture  the  guess  that  his  primary  interests  are  educational  in  the 
broad  sense.  I  present  him  to  you,  therefore,  as  the  educator  of  American  public 
opinion,  rather  than  as  a  banker.  Mr.  Vanderlip. 

MR.  FRANK  A.  VANDERLIP  delivered  the  address  which  appears  on 
page  298. 

DR.  ROWE  (Presiding):  The  inspiring  address  that  we  have  heard  from 
Mr.  Vanderlip  must  impress  every  one  as  indicating  that  in  a  sense  America,  as  a 
result  of  this  war,  has  become  the  Old  World  and  Europe  has  become  the  New, 
and  that  the  relationship  between  what  was  the  old  and  the  new  has  now  been 
turned  into  a  new  relationship  with  new  obligations  and  with  a  new  duty  resting 
not  only  upon  each  of  us  but  upon  each  member  of  the  respective  countries  of 
North,  Central  and  South  America. 

I  have  such  a  deep  personal  affection  for  the  next  speaker  that  I  wish  I 
might  introduce  him  by  a  recital  of  his  personal  traits  rather  than  his  financial 
achievements.  I  must,  however,  exercise  self-control  in  the  matter  and  say  to  you 
that  you  are  now  to  hear  from  the  leading  financier  of  Chile,  and  from  one  of 
the  leaders  of  finance  of  this  Continent.  Under  his  direction  that  great  Bank  of 
Chile — Banco  de  Chile— has  acquired  a  position  second  to  none  amongst  the  national 
banking  organizations  of  the  American  Continent. 

We  had  the  pleasure  of  welcoming  him  as  the  official  Delegate  of  Chile  at 
the  First  Pan  American  Financial  Conference  at  which  time  he  won  our  hearts 
and  we  now  welcome  him  not  only  because  of  his  achievements  as  a  financier,  but 
also  because  of  the  warmheartedness,  the  enthusiasm,  which  he  has  always  shown 
for  the  people  and  the  institutions  of  the  United  States. 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  Dr.  Augusto  Villanueva,  Director 
of  the  Bank  of  Chile. 

SEfiOR  AUGUSTO  VILLANUEVA:  Mr.  Chairman,  Mr.  Director  General, 
Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  feel  truly  ashamed  of  speaking  now  of  minor  and  local 
topics  after  the  great  problems  that  have  been  treated  by  Mr.  Vanderlip  and  after 


66  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

the^very  kind  words  of  Mr.  Rowe.  But  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American 
Union  has  honored  me  by  requesting  me  to  read  a  paper  on  financial  matters 
before  the  Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference,  and  although  I  feel 
that  a  difficult  task  is  imposed  upon  me,  I  shall  gladly  try  to  do  my.  duty.  (Senor 
Villanueva  then  read  the  paper  which  appears  on  page  131.) 

DR.  ROWE  (Presiding) :  After  listening  to  this  excellent  exposition  of 
finance,  I  am  now  going  to  present  to  you  a  man  who,  in  my  mind,  embodies,  per- 
sonifies, incarnates,  dynamic  America,  one  of  the  real  industrial  statesmen  of  the 
American  Continent — Charles  M.  Schwab. 

MR.  CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB  delivered  the  address  which  appears  on  page  300. 

DR.  ROWE  (Presiding):  lam  certain  that  Mr.  Schwab's  speech  fulfilled  the 
expectation  and  surpassed  the  expectation  of  all  of  us  who  are  privileged  to  listen 
to  him.  We  have  heard  from  a  distinguished  Chilean  financier  and  we  are  now 
to  hear  from  an  equally  distinguished  Bolivian  financial  leader.  I  know  that  he 
speaks  English  because  night  before  last  at  dinner  I  spoke  English  with  him,  but 
I  also  know  that  he  hesitates  and  in  fact  today  refuses  to  speak  the  English  which 
is  at  his  command  and  has  therefore  requested  that  his  contribution  to  the  dis- 
cussion be  read  by  one  of  his  fellow  countrymen. 

I  desire,  however,  that  the  members  of  this  Conference  should  know  him  and 
be  able  to  identify  him  in  case  you  wish  to  talk  to  him  personally.  I  refer  to  the 
Honorable  Julio  Zamora,  Special  Financial  Delegate  of  Bolivia  to  the  United 
States.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting  you  to  him. 

SECTOR  JULIO  ZAMORA'S  paper,  which  appears  on  page  97,  was  read  by 
Senor  Jorge  Barra,  his  private  secretary. 

DR.  ROWE  (Presiding) :  I  wish  now  it  were  possible  for  me  to  take  you  all 
to  the  State  Department,  to  the  office  of  one  of  the  men  who  is  doing  a  great  con- 
structive work  in  encouraging  American  investment  in  Central  and  South  American 
countries.  Quietly,  unostentatiously  he  is  building  up  a  splendid  governmental  plan 
and  is  making  effective  the  interests  of  the  Department  of  State  in  the  encourage- 
ment of  American  investment.  I  refer  to  the  Honorable  Julius  G.  Lay,  Foreign 
Trade  Adviser  of  the  State  Department,  who  will  address  the  Conference  on  the 
interests  of  the  State  Department  in  the  encouragement  of  American  investments 
in  Central  and  South  America.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  Mr.  Lay. 

MR.  JULIUS  G.  LAY:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Con- 
ference: The  representatives  of  the  Department  of  State  have  so  often  addressed 
commercial  congresses  of  this  kind  on  its  interest  in  many  other  phases  of  Pan 
American  commerce  that  I  thought'  you  would  like  to  hear  something  about  the 
interest  of  the  Department  of  State  in  the  investment  of  American  capital  in  Latin 
America.  (Mr.  Lay  then  read  the  paper  given  on  page  302.) 

DR.  ROWE  (Presiding) :  I  am  certain  that  we  all  derived  a  very  great  en- 
lightenment and  profit  from  the  important  contribution  made  by  Mr.  Lay. 

I  am  informed  that  Mr.  Arnold  and  Mr.  Wade  are  not  present  and  we  there- 
fore come  to  what  the  Director  General  informs  me  will  be  the  closing  contribution 
to  the  morning  session— to  be  made  by  Mr.  Merrick  of  Chicago,  President  of  the 
Chicago  Association  of  Commerce.  I  may  say  that  Mr.  Merrick  has  been  one  of 
the  leaders  in  arousing  and  developing  interest  in  Latin  American  affairs  in  the 
Middle  West  and  I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting  him  to  you. 

MR.  H.  H.  MERRICK   delivered  the  address  which  appears  on  page  306. 

DR.  ROWE  (Presiding):  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  before  relinquishing  the 
gavel,  I  want  to  express  my  own  appreciation  of  the  privilege  of  presiding  at  this 
notable  session  and  also  to  express  your  thanks  to  all  of  those  who  have  partici- 
pated in  the  important  contribution,  especially  the  contributions  made  by  the  six 


THURSDAY  AFTERNOON   SESSION  67 

speakers  that  have  presented  to  you  so  much  food  for  thought  beginning  with  the 
speech  of  Mr.  Vanderlip  and  ending  with  the  speech  of  Mr.  Merrick.  To  one  and 
all  in  your  name  I  express  our  most  sincere  thanks. 

I  now  relinquish  the  gavel  to  the  Director  General,  who  will  bring  the  session 
to  a  close. 

(  Announcements.) 

Adjournment. 


AFTERNOON  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  3  o'clock  by  Director  General  Barrett, 
and  the  session  was  presided  by  Mr.  Hi.  C.  Parmelee. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  You  have  a  very  fine  array  of  talent 
here  and  we  are  going  to  have  a  very  interesting  session.  This  afternoon  we  take 
up  the  relationship  of  engineering  to  Pan  American  commerce,  and  I  am  going  to 
turn  the  meeting  over  to  a  man  who  stands  very  prominently  in  this  important  factor 
of  Pan  American  trade — Mr.  HI  C.  Parmelee,  the  editor  of  Chemical  and  Metal- 
lurgical Engineering,  of  New  York,  and  I  ask  you  to  give  him  your  best  coopera- 
tion. Mr.  Parmelee. 

MR.  HOWARD  C.  PARMELEE:  Mr.  Barrett,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  This1 
Conference  is  announced  as  a  Commercial  Conference,  and  at  first  glance  it 
may  be  a  matter  of  wonderment  to  you  as  to  just  why  an  afternoon  should  be 
devoted  to  the  general  subject  of  engineering.  I  think,  tlhough,  that  you  will  agree 
with  me  that  it  is  very  fitting  that  it  should  be  so  because  engineering,  after  all,  is 
the  first  aid  to  the  actual  carrying  out  of  the  aims  and  purposes  of  commerce  and 
the  ultimate  object  of  business. 

We  have  an  excellent  example  of  that  in  our  own  country  because  without 
any  stretch  of  the  imagination  we  can  readily  see  that  the  great  western  areas  of 
the  United  States  could  not  be  so  closely  united  and  connected  with  the  great 
eastern  sections  were  it  not  for  the  engineering  works  constructed  by  the  railroad 
engineer  and  the  highway  engineer  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  means  of  communi- 
cation and  transportation  that  have  been  established.  ' 

It  takes  vision,  sometimes,  to  see  that  engineering  works  will  overcome  many 
otherwise  apparent  obstacles.  It  is  a  matter  of  record  in  the  United  States  Senate 
that  at  one  time  Daniel  Webster,  eminent  statesman  though  he  was,  was  wholly 
unable  to  see  the  potentialities  of  the  great  western  empire  which  the  United  States 
now  holds,  and  he  is  on  record  in  the  annals  of  the  Senate  as  being  utterly  opposed 
to  acquiring  those  great  arid  wastes,  those  barren  seashores,  as  he  called  them, 
those  Rocky  Mountains  out  of  which  nothing  good  could  come.  But  as  I  say,  it 
requires  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  see  that  as  the  great  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
road System  was  extended  westward,  the  western  part  of  this  country  became 
more  and  more  closely  united  to  the  east  until  today  the  works  of  engineering  unite 
us  into  one  country,  enable  us  to  speak  as  one,  unify  us  in  every  respect,  and  ac- 
complish those  ends  and  aims  and  purposes  of  commerce  and  business  which 
otherwise  could  not  have  been  accomplished. 

The  program  this  afternoon  is  in  general  divided  into  three  parts.  We  have 
considered  the  subject  of,  transportation  under  the  topics  of  railroad  transportation 
and  waterway  transportation.  Then  we  have  also  considered  the  general  subject 
of  sanitary  engineering  or  sanitation  as  applied  to  the  development  of  commerce 
and  business  in  any  country. 

We  will  reverse  the  printed  order  and  take  up  the  subject  of  sanitation,  im- 
portant as  it  is,  in  the  development  of  any  country,  and  for  the  presentation  of  that 
subject  we  are  honored  in  the  presence  of  Major  George  A.  Soper  of  the  Surgeon 
General's  office  of  the  U.  S.  Army.  I  need  not  tell  you  the  excellent  work  which 
the  army  has  done  in  the  way  of  sanitation  in  all  parts  of  this  country  and  different 
countries  to  which  we  have  been  called  to  work,  and  I  know  that  you  will  listen  to 
Major  Soper  with  a , great  deal  of  interest.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  him 
to  you.  Major  Soper. 


68  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

MAJOR  GEORGE  A.  SOPER:  Members  of  the  Conference,  Ladies  and  Gen- 
tlemen: I  was  asked  a  few  days  ago  to  prepare  a  paper  on  a  specialized  topic  and 
what  I  have  to  say  will  be  intended  to  follow  the  lines  that  were  so  designated. 
The  title  was  to  be  "The  Effect  of  Sanitation  in  Decreasing  Municipal  Death 
Rates."  (Major  Soper  then  read  the  paper  given  on  page  339.) 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding):  If  there  are  no  questions  we  will  take  up  the 
subject  of  transportation  in  the  development  of  the  commerce  and  business  of  a 
country  and  we  have  for  our  first  consideration  the  presentation  to  the  Conference 
of  the  general  railway  situation  in  Latin  America  by  Mr.  Percival  Farquhar,  who  is, 
I  dare  say,  more  familiar  with  the  subject  than  anyone  else  who  could  speak  upon 
it.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting  Mr.  Farquhar  to  you. 

MR.  PERCIVAL  FARQUHAR:  Mr.  Chairman,  Mr.  Director  General,  Ladies 
and  Gentlemen:  The  Chairman  has  introduced  this  subject  as  one  relating  to  Latin 
America.  When  I  received  the  notification  of  the  Conference,  it  referred  to  rail- 
ways in  the  Americas  and  I  suppose  one  reason  for  considering  the  problems  in 
the  Americas  under  the  same  heading  was  owing  to  certain  fundamental  similarities 
of  conditions  in  contradistinction  to  those  which  hold  in  Europe  outside  of  Russia. 
(Mr.  Farquhar  then  read  the  paper  given  on  page  311.) 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding) :  We  will  continue  the  consideration  of  fea- 
tures of  main  trunk  line  railways  and  Sefior  Juan  B.  Rojo,  Counselor  of  the  Mex- 
ican Embassy,  will  speak  on  some  features  of  commerce  and  transportation  in 
Mexico.  I  have  pleasure  in  introducing  him. 

DR.  ROJO:  I  told  you  yesterday  the  high  figures  reached  by  Mexico  in  her 
external  commerce.  Now,  you  can  see  the  plans  that  we  have  for  trade  expansion : 
We  want  all  the  interoceanic  freight  we  can  move  across  the  Tehuantepec  Railway. 

We  have  under  discussion  with  the  United  States  Railroad  Administration 
the  resumption  of  the  interoceanic  freight  service  and  direct  Pullman  service  to 
Mexico  City.  We  are  cooperating  with  the  Mississippi  Valley  Association  to  send 
merchandise  direct  from  the  river  to  the  Mexican  ports  of  the  Gulf.  To  encour- 
age trade,  Commercial  Agents  of  Mexico  are  established  now  at  New  York,  New 
Orleans,  San  Francisco,  Chicago,  St.  Louis.  We  would  gladly  welcome  you  in 
Mexico. 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding):  I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  calling  upon  Sefior 
F.  P.  de  Hoyos,  agent  of  the  National  Railways  of  Mexico. 

SENOR  F.  P.  DE  HOYOS:  I  would  like  to  say  just  a  very  few  words  in  re- 
gard to  general  conditions  of  our  railroads.  I  believe  the  best  description  I  have 
heard  about  conditions  in  general  in  Mexico  was  told  in  a  recent  Conference  in 
New  York,  where  one  of  the  speakers  said  to  a  permanent  New  Yorker,  "Are  you 
going  to  the  country  for  the  summer?"  And  he  replied,  ''My  wife  has  not  yet  made 
tip  our  minds,"  and  he  went  on  to  say  in  the  same  manner  that  the  moving  pictures 
and  the  newspapers  make  up  our  minds  in  regard  to  Mexico  and  in  fact  regarding 
any  other  subjects  with  which  we  are  not  in  constant  contact.  In  every  moment 
of  my  life  in  the  United  States  I  see  people  most  grossly  misinformed  about  con- 
ditions in  Mexico.  They  ask  me  if  we  use  Pullman  cars  in  Mexico.  They  ask  if 
we  use  passenger  cars  the  same  as  they  do  here.  They  even  ask  me  if  we  have 
hotels  in  Mexico. 

We  have  two  great  systems  in  Mexico,  one  known,  as  the  National  Railways 
of  Mexico,  which  connects  Mexico  City  with  four  United  States  borders,  and  the 
other  the  Southern  lines  of  Mexico  which  connect  the  city  of  Mexico  with  all  the 
southern  and  southeastern  cities  as  well  as  the  Guatemala  border.  Therefore,  we 
have  a  through  rail  connection  from  New  York  to  the  Guatemala  border,  every 
one  of  these  lines  running  with  more  or  less  regularity  at  the  present  time. 

Just  to  give  you  an  idea  of  conditions  in  general,  our  earnings  at  the  present 
time  are  greater  than  they  have  ever  been  in  normal  times,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  we  have  lost  during  the  revolution  through  destruction  and  wrecks  and 
other  causes  about  ten  thousand  of  our  cars,  and  our  earnings  have  not  been  in- 
creased over  20  per  cent  to  25  per  cent  in  freight,  and  the  passenger  rates  remained 
the  same,  which  goes  to  show  that  our  volume  of  business  is  greater  than  it  has 
ever  been  and  we  are  handling  it  with  more  or  less  promptness.  Of  course,  we  are 
largely  handicapped  with  shortage  of  power,  especially,  and  we  are  trying  to  make 


THURSDAY    AFTERNOON    SESSION  69 

arrangements  with  the  United  States  to  secure  some  more  power  which  will  enable 
us  to  re-establish  our  through  building  arrangement  which  we  had  years  ago. 

This  will  give  you  a  general  idea  of  conditions,  and  if  anyone  in  the  audience 
would  like  to  know  either  now  or  after  the  meeting  anything  about  some  par- 
ticular point,  I  would  be  very  glad  to  answer  it.  . 

MR.  VOGEL  (Philadelphia)  :  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  de  Hoyos  whether 
engines  in  Mexico  are  running  with  fuel  oil  or  whether  they  are  run  on  coal? 

MR.  DE  HOYOS:  About  80  per  cent  of  our  engines  are  run  with  fuel  oil. 
One  or  two  of  the  northern  divisions  which  are  quite  a  way  from  the  oil  regions 
are  burning  coal.  We  have  coal  mines  in  northern  Mexico  and  the  old  Mexican 
International,  which  supplies  part  of  this  coal,  and  some  of  it  is  brought  from 
Birmingham. 

MR.  VOGEL:  Are  you  familiar  with  the  number  of  tank  cars  they  have  in 
the  Mexican  railways? 

MR.  DE  HOYOS:  I  could  not  say  off  hand,  but  I  would  be  very  glad  to  look 
it  up  and  send  you  the  information. 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding):  Now,  it  must  be  apparent  that  when  we  have 
gotten  our  main  trunk  line  railways  established,  that  it  is  impossible  to  branch 
them  out  into  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  as  a  consequence,  we  extend  our  means 
of  transportation  by  highways  and  automobiles  and  industrial  railways  and  aerial 
tramways  and  various  other  methods  of  transportation,  so  we  will  proceed  to  a 
discussion  of  these  various  methods  of  feeding  trunk  line  railways,  and  the  first 
phase  of  that  matter  that  we  will  consider  is  the  matter  of  highways  and  for  the 
discussion  of  that  I  have  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr.  Charles  Whiting  Baker  of 
New  York  City. 

MR.  CHARLES  WHITING  BAKER  read  the  paper  given  on  page  323. 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding) :  Another  type  of  feeder  which  can  be  made 
effective  for  supporting  main  line  railways  is  the  light  industrial  railway.  Mr. 
Lloyd  Brown  of  the  Lakewood  Engineering  Company  of  Cleveland  will  read  Mr. 
Lang's  paper  on  this  subject. 

MR.  LLOYD  BROWN:  This  paper  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Lang,  President  of 
our  Company,  who  was  detained  by  sickness. 

MR.  CHARLES  F.  LANG'S  paper  appears  on  page  313. 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding):  The  subject  of  aerial  tramways  as  feeders  for 
trunk  lines  will  be  presented  by  Dr.  Walter  C.  Kretz  of  the  Roebling  Company, 
New  York. 

DR.  WALTER  C.  KRETZ   read  the  paper  given  on  page  316. 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding) :  We  had  prepared  a  symposium  on  the  use  of 
waterways  in  transportation  and  as  one  item  in  the  use  of  waterways  we  had 
thought  of  considering  the  use  of  the  water  either  before  or  after  its  use  in  trans- 
portation for  irrigation.  On  that  subject,  Mr.  Charles  W.  Sutton,  who  is  a  con- 
sulting engineer  specializing  in  irrigation  and  who  has  for  ten  years  been  at  the  head 
of  the  National  Irrigation  Service  of  Peru,  will  speak  to  us.  Mr.  Sutton. 

MR.  CHARLES.  W.  SUTTON  read  the  paper  given  on  page  320. 
MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding):   Has  anyone  any  questions  to  ask  or  topics  to 
discuss  in  connection  with  these  points? 

MR.  W.  N.  DICKINSON  (New  York)  :  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  one  question. 
I  think  it  is  in  Mr.  Baker's  paper.  He  spoke  about  the  cost  per  ton  mile.  I  would 
like  to  know  whether  or  not  those  figures  which  he  mentioned  covered  the  operating- 
costs  plus  the  maintenance  cost  plus  the  interest  charges,  or  just  how  far  they  went 
so  far  as  the  figures  he  mentioned  are  concerned. 

MR.  BAKER:  The  cost  under  usual  conditions  is  very  hardly  down  in  gen- 
eral figures  because  it  depends  so  much  on  the  volume  of  traffic  you  have  to  move 
and  on  the  character  of  it.  It  is  very  hard  to  lay  down  anything  except  general 


CHILE 

FOREIGK  COMMERCE  1917 

TOTAL>  389, 588,000 


MEXICO 


UNITED  STATE 
$  155.006.OOO. 


THURSDAY    AFTERNOON    SESSION  71 

figures,  but  from  very  wide  sources  it  appears  that  in  general,  when  you  take  all 
the  expenses  of  handling  the  traffic  that  the  cost  with  water  traction  very  seldom 
runs  below  15  cents  a  ton  mile  and  that  doesn't  include  the  cost  of  the  road,  or 
of  the  motor  truck.  It  does,  however,  include  the  depreciation,  cost  of  maintenance, 
etc.,  on  the  motor  trucks. 

MR.  DICKINSON:   And  the  interest  on  the  original  investment  also? 

MR.  BAKER:  Yes,  interest  also,  but  not  the  road  expenses.  In  order  to 
get  that  you  have  to  take  first  what  it  costs  to  build  your  road,  then  the  interest 
on  that  per  annum,  then  what  it  costs  to  maintain  it,  and  then  the  annual  de- 
preciation, figuring  that  it  will  have  a  certain  life  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  you 
have  to  practically  rebuild  the  road.  Then  when  you  get  that  you  find  what  it  costs 
you  per  annum,  total  cost  per  annum  per  mile  for  that  road  and  divide  that  by  the 
tons  over  that  road  and  you  get  the  charge  per  ton  on  it.  Adding  that  to  your  cost 
of  moving  the  material  itself,  the  ton  mile  cost,  you  get  your  total  ton  mile  cost  in 
the  road.  It  is  in  detail  on  my  paper. 

May  I  say  one  more  thing?  I  was  very  much  interested  in  the  paper  on  the 
tramway  and  one  point  that  Mr.  Lang  brought  out  is  that  the  tramway  does  some- 
thing that  in  certain  conditions  we  cannot  do  with  anything  else.  In  a  very  rough, 
mountainous,  broken  country  the  tram  way  ^  will  give  access  to  mountain  top  or 
very  rough  regions  which  we  cannot  obtain  in  any  other  practical  way  and  in  some 
very  mountainous  regions  like  the  Andes,  for  instance,  it  does  contribute  a  very 
good  prospect  for  a  satisfactory  future. 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding) :  In  closing  this  program  we  are  going  to  con- 
sider just  for  a  moment  the  need  of  standardizing  technical  terms  in  the  Spanish 
language.  It  is  a  matter  which  will  become  more  and  more  important  as  these 
countries  exchange  opinions  and  ideas,  and  on  that  subject  Mr.  Havens,  editor  of 
"Ingenieria  Iriternacional,"  will  speak  briefly. 

MR.  HAVENS:  Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates:  The  Spanish  language  is  one  of 
the  comparatively  few  modern  tongues  that  is  controlled  almost  absolutely  in  its 
growth  by  some  one  central  authority. 

MR.  V.  L.  HAVENS  read  the  paper  given  on  page  331. 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding) :  I  now  take  great  pleasure  in  calling  upon  Dr. 
Cesar  Zumeta,  of  Venezuela,  who  will  speak  on  the  need  of  commercial  and  tech- 
rical  nomenclature  for  Pan  America. 

DR.  C£SAR  ZUMETA  read  the  paper  given  on  page  330. 

CHAIRMAN  PARMELEE:  Does  anyone  wish  to  comment  on  Mr.  Havens' 
suggestions  ? 

MR.  CORONADO  (Akron,  O.)  :  I  think  the  idea  of  the  speaker  is  worthy 
of  consideration  because  in  our  experience  in  making  the  translations  in  the  rubber 
business  we  have  found,  for  instance,  that  some  of  the  countries  in  South  America 
call  the  word  "tire,"  "yanta" ;  some  others  call  it  "goma"  and  others  still  call  it 
"pneumatico."  In  some  of  the  countries  where  they  refer  to  it  by  some  other 
name,  when  we  call  it  "yanta"  they  don't  know  what  we  are  talking  about.  In 
other  countries  they  call  it  "goma,"  a  kind  of  glue  or  paste. 

In  some  !of  the  South  American  countries  the  crude  rubber  is  known  under 
the  name  "caucho" ;  in  some  others  they  call  that  "goma"  and  in  Mexico  it  is  known 
under  the  name  of  "hule."  We  have  three  names  for  each  of  those  two  words.  We 
have  tried  to  get  some  authority  from  the  different  translation  bureaus  located  in 
the  United  States  and  practically  all  of  them  differed  in  their  opinion  about  the  same 
word.  The  only  way  to  solve  that  problem  would  be  to  suggest  a  word,  just  as  Mr. 
Havens  proposes  and  use  that  word  universally.  I  think  that  some  of  the  manu- 
facturers will  be  able  to  give  very  good  suggestions  in  this  matter. 

MR.  SAMPAIO:  I  shall  take  this  opportunity  of  speaking  about  the  use  of 
language  between  South  America  and  other  countries.  We  know  that  Brazil  is 
just  half  of  South  America.  South  America  today  has  just  sixty-two  millions  of 
people;  Brazil  has  today  twenty-seven  millions  eight  hundred  people.1 

iThese  are  figures  quoted  by  Senhor  Sampaio.  According  to  the  latest  avail- 
able official  statistics  (1917)  Brazil's  population  is  22,992,037.  See  statistical  maps 
on  pp.  28  and  29.— Editor. 


72  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

I  think  it  is  wrong  for  you  to  send  letters  to  Brazil  in  Portuguese ;  it  is  better 
that  you  send  them  in  English.  Why?  For  two  reasons.  First  because  Brazil  has 
more  business  with  England  and  with  the  United  States  than  with  all  the  people 
who  speak  Spanish — 95  per  cent  with  England  and  with  the  United  States.  Busi- 
ness men  in  Brazil  use  more  English  than  Spanish  because  the  South  American 
republics  have  not  business  between  one  another  as  much  as  with  Europe  and  the 
United  States. 

I  arrived  in  St.  Louis  just  seven  months  ago,  and  I  opened  two  classes  of 
Portuguese  for  business  men.  With  the  help  of  the  St.  Louis  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce (and  I  represent  here  also  the  St.  Louis  Chamber  of  Commerce)  each  busi- 
ness man,  each  company,  exporter  and  importer  in  St.  Louis  sends  to  these  classes 
one  man  from  the  company.  I  have  forty-three  students,  all  business  men. 

I  ask  of  you  to  remember  that  it  is  better  to  send  letters  in  good  English 
to  Brazil  than  to  send  them  in  poor  Spanish. 

MR.  McHALE:  Mr.  Havens'  suggestion  seems  to  me  to  be  a  very  good  one. 
I  think  that  Mr.  Barrett,  with  his  influence,  could  do  a  great  deal  for  the  solution 
of  this  problem.  To  try  to  get  the  technical  terms  from  Spanish  dictionaries  is  the 
same  as  breaking  your  head  against  the  Chinese  wall,  particularly  from  the  dic- 
tionary of  the  Spanish  Academy.  Y'ou  must  not  expect  to  get  anything  from  a 
dictionary  containing  about  sixty-five  thousand  words.  You  can  imagine  the  pos- 
sibility of  finding  technical  terms  in  a  dictionary  of  that  sort  when  you  compare  it 
with  the  Standard  English  Dictionary  that  has  about  two  hundred  thousand  words. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  English  language  is  a  far-reaching  language. 
How  could  the  problem  be  solved?  The  publication  of  a  dictionary  is  the  only 
way,  and  how  could  the  dictionary  be  compiled?  By  getting  technical  men,  but  not 
only  engineers.  In  the  dictionary  of  the  Academy  you  do  not  find  technical  terms. 

We  must  not  be  surprised  then  that  the  names  of  the  different  articles  in  the 
different  countries  have  different  names.  The  same  thing  happens  in  the  English 
language  to  a  certain  extent.  Of  course,  if  we  go  to  South  America  we  find  that 
in  the  different  sections  the  same  article  has  a  different  name,  and  it  is  next  to 
impossible  for  any  man  to  know  all  these  terms. 

I  think  the  Pan  American  Union  could  do  a  very  good  thing  compiling  a 
technical  dictionary  and  I  think  it  would  be  a  financial  success  because  there  is  a 
great  demand  for  such  a  work.  There  are  several  dictionaries  but  they  are  not 
complete.  Some  of  them  contain  commercial  terms,  others  contain  engineering 
terms,  others  mechanical  terms,  and  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  compile  a  dictionary 
containing  all  the  technical  terms  not  found  in  the  dictionary.  I  think  there  is  an 
opportunity  for  an  institution  such  as  the  Pan  American  Union. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Gentlemen,  I  have  known  Professor 
Lacalle  a  great  many  years.  He  was  for  a  long  time  associated  with  the  Pan 
American  Union.  I  don't  think  any  man  in  America  understands  better  the  ques- 
tion under  discussion  than  he  does. 

PROFESSOR  J.  MORENO  LACALLE:  I  want  first  of  all  to  say  that  I  am  in 
hearty  accord  with  the  suggestion  offered  by  Mr.  Havens.  It  is  undoubtedly  a  very 
practical  solution  to  the  problem.  However,  I  think  it  is  not  so  much  a  question  of 
a  common  technical  vocabulary  as  it  is  a  question  of  proper  and  accurate  trans- 
lating. This  paper  brings  indeed  a  very  vital  question  for  American  manufac- 
turers and  exporters  in  their  relations  with  Latin  America,  inasmuch  as  they  have 
to  depend  largely  upon  direct  advertising  for  creating  and  maintaining  foreign  mar- 
kets for  their  articles.  Heretofore  American  firms  doing  business  with  Spanish 
countries  have  been  sadly  imposed  upon  by  so-called  translators  who  were  ^ not  only 
utterly  ignorant  of  technical  terms  but,  what  is  worse,  did  not  even  know  idiomatic 
Spanish.  As  a  rule  these  "translators"  offered  their  services  at  a  minimum  price, 
and  the  exporting  firm  would  accept  them  for  the  purpose  of  saving  money,  which 
is  poor  economy,  as  I  shall  presently  show,  and  as  bitter  experience  has  demon- 
strated to  not  a  few  business  men  in  this  country. 

Aside  from  the  fact  that  a  poorly  translated  letter,  catalog,  or  advertising 
literature  produces  the  contrary  result — its  fate  being  usually  the  wastebasket — there 
is  always  the  danger  of  financial  loss,  which,  as  in  some  cases  that  have  come 
under  my  observation,  may  run  into  the  thousands  of  dollars. 

To  cite  one  single  instance,  I  will  tell  you  about  the  case  of  a  house  manu- 
facturing varnishes  and  paints.  They  had  their  labels  translated  into  Spanish  by 


THURSDAY    AFTERNOON    SESSION  73 

some  "translator"  who  rendered  the  word  "enamel"  by  the  Spanish  "esmalte." 
"Esmalte"  means  "enamel,"  it  is  true,  but  it  means  only  the  enamel  used  on  jewelry 
and  other  expensive  articles,  and  as  such,  "esmalte"  pays  in  most  countries  a  very 
high  rate  of  duty.  Well,  through  the  stupidity  of  the  "translator"  and  the  firm's 
desire  to  save  some  money  on  the  translation,  they  had  already  lost  some  thousands 
of  dollars,  when  they  discovered  that  their  paints  were  being  taxed  at  the  port  of 
import  as  if  they  were  the  real  enamel  of  jewelry. 

This  is  only  one  case  of  the  many  that  I  could  point  out  to  you,  but  it  is 
sufficient,  I  believe,  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  translations  properly,  idiomat- 
ically and  accurately  done. 

As  for  the  common  technical  vocabulary,  there  met  recently  in  Spain  a  com- 
mission of  experts  in  the  different  branches  of  engineering  for  the  purpose  of 
uniformizing  and  enlarging  the  technical  vocabulary  of  the  language.  The  recom- 
mendations of  this  commission  have  been  embodied  in  a  "Technical  Dictionary" 
in  seven  languages,  of  which  the  firm  of  Bailly-Bailliere  are  the  agents  for  Madrid 
and  Paris.  This  work  has  the  great  additional  advantage  of  carrying  one  or  more 
illustrations  for  each  and  every  word,  and  is  divided  into  several  volumes,  one  for 
each  branch  of  engineering.  It  is  the  standard  work  of  its  kind. 

MR.  McHALE:  In  corroboration  of  what  Prof.  Lacalle  says,  I  myself  have 
had  a  good  deal  of  experience  with  translation  work.  There  are  so  many  of  these 
so-called  translators  here.  Perhaps  some  of  you  know  of  the  little  pamphlet  that 
circulated  some  time  ago  in  this  country,  gotten  out  by  a  manufacturer  of  leather 
goods.  They  had  a  small  space  devoted  to  harness  for  a  single  horse  buggy — a 
buggy  is  a  small  sort  of  coach.  That  was  the  title  of  the  pamphlet  in  English. 
The  manufacturer  wanted  to  have  the  circular  sent  to  Spanish  America  so  he  sent 
it  to  a  translator  who  knew  as  much  of  Spanish  perhaps  as  I  know  Chinese,  and 
the  result  was  that  the  Spanish  translation,  translated  back  into  English,  meant, 
instead  of  harness  for  single  horse  buggy,  "harness  for  a  bachelor  horse  full  of 
bugs."  You  can  imagine  the  kind  of  an  opinion  that  would  be  formed  of  American 
goods  after  reading  such  a  circular.  The  translator  got  his  money  and  the  manu- 
facturer got  his  lesson.  In  that  point  I  agree  with  Professor  Lacalle  thoroughly. 

I  think  that  even  competent  translators  do  not  always  find  in  dictionaries, 
in  the  best  dictionaries  that  we  have  in  Spanish  the  technical  terms  that  they  need. 
Without  doubt  there  is  a  lack  of  a  good  technical  dictionary  in  Spanish. 

Not  long  ago  a  member  of  the  Spanish  Academy,  Senor  Alemany,  published 
a  very  .good  dictionary  containing  40,000  words  more  than  the  dictionary  of  the 
Spanish  Academy  and  20,000  Spanish  American  terms.  It  has  about  220,000  terms, 
but  even  in  that  dictionary  which  is  far  superior  to  the  dictionary  of  the  Academy, 
there  are  a  great  many  technical  terms  that  we  do  not  find. 

In  Spain  I  had  about  twenty  translators  working  under  me.  Some  of  them 
were  Spanish  Americans,  others  were  Spaniards,  and  still  others  Americans  and 
English,  and  they  could  not  agree  as  to  the  use  of  technical  terms.  Papers  that 
have  been  translated  in  this  country  for  us  in  South  America  they  could  not  use 
in  Spain,  and  others  that  are  used  in  Spain  cannot  be  used  in  South  America. 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding) :  Mr.  Vicente  Gonzales,  will  you  contribute  to 
this  discussion? 

MR.  GONZALES:  I  only  can  confirm  what  the  gentlemen  have  said.  It  is 
a  pitiful  way  in  which  our  catalogs  are  translated  for  the  sake  of  saving  a  few 
dollars.  I  have  read,  during  the  time  I  have  been  in  the  Association  of  Manufac- 
turers, most  inconceivable  stupidities  that  could  ever  have  been  written.  I  knew  the 
case  the  gentleman  spoke  of  about  the  bugs  as  well  as  many  other  examples,  and 
manufacturers  should  be  advised  very  strongly  along  this  line,  to  apply  only  to 
people  who  know  the  language  thoroughly.  I  did  no  translating  in  the  Association, 
I  did  something  easier  than  that — I  criticized — and  I  always  found  a  very  vast  field 
for  criticism. 

The  trouble  lies  between  the  countries — that  articles  have  the  same  names  in 
different  terms.  I  think  that  manufacturers  should  be  strongly  recommended  to  be 
very  careful  in  selecting  the  translator. 

MR.  HAVENS:  I  might  say  one  word,  Mr.  Chairman.  It  was  not  my  idea 
to  criticize  the  various  translations  that  various  people  make.  My  point  was  based 
on  the  very  small  number  of  words  (perhaps  not  over  five  hundred)  that  are  in 
doubt.  I  mean  words  that  are  thoroughly  understood,  each  in  its  own  particular 
locality  and  not  understood  in  the  other  South  American  or  Spanish  speaking 


74  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

countries,  and  the  probabilities  are  that  some  engineers  from  the  custom  house 
authorities  from  each  country  would  be  able  to  get  together  and  make  a  choice  of 
these  four  or  five  hundred  words  and  solve  an  enormous  number  of  the  problems 
that  are  put  before  translators  now  which  compel  them  to  invent  a  word  which  will 
express  the  meaning  when  there  is  no  word  that  he  can  use. 

MR.  FRANK  RHEA  (New  York)  :  As  to  the  permissibility  of  using  English 
to  cover  technical  words,  I  have  had  some  twelve  years  of  having  translated  for 
me  other  languages — even  some  English.  In  Australia  they  use  "eyre"  which  they 
put  on  their  locomotive  wheels.  I  have  found  out  about  the  only  way  I  could  get 
around  that  difference  (and  I  would  like  to  ask  the  objection  to  this)  is  to  either 
put  in  brackets  the  English  technical  term  or  put  in  parallel  columns  the  technical 
terms.  I  have  had  some  very  good  translators  and  I  have  never  had  any  better 
method.  Is  there  objection  to  that  method? 

MR.  SAMPAIO:  I  would  make  one  suggestion  in  regard  to  the  question  of 
technical  terms  in  English  translation  for  South  A.merica.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  of  my  country  has  written  a  book  containing  5,000  pages  which  embraces 
all  terms  for  all  problems  of  importation,  with  three  translations — the -name  of  each 
technical  term  in  English,  in  French  and  in  Portuguese. 

MR.  PARMELEE  (Presiding):  Before  closing  this  engineering  session  I  just 
want  to  express  thanks  to  those  who  participated  in  it  and  I  am  sure  that  as  for 
those  of  you  who  have  remained,  you  have  been  amply  repaid. 

(Announcements  by  Director  General  Barrett.) 

Adjournment. 


EVENING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  8.30  by  Director  General  Barrett, 
who  presided. 

(Announcements.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  In  the  original  program  we  were  to 
have  had,  under  the  head  of  Commercial  Intelligence,  on  Friday  morning,  an  ad- 
dress by  one  of  the  best  authorities  on  that  topic  in  America.  He  could  not  be 
here  tomorrow  because  he  has  a  battle  to  fight  elsewhere  and  so  we  arranged  the 
program  in  order  that  he  might  speak  to  us  tonight.  I  am  going  to  introduce  to 
you  a  man  who  has  been  in  the  forefront  of  the  activities  of  publication  in  this 
country  to  make  the  United  States  loved  and  respected  and  known  throughout 
the  western  hemisphere  and  the  world,  a  man  who  has  been  chief  in  his  great  firm 
largely,  I  might  say  chief  and  directing  its  policies,  a  man  who  is  responsible  for 
the  organization  and  development  of  "La  Revista  del  Mundo,"  which  today  is 
becoming  as  popular  in  Latin  America  as  World's  Work  in  the  United  States. 

I   have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  as  the  first  speaker  of  the 
evening  Herbert  S.  Houston  of  Doubleday,  Page  &  Company,  New  York. 

MR.  HERBERT  S.  HOUSTON:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
A  few  minutes  ago  as  I  was  standing  downstairs  looking  over  that  beautiful  gar- 
den, a  friend  of  mine  said,  "What  a  pity  that  these  wonderful  addresses  should 
reach  only  the  comparatively  few  people  who  are  foregathered  here." 

Well,  more  people  are  going  to  have  the  privilege  of  hearing  them  because 
the  press  of  Pan  America,  as  a  torch  of  progress,  will  bear  these  messages,  these 
creative  ideas  that  have  been  presented  here  during  this  memorable  congress 
throughout  both  North  and  South  America.  (Mr.  Houston  then  read  the  address 
given  on  page  346.) 

MR.  McHALE:     Should  that  be  limited  only  to  exporting  houses? 

MR.  HOUSTON:  I  do  not  think  our  friend  probably  realizes  that  for  ten 
years  we  have  been  carrying  on  a  tremendous  work  in  regard  to  people  who 
publish  dishonest  advertising  at  home.  For  example,  we  put  honest  advertising  on 
the  statute  books  of  thirty-five  states.  We  have  get-rich-quick  crooks  who  have 


THURSDAY  EVENING   SESSION  75 

operated  throughout  the  country,  a  number  of  them,  under  indictment.  We  have 
been  doing  this  work  for  ten  or  twelve  years  at  home  and  now  we  are  extending 
it  to  other  parts  of  the  world. 

MR.  McHALE:  I  have  seen  some  advertisements  in  South  American  papers 
not  of  American  exporters  but  of  sellers  of  small  drugs  or  things  of  that  kind. 
For  instance,  in  several  papers  in  South  America  some  time  ago  there  was  one 
about  red  noses,  "Send  a  dollar  and  we  shall  change  the  color  of  your  nose," 
and  many  silly  people  were  duped  by  the  advertisement,  sent  in  their  dollar  and 
got  back  a  letter  saying,  "Keep  on  drinking  and  the  nose  will  turn  purple."  The 
question  is  that  these  measures  I  think  should  not  be  limited  to  exporting  houses 
but  to  all  dishonest  advertisements. 

MR.  HOUSTON:  That  is  all  right  but  we  will  take  one  continent  at  a  time 
and  we  will  start  with  our  own  exporters  in  the  United  States  because  we  have 
the  machinery  in  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  to  effectively  commission  it. 
We  believe  a  demonstation  made  here  will  be  the  means  of  organizing  a  similar 
movement  to  take  care  of  advertising  in  South  America  where  men  may  be  doing 
things  that  our  North  American  advertisers  have  been  known  to  do. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  The  other  day  when  we  were  discus- 
sing Venezuela  we  had  a  wonderful  paper  read  by  the  special  representative  of  that 
country,  but  tonight  we  are  going  to  have  a  brief  word  from  the  man  who  in  New 
York  is  largely  in  charge  of  the  commercial  relations  of  Venezuela  and  the  United 
States — a  man  who  is  recognized  alike  in  Venezuela  and  in  this  country  as  eminently 
qualified  for  his  position  and  his  work.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to 
you  Senor  Pedro  Rafael  Rincones,  Consul  General  of  Venezuela  at  New  York. 

SEftOR  PEDRO  RAFAEL  RINCONES  read  the  paper  given  on  page  213. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  The  other  day  when  we  were  considering 
trade  methods,  one  of  the  most  important  features  under  that  head  was  packing. 
We  are  fortunate  in  having  here  tonight  the  greatest  living  authority  in  this 
country  on  packing,  a  man  who  distinguished  himself  in  the  period  of  the  war 
in  revolutionizing  the  methods  of  packing  the  shipments  of  products  across  the 
seas.  This  gentleman  was  unable  to  speak  when  we  had  that  subject  under  con- 
sideration but  it  is  so  important  that  I  am  going  to  give  him  a  few  minutes  to 
speak  to  us  now.  I  refer  to  Captain  H.  R.  Moody,  packing  expert  of  the  United 
States  Army. 

CAPTAIN  H.  R.  MOODY:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The 
story  that  I  have  to  bring  to  you  has  relation  to  the  packing,  the  methods  of  making, 
the  methods  of  trying  the  package  after  it  is  complete  so  that  it  may  go  to  the 
customer  in  good  shape.  (Captain  Moody  then  read  the  paper  which  appears  on 
page  252.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Has  anyone  a  question  following  that 
instructive  paper  by  Captain  Moody? 

DR.  W.  C.  KRETZ  (New  York)  :  I  should  like  to  ask  a  question  relating 
to  costs  of  packing.  Being  more  or  less  in  that  line  myself  I  know  that  almost 
anything  can  be  packed  so  that  it  will  go  to  the  North  Pole  or  anywhere  else 
provided  you  put  enough  money  into  the  packing.  It  is  a  matter  of  design  of 
the  package  and  cost  of  the  package.  Now,  if  you  have  a  $10  article,  is  it  worth 
putting  $5  into  the  packing?  A  great  many  customers  will  not  stand  the  expense 
of  the  package.  In  other  words,  I  have  seen  a  number  of  times  things  shipped 
in  expensive  packages  and  the  customer  charged  so  much  for  the  goods  and  so 
much  for  the  package  that  customer  has  refused  to  pay  for  package.  What  will 
the  manufacturer  do?  He  must  use  his  judgment  as  to  what  he  can  afford  to 
put  into  that  package  as  practically  an  insurance  on  it  that  it  will  get  there  with  a 
reasonable  assurance  of  safety.  Sometimes  it  does,  sometimes  it  does  not. 

That  is  the  specific  question,  and  in  doing  government  work,  hasn't  there 
been  a  greater  amount  of  expense  allowed  for  making  these  packages  than  the 
ordinary  customer  would  be  willing  to  pay? 


76  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

CAPTAIN  MOODY:  We  do  not  recommend  economical  packing,  we  recom- 
mend safe  packing.  We  figure  that  if  the  package  is  worth  $10  it  is  better  to  put 
fifty  cents  or  a  dollar  on  the  packing  and  deliver  $10  worth  than  save  fifty  cents 
and  spoil  what  is  in  the  package. 

MRS.  LYDIA  ADAMS-WILLIAMS  (Washington)  :  I  would  like  to  ask 
Captain  Moody  if  in  his  packing  experiments  he  has  investigated  the  work  done 
by  the  wood  packing  industry  of  the  Madison  Laboratory  of  the  Forest  Service. 
As  I  understand  it,  tfiey  went  very  extensively  into  the  subject  of  packing  and 
designed  boxes  which  would  hold  the  maximum  amount  with  the  minimum  amount 
of  wastage,  and  I  would  like  to  know  if  Captain  Moody  has  made  any  investiga- 
tion of  the  work  of  the  Madison  Laboratory  at  Madison,  Wisconsin. 

CAPTAIN  MOODY:  We  worked  in  close  co-operation  with  all  of  them 
through  our  experiments  here  in  Washington.  We  sent  samples  to  the  Madison 
Laboratories  and  they  made  the  experiment  for  us  whenever  we  were  in  doubt 
as  to  any  wood  or  package  or  other  detail. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to 
you  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Hoffman,  Vice-President  and  Statistician  of  the  Prudential 
Insurance  Company. 

MR.  FREDERICK  L.  HOFFMAN  read  the  paper  given  on  page  342. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  going  to  have  real  pleasure  in 
introducing  a  man  who  has  the  real  Pan  American  viewpoint.  I  have  already  em- 
phasized the  fact  that  the  great  characteristic  of  this  Conference  is  its  Pan 
American  viewpoint,  the  viewpoint  of  Latin  America  and  the  United  States  alike. 

We  have  now  to  speak  to  us  a  man  who  knows  the  United  States,  who 
knows  Latin  America.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Leon  Bensabat  of  American  Chamber  of 
Commerce  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil. 

MR.  LEON  BENSABAT   read  the  paper  given  on  page  122. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  are  fortunate  in  having  with  us 
tonight  a  great  Pan  Americanist  whose  well-known  name  was  on  the  Program 
for  tomorrow.  As  he  can  not  stay  over  until  then,  we  shall  have  the  pleasure  of 
hearing  him  now — Dr.  Peter  H.  Goldsmith  of  the  American  Association  for  Inter- 
national Conciliation. 

DR.  PETER  H.  GOLDSMITH:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  As 
I  came  from  New  York  on  Tuesday,  the  lines  of  an  old  and  a  very  familiar  poetic 
phrase  were  running  through  my  mind — "hope  springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast." 
I  think  the  most  of  us  when  we  make  our  plans  to  attend  an  international  con- 
ference, whether  it  be  American  or  otherwise,  approach  the  occasion  with  hope. 
We  expect  that  the  golden  word  may  be  spoken,  that  there  may  be  uttered  some 
phrase,  that  there  may  be  set  forth  some  plan,  that  there  may  be  proposed  some 
system  that  will  solve  the  difficulties  and  will  unite  the  peoples. 

After  we  have  attended  one  of  these  Conferences,  I  think  we  are  disposed 
to  have  largely  in  our  minds  another  phrase — "hope  deferred  maketh  the  heart 
sick."  Because  the  golden  word  is  never  uttered,  the  absolutely  applicable  system 
is  never  proposed. 

I  say  this  not  in  a  spirit  of  criticism.  This  Conference,  like  all  others,  has 
given  what  conferences  are  capable  of  giving.  But  a  conference  cannot  solve  the 
difficulties,  cannot  bridge  over  the  chasms,  or  work  out  all  the  problems.  The 
great  task  is  the  task  that  exists  between  conferences,  the  work  that  must  go  on, 
the  work  that  is  going  on,  the  work  that  must  continue  to  be  done  between  the 
times  when  we  meet  to  talk.  As  a  sort  of  inter-American  interpreter,  a  wandering 
interpreter  who  goes  up  and  down  throughout  the  American  hemisphere,  trying 
to  make  people  known  to  each  other  and  seeking  to  help  them  tear  down  the 
barriers  that  separate  them,  I  wish  to  make  two  suggestions. 

The  first  is  that  every  American  here,  using  that  word  in  its  fine,  large 
significance  so  as  to  make  it  include  all  that  belongs  to  the  western  world — that 
every  American  here  shall  constitute  himself  into  a  committee  of  one  for  the  sup- 
pression and  elimination  of  fools,  cismatics  and  superficial  writers  who  endanger 
relations  between  nations  by  their  foolish  utterances.  I  went  into  a  store  in  New 


THURSDAY   EVENING    SESSION  77 

York  the  other  day  and  the  book  dealer  handed  me  two  volumes  and  said,  "Have 
you  seen  these?"  One  of  them  was  "To  Hell  and  Back,  My  Trip  to  South 
America."  The  other  was  a  book  by  the  same  author,  "The  Rotten  Republics  of 
Central  America." 

I  hope  that  my  friends  from  the  other  countries  will  not  be  offended.  I 
can  balance  those  by  works  by  Vargas  Vila  and  Manuel  Ugarte.  I  am  making  the 
collection.  I  never  fail  to  collect  anything  that  speaks  ill  of  the  United  States. 
There  is  much  ill  to  be  said  of  the  United  States,  but  let  the  ill  not  be  spoken 
without  discrimination ;  let  the  time  come  when  we  shall  by  our  expression  of 
criticism,  our  censure  by  our  disapproval,  make  it  impossible  for  any  publisher  to 
put  out  such  folly. 

If  the  creatures  who  live  in  countries  were  not  human  beings,  if  they  were 
not  influenced  by  what  people  say  about  them,  it  would  not  be  so  serious,  but  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  time  has  come  when  the  truth,  the  truth  with  understanding, 
the  truth  tempered  by  good  will,  the  penetrating  truth  that  not  only  states  the  fact 
but  also  points  to  the  road  by  which  the  fact  has  come  into  being.  The  time  lias- 
come,  I  repeat,  when  only  that  shall  be  uttered  in  our  hemisphere  because  the 
world  needs  a  united  America. 

My  other  suggestion  is  this :  The  future  safety  and  happiness  of  the  world, 
I  believe,  is  largely  dependent  upon  what  we  do  in  America  during  the  next  score 
of  years.  Let  us  unite  our  countries  more  closely  materially.  Now  surely  is  the 
time  to  push  the  thought  of  the  Pan  American  Railway.  Let  the  countries  be  so 
united  that  there  will  always  be  intercourse  between  them  in  spite  of  the  war 
vessel,  in  spite  of  the  submarine,  that  there  can  be  no  way  of  cutting  the  com- 
munication ;  and  that  along  that  great  iron  artery  will  be  developed  a  civilization 
from  the  North  to  the  South,  a  civilization  that  will  be  more  marvelous  in  actual 
cold  fact  than  the  most  heated  imagination  can  conceive  of  at  this  moment. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  have  a  telegram  to  read  from  the 
Governor  of  New  Mexico.  It  has  been  sent  to  the  Conference  through  Dr.  John- 
son, the  Representative  of  that  state  in  this  Conference: 

"I  send  greetings  to  the  delegates  of  the  Pan  American  Commercial  Con- 
ference now  in  session  at  Washington.  May  the  spirit  of  a  common  brotherhood 
inspire  your  acts  and  bring  together  all  the  nations  of  America  in  united  and 
harmonious  cooperation  for  their  common  and  individual  happiness  and  pros- 
perity and  for  the  guidance  of  the  world  in  securing  the  blessings  of  popular  free 
government  throughout  the  earth." 

(Announcements.) 

(Motion  pictures.) 

Adjournment. 


78  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

FRIDAY,  JUNE  6,  1919 
MORNING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  10  o'clock  by  Director  General 
Barrett. 

(Announcements.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  1  am  going  to  ask  Mr.  Noel,  the  Secre- 
tary for  the  Conference,  to  preside  this  morning  for  the  remainder  of  the  session 
after  I  have  introduced  the  opening  speaker.  If  there  are  any  persons  whose 
names  are  upon  the  program,  who  for  one  reason  or  another  have  not  yet  had  an 
opportunity,  I  would  like  to  have  them  report.  It  has  been  unavoidable  to  leave 
off  some,  and  then  others  who  were  not  here  then  are  present  now. 

It  is  a  real  pleasure  and  an  honor  to  introduce  the  first  speaker  of  this 
morning.  He  is  a  man  not  only  of  national — and  I  might  say  world  reputation, 
because  of  his  individual  work  and  of  the  position  he  occupies — but  also  one  of 
those  men  whom  we  all  love  and  admire  as  a  friend  and  one  of  the  representative 
public-spirited  citizens  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  This  morning  we  are  consider- 
ing the  relationship  of  the  newspapers  and  the  magazines,  and  other  methods  of 
publication,  to  the  upbuilding  of  Pan  American  commerce.  I  can  think  of  no 
more  fitting  way  of  starting  this  discussion  than  that  we  should  have,  as  the  opening 
address,  one  by  Mr.  F.  B.  Noyes,  the  President  of  the  Associated  Press. 

MR.  F.  B.  NOYES    read  the  paper  given  on  page  345. 

MR.  NOEL  (Presiding) :  On  account  of  the  urgency  of  his  return  to  New 
York,  I  am  going  to  call  on  the  representative  in  New  York  of  La  Nation  of 
Buenos  Aires,  to  speak  to  us  about  some  of  the  technical  features  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  service  here.  Mr.  Davies  has  been  a  very  splendid  worker  in  organiz- 
ing the  service  of  his  paper,  which  is  a  splendid,  conservative  and  yet  progressive 
organ  of  opinion  in  the  Argentine  Republic.  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr. 
W.  W.  Davies. 

MR.  W.  W.  DAVIES  delivered  the  remarks  given  on  page  350. 

MR.  NOEL  (Presiding):  While  we  are  familiar  through  the  reading  of  the 
daily  papers  with  news  associations  and  organizations  of  that  character  which  have 
become  household  words,  many  of  us  do  not  know  or  realize,  perhaps,  the  in- 
fluence in  the  business  world  of  what  are  known  as  business  papers,  trade  papers 
so-called — there  is  a  distinction  and  understanding  in  words — which  quietly  and 
effectively  through  their  many  publications  mould  opinion,  guide  the  business  men 
and  help  them  in  the  organization  of  their  work. 

We  are  fortunate  in  having  with  us  today  Mr.  A.  C.  Pearson,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Associated  Business  Papers,  a  well  known  and  powerful  organization 
for  good.  I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr.  Pearson. 

MR.  A.  C.  PEARSON   read  the  paper  given  on  page  351. 

MR.  NOEL  (Presiding):  Returning  to  the  subject  of  news,  reference  has 
already  been  made  by  one  of  the  speakers  to  the  man  upon  whom  I  am  now  going 
to  call.  Some  fifty  years  ago  a  tall,  powerful,  aquiline-nosed  man  came  from  the) 
Civil  War,  went  to  rest  in  the  Adirondacks  and  through  some  association  of  ideas, 
it  occurred  to  him  that  we  must  have  better  communication  with  Pan  American 
countries.  He  jumped  on  a  steamer  and  went  to  Cuba.  He  went  to  Spain  later 
and  developed  a  cable  service,  from  that  main  idea,  all'  through  Latin-America. 
I  refer  to  a  man  who  is  known  by  many  of  you  here  perhaps,  the  founder,  the 


FRIDAY   MORNING  SESSION  79 

organizer,  the  moving  spirit  of  the  great  Central  and  South  American  Cable  Com- 
pany, now  known  as  the  All  Americas  Cable — James  A.  Skrimser.  Mr.  Skrimser 
was  a  genius.  We  owe  him  a  great  deal.  Today  his  footsteps  are  being  worthily 
followed  indeed  by  Mr.  Merrill  and  we  have  an  example  in  this  very  building  of 
the  close  connection  with  Latin  America  through  this  wonderful  service. 

They  have  been  very  tenacious  and  persistent  in  getting  into  Latin  America 
and  have  given  a  good  service,  and  it  is  only  within  recent  years  that  they  have 
been  able  to  get  into  Brazil,  culminating  therefore,  their  ambitions.  I  take  great 
pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Mr.  John  L.  Merrill,  the  President  of  the  All 
Americas  Cable  Company. 

MR.  JOHN  L.  MERRILL  read  the  paper  given  on  page  353. 

MR.  NOEL  (Presiding):  The  graveyard  of  newspapers  that  have  died  a 
natural,  forced  death,  particularly  those  established  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a 
demand  among  the  Latin  Americans  in  this  country,  is  full  of  wrecks.  It  took 
indeed  a  great  deal  of  courage  on  the  part  of  the  man  whom  I  am  going  to  in- 
troduce to  you  now  to  establish  a  Spanish  weekly  in  the  city  of  New  York.  After 
heroic  struggles,  he  has  finally  won  out  and  a  year  ago  his  paper  became  a  daily. 
It  was  during  the  sessions  of  this  Conference,  two  days  ago,  that  he  celebrated  the 
first  anniversary  of  his  Spanish  daily.  I  want  you  to  meet  and  hear  a  few  words 
from  Mr.  Alfredo  dvH.  Collao,  Publisher  of  La  Prensa  of  New  York. 

SENOR  ALFREDO  dvH.  COLLAO  read  the  paper  which  appears  on  page  355. 

MR.  NOEL  (Presiding):  I  am  very  sorry  that  Mr.  Wing  B.  Allen,  the 
editor  of  The  South  American  and  of  El  Norte  Americano,  could  not  remain  as 
he  would  have  told  us  some  very  interesting  experiences  about  developing  the  two 
splendid  papers  which  he  started  a  few  years  ago  with  practically  no  support  and 
which  have  become  a  great  newspaper  institution  in  relation  to  Latin  America. 

If  there  are  any  questions  on  the  subject  at  hand,  Mr.  A.  C.  Rivas,  Acting 
Editor  of  the  Spanish  Bulletin,  and  Mr.  C.  E.  Albes,  Acting  Editor  of  the 
English  Bulletin,  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  will  be  here  to  answer  them. 
Before  that,  I  am  going  to  call  upon  Mr.  Robert  S.  Barrett  of  the  Bureau  of 
Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  who  has  made  an  intensive  study  of  Latin 
American  news  and  advertising,  whose  writings  on  the  subject  are  well  known  and 
who  has  gained  some  very  practical  experience.  H<e  will  give  us  facts  and  in- 
stances that  will  be  illuminating  on  this  subject.  Mr.  Barrett. 

MR.  ROBERT  S.  BARRETT  delivered  the  remarks  given  on  page  95. 

MR.  NOEL  (Presiding):  Are  there  any  questions?  Mr.  Kretz,  you  want 
to  ask  a  question  in  relation  to  the  subject  at  hand. 

DR.  KRETZ:  It  is  not  exactly  a  question.  The  subject  that  I  wish  to  speak 
about  is  germane  to  the  matter  in  hand  in  this  way,  that  the  press  which  is  so 
strongly  represented  here  is  an  educational  medium  and  what  I  want  to  speak 
about  is  something  that  should  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Latin  Americans 
specifically  through  a  medium  of  that  sort,  because  it  is  a  question  of  changing 
persistent  opinion  into  one  which  I  think  will  redound  to  the  benefit  of  both 
parties.  (Dr.  Kretz  then  read  the  paper  given  on  page  259.) 

MR.  NOEL  (Presiding) :  Before  closing,  the  Chairman  might  take  ad- 
vantage of  his  position  since  his  name  is  on  the  program,  to  speak.  I  wish  to  be 
put  on  record  as  emphasizing  the  importance  to  the  business  men  of  this  country 
of  securing  the  services  of  technically  equipped  men,  and  there  are  such,  for  their 
advertising  and  publicity  campaigns,  in  Latin  America,  so  closely  related  to  the 
merchandising  problems  and  which  must  be  earnestly  solved,  studied  and  planned, 
just  as  they  are  in  this  country,  before  success  can  be  obtained. 


COLOMBIA 

F0REIGK*  COMMERCE  1917 

TOTAI/ft  63,865, 000. 


U KITED  STATES 
$14-,OOO,000. 


FRIDAY   AFTERNOON    SESSION  81 

It  has  been  my  personal  experience  as  a  publisher  in  this  country  and  in 
Latin  America  that  there  is  great  negligence  in  that  direction  and  that  they  are 
inclined  either  to  take  the  advice  of  men  in  the  United  States  claiming  to  have  a 
knowledge  which  they  have  not,  or  of  Latin  Americans  who  come  to  this  coun- 
try with  only  a  superficial  knowledge  of  the  science  and  technique  of  advertising. 

Fortunately  for  us  nowadays,  organizations  are  being  created  daily  where 
it  has  been  harmonized  and  whereby  the  combination  of  brains  and  the  blending 
of  the  two  experiences  enable  them  to  give  technical  advice  and  assistance  to  the 
business  men  and  business  organizations  to  plan  their  campaigns  fitting  each  zone 
of  Latin  America.  It  must  be  remembered — and  it  is  almost  bromidic  to  state  it — 
that  what  is  good  for  the  East  coast  is  not  good  for  the  West  coast  or  the 
tropical  zone  and  that  Latin  America,  as  an  advertising  problem,  must  not  be 
treated  as  a  unit  but  subdivided,  not  according  to  its  geography,  but  according  to 
established  and  well  known  channels  of  trade  and  zones  of  channels  of  distribution. 
That  is  a  point  that  I  wish  to  emphasize. 

We  are  now  about  to  close  the  subject  of  this  morning's  session  and  before 
calling  upon  the  next  speaker,  I  would  like  to  know  if  there  are  any  questions 
to  be  asked.  I  will  now  relinquish  the  gavel  to  Director  General  Barrett. 

(Announcements  by  Director  General  Barrett.) 

Adjournment. 


AFTERNOON— CLOSING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  2.30  o'clock  by  Director  General 
Barrett. 

(Announcements. ) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  have  real  pleasure  in  introducing  the 
first  speaker.  I  know  of  no  man  in  all  my  acquaintance,  whether  he  be  blood 
relative  or  not,  for  whom  I  have  more  profound  esteem  personally,  for  whom 
I  have  a  deeper  friendship  amounting  almost  to  love,  than  for  him.  He  and  I 
have  been  more  intimately  associated  for  thirteen  years  than  almost  any  other 
two  men  in  the  world,  I  might  say,  and  there  has  never  been  one  unpleasant  word 
between  us — not  one,  in  thirteen  years!  Largely  due  to  his  temperament  and 
character,  and  not  to  mine. 

More  than  that,  he  is  a  great  scholar,  with  a  very  broad  and  intimate 
knowledge  of  both  the  North  American  and  Latin  American  viewpoint.  If  the 
Pan  American  Union  has  achieved  great  results  under  the  administration  that  now 
conducts  it,  the  credit  is  as  much  due  to  him  as  to  me.  So  I  have  great  pleasure 
in  introducing  as  the  first  speaker  under  the  general  topic  of  Educational  and 
Social  Auxiliaries  to  Commerce,  Senor  Francisco  J.  Yanes,  Assistant  Director  of 
the  Pan  American  Union. 

SENOR  FRANCISCO  J.  YANES  read  the  paper  given  on  page  368. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Would  anyone  like  to  ask  a  question 
of  Mr.  Yanes  before  we  proceed  to  the  next  speaker? 

SESOR  M.  BADILLO  (Mexico  City)  :  Mr.  Yanes,  how  many  Latin  Ameri- 
can students  are  there  in  the  United  States? 

SENOR  YANES:  About  five  thousand,  as  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  find 
out. 

CAPT.  DALRYMPLE:  I  am  not  going  to  ask  a  question.  I  should  like 
to  convey  a  message  from  Father  Walsh,  Regent  of  the  Foreign  Service  School, 
Georgetown  University.  He  is  unable  to  come,  and  in  his  name  I  extend  an  invita- 
tion to  all  the  delegates  and  representatives  of  Latin  American  countries  to  have 


82  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

them  correspond  with  the  University  about  the  work  that  it  is  doing  along  this 
line,  and  especially  with  a  view  to  interchange  of  students  and  professors. 

MR.  C.  E.  WILSON:  It  may  be  of  interest  to  know  that  a  new  kind  of 
Spanish  teaching  is  being  developed  with  us,  the  Spanish  having  taken  the  place 
of  German.  We  had  a  very  large  German  Department,  but  the  war  reduced  it 
to  five,  all  the  students  taking  Spanish  instead,  and  we  are  adopting  a  new  kind 
of  Spanish.  Instead  of  reading  all  classical  literature,  we  are  requiring  all  the 
students  to  subscribe  for  a  good  Spanish  magazine  and  Spanish  newspaper  and 
read  the  newspaper  and  magazine.  Of  course  the  news  is  selected  by  librarians. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Now  we  come  to  a  very  important 
part  of  the  program,  a  continuance  of  this  important  program,  I  might  say,  and 
I  am  going  to  change  the  order  of  the  speakers  a  little.  Instead  of  calling  first 
on  Dr.  McClintock,  I  am  going  to  call  on  Dr.  MacElwee  because  of  the  sequence 
of  their  papers.  Dr.  MacElwee,  Second  Assistant  Director  of  the  Bureau  of 
Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce. 

DR.  ROY  S.  MacELWEE  read  the  paper  given  on  page  370. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Now  we  will  hear  from  the  Federal 
Agent  for  Education  for  Foreign  Trade  and  Shipping,  of  the  Federal  Board  for 
Vocational  Education,  who  succeeded  Dr.  MacElwee,  the  first  incumbent  of  that 
office.  He  brings  to  his  work  a  large  fund  of  knowledge  and  experience,  both 
as  a  business  man,  American  consul  and  a  former  member  of  the  faculty  at 
Chicago  University — Dr.  McClintock. 

DR.  SAMUEL  McCLINTOCK  read  the  paper  given  on  page  374. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  now  have  great  pleasure  in  introduc- 
ing Dr.  W.  E.  Dun,  Assistant  Chief  of  the  Latin  American  Division  of  the 
Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce. 

DR.  W.  E.  DUN  delivered  the  remarks  which  appear  on  page  376. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  have  just  had  word  from  Mr. 
Polk,  Secretary  of  State,  that  the  State  Department  is  so  gratified  with  the  suc- 
cess of  this  Conference  that  they  are  going  to  send  one  of  their  men  down  to  God 
speed  us  at  the  close — a  very  cheering  message. 

We  shall  now  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  one  of  the  best  known,  thorough- 
going Pan  Americanists  in  this  country.  He  was  for  a  long  time  the  Minister  of 
Nicaragua  in  Washington,  was  a  member  of  my  governing  board  and  I  learned 
there  his  fine  quality  and  his  ability.  He  is  now  in  business  in  New  York  City 
and  is  a  delegate  to  this  Conference  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  have  him  speak  to  us. 
Dr.  Luis  F.  Corea. 

DR.  LUIS  F.  COREA:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  appreciate 
extremely,  and  wish  to  express  my  thanks  to  Director  Barrett  for  the  eulogistic 
and  kind  words  that  he  has  expressed  about  me  in  his  introduction. 

Being  not  only  conversant,  but  also  in  thorough  accord  with  his  work  since 
the  second  Pan  American  Conference  in  Mexico,  I  would  desire  to  say  many 
things  in  regard  to  his  untiring  energy,  his  zeal  and  other  pertinent  matters  in 
relation  to  his  endeavors,  but  as  my  dear  friend  Doctor  Yanes  has  previously 
remarked,  "I  should  hate  to  think  we  have  established  a  mutual  admiration 
society." 

It  is  true,  I  had  the  honor  of  being  a  member  of  the  Governing  Board  of 
The  Pan  American  Union  for  twelve  years.  During  that  time  I  learnt  to  appre- 
ciate their  constant  work  and  the  great  labor  which  they  have  so  successfully 
carried  out.  At  the  same  time  .1  learnt  to  realize  the  enormous  quantity  and 
minuteness  of  details  which  the  Executive  Heads  and  the  Staff  of  the  Pan 
American  Union  have  had  to  act  upon  and  give  their  closest  attention,  and  it  is 
owing  to  their  untiring  and  ceaseless  efforts  that  we  have  today  this  great  powerful 
organization,  that  reaches  and  influences  the  political,  as  well  as  the  commercial 
policies  of  the  Central  and  South  Americas  and  further  largely  governs  the 
attitude  and  relations  of  other  Nations. 


FRIDAY   AFTERNOON    SESSION  83 

This  Conference  in  itself  has  been  an  undertaking  involving  a  serious  amount 
of  labor  and  detail ;  but  they  and  we  are  satisfied  with  the  results  obtained. 
Although  as  the  eminent  Doctor  Goldsmith  has  said,  "We  have  not  heard  yet  the 
golden  word  expected,  nor  have  the  serious  problems  been  solved,"  yet  we  have 
accumulated  a  great  mass  of  sound  and  reliable  information  that  our  intellects 
will  adjust  and  properly  classify  in  the  near  future.  We  have  received  most 
interesting  suggestions,  opinions  of  far  reaching  importance,  which  we  all,  as 
Pan  Americanists,  can  work  upon  as  a  basis,  and  in  the  near  future  sever  the 
Gordian  Knot  and  find  the  key  of  our  unsolved  problems. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  move  that  a  vote  of  thanks  be  extended  by  the 
members  of  this  Conference,  first,  to  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American 
Union ;  second,  to  the  Sub-Committee  in  charge  of  arrangements,  and  third  to  the 
Director  General,  the  Assistant  Director,  and  to  all  those  who  have  so  efficiently 
cooperated  in  this  brilliant  undertaking,  for  their  splendid  public  initiative  in 
successfully  organizing  this  notable  Conference,  which  marks  another  milestone  of 
progress  on  the  road  to  practical  Pan  Americanism. 

(The  motion  was  seconded  by  Mr.  George  H.  Kretz,  Vice-President,  The 
National  Park,  New  York,  and  Mr.  Gonzalo  O'Neill,  Manager,  Johnson  and 
Johnson,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and  unanimously  carried.) 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  On  behalf  of  the  Governing  Board,  of 
the  Assistant  Director  and  of  the  others,  as  well  as  my  own,  I  sincerely  thank  all 
for  this  expression  of  their  interest  and  good  will. 

CAPTAIN  McLEOD  (California)  :  With  reference  to  the  study  of  languages, 
I  should  like  to  know  what  would  be  the  best  way  to  acquire  a  commercial 
vocabulary  in  the  foreign  language  in  the  case  of  mature  men  who,  like  myself, 
have  had  wide  political,  commercial  and  other  experience  and  who  are  already 
familiar  with  the  written  and  spoken  language. 

DR.  MacELWEE:  I  am  very  glad  that  question  is  asked  because  it  is  one 
that  comes  up  quite  often.  In  outlining  that  twenty  years  stretch,  I  was  con- 
sidering men  getting  in  anywhere  along  the  line  and  catching  up  and  passing 
those  who  have  gotten  in  earlier  and  had  to  grow.  This  comes  up  quite  often, 
and  what  we  do  is  that  we  have  reading  courses  outlined,  with  references,  and  a 
mimeographed  list  of  readings  which  anyone  can  secure  and  read  to  inform  him- 
self upon  those  topics  with  which  he  is  not  familiar. 

I  am  sure  there  is  a  large  class  of  men  such  as  the  Captain  mentions  and 
we  have  had  inquiries  both  at  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education  and  at 
the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  going  to  call  now  on  Miss  C.  E. 
Mason  who  is  one  of  a  group  of  women  who  today  in  this  new  feminine  era  is 
taking  a  profound  interest  in  Pan  American  affairs.  She  is  a  leader  in  the  move- 
ment of  the  organization  and  development  of  the  Pan  American  Round  Table, 
originally  started  by  Mrs.  Florence  Griswold  of  San  Antonio,  Texas.  I  will 
ask  Miss  Mason  to  tell  us  something  of  the  Pan  American  Round  Table. 

MISS  C.  E.  MASON  (Tarrytown,  N.  Y.)  :  It  is  only  fair  to  take  part  of 
the  three  minutes  to  express  to  Mr.  Barrett  and  his  associates  the  congratulations 
of  the  Pan  American  Round  Table  Directorate  on  this  superb  meeting  which  their 
efforts  have  called  forth. 

The  organization  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  has  three  objects  (1) 
to  promote  acquaintance  among  women  of  the  American  countries ;  (2)  to  develop 
and  conserve  mutual  knowledge,  understanding  and  true  friendship  among  the 
women  of  the  American  countries,  and  (3)  to  promote  all  good  movements  which 
shall  lead  to  a  higher  civilization,  especially  those  which  affect  the  welfare  of  the 
women  and  children  of  the  American  countries. 

Since  the  war,  there  has  been  burning  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  American 
women,  I  feel  sure  all  over  this  hemisphere,  a  desire  that  we  should  work  together 
to  preserve  that  great  spiritual  and  intellectual  inheritance  we  have  received  from 
the  past.  Therefore  we  have  organized  and  we  work  along  these  lines:  Study 
of  the  languages,  history  and  literature  and  social  ideals  of  the  American  Repub- 
lics; opening  of  club  homes  for  women;  offering  of  prizes  to  students  for  essays 
on  Pan  American  subjects;  encouraging  the  exchange  of  professors;  formation  of 


84  SECOND  PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

travel  committees  in  each  republic,  to  interest  parties  of  citizens  and  students  to 
travel  in  the  other  republics. 

Then  again  here  is  an  instance  of  what  we  wish  to  do:  A  few  years  ago 
a  great  genius  came  from  one  of  the  South  American  countries  to  New  York  with 
an  opera.  He  was  a  stranger,  he  was  not  wealthy,  he  stayed  as  long  as  he  could, 
trying  to  get  someone  to  listen  to  his  opera.  He  got  one  great  man  to  hear  it, 
who  pronounced  it  a  wonderful  creation  and  gave  him  every  personal  encourage- 
ment, but  did  not  have  the  influence  to  bring  it  to  the  attention  of  the  proper 
musicians.  Now,  if  a  man  came  today  and  appeared  before  our  committee,  we 
would  hear  his  opera,  and  we  would  have  the  ability  to  get  him  a  real  hearing 
with  a  view  to  producing  his  opera  in  the  United  States. 

Then  we  wish  to  have  eventually  an  organ  of  communication  among  the 
women  of  the  different  republics. 

Our  meetings  have  been  held  in  New  York  and  they  have  been  characterized 
by  a  most  wonderful  cooperative  spirit  modeled  upon  that  of  the  Pan  American 
Union. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  going  to  call  upon  a  woman  of 
great  ability  and  achievement,  a  woman  who  has  been  doing,  and  is  doing  con- 
structive work,  Mrs.  Glen  L.  Swiggett,  the  Secretary  of  the  Women's  Auxiliary 
Committee  of  the  Pan  American  Scientific  Conference,  the  committee  of  which 
Mrs.  Lansing  is  Chairman.  I  will  be  very  grateful  to  her  if  she  will  tell  us  about 
her  committee  and  their  work. 

MRS.  GLEN  L.  SWIGGETT:  At  the  time  the  Second  Scientific  Congress 
met,  with  the  consent  and  under  the  auspices  of  the  Organizing  Committee  of  that 
Conference,  there  was  established  a  Women's  Auxiliary  Committee.  Its  meetings 
were  of  an  informal  nature  only,  consequently  no  official  action  was  taken.  It  did 
pass  two  resolutions,  that  we  think  were  important.  One  was  that  we  should 
publish  a  report,  to  save  whatever  germ  of  worth  it  may  have;  the  other  was 
that  there  should  be  appointed  an  international  committee  for  Pan  America  so 
that  there -would  be  a  small  group  in  each  country  that  would  know  about  the 
purpose  and  the  aim  and  the  success  of  the  first  Conference  and  would  be  ready, 
as  a  means,  any  time  when  a  larger  organization  was  proposed,  to  take  hold  as  an 
organizing  committee. 

The  report  was  published  very  soon  after  the  Conference  in  the  summer  of 
1916.  Since  that  time  the  Committee,  with  Mrs.  Robert  Lansing  as  Chairman,  was 
continued  as  a  committee  to  organize  the  international  committee.  That  organiza- 
tion is  still  in  existence,  it  is  a  slow  process,  but  I  am  glad  to  say  that  at  the 
present  time  we  have  fifty-four  members  on  the  international  committee  for  Pan 
America.  All  countries  are  represented  but  two,  and  now  the  Women's  Auxiliary 
Committee,  which  is  the  organizing  committee,  is  working  on  the  completion  of  the 
International  Committee  for  Pan  America.  When  that  committee  is  completed  it 
will  take  up  the  future  work. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  going  to  ask  Mr.  Noel  to  again 
take  the  chair  for  a  moment,  while  I  absent  myself  briefly.  He  will  then  read  a 
message  from  a  former  President  of  Peru  and  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  his  country. 

Before  leaving  the  platform  for  a  moment,  I  want  to  say  that  he  will  be 
followed  for  a  very  brief  statement  of  three  or  four  minutes  by  a  man  that  I  feel 
belongs  to  the  Pan  American  Union,  who  for  many  years  was  one  of  the  most 
efficient  and  valued  members  of  our  staff,  now  Assistant  Professor  of  Spanish  in 
the  U.  S.  Naval  Academy  and  helping  us  here  as  Recording  Secretary  of  this 
Conference — Prof.  J.  Moreno-Lacalle. 

MR.  NOEL  (Presiding) :  Sefior  Leguia  is  one  of  the  great  constructive 
statesmen  of  South  America.  He  was  for  a  period  President  of  Peru  and  during 
the  war  he  has  been  a  great  friend  of  the  Allies  and  he  has  always  been  strongly 
interested  in  the  United  States,  has  sent  many  young  men  to  this  country  to  study, 
and  during  his  administration  he  gave  ample  opportunity  for  American  experts 
in  that  country  to  help  in  its  development  in  education,  irrigation,  railways,  agri- 


FRIDAY   AFTERNOON    SESSION  85 

culture,  and  in  many  other  ways.    It  is  practically  certain  that  he  has  been  elected 

again  President  of  Peru.    He  was  in  this  country  some  months  ago  and  was  very 

cordially  received. 

In  a  personal  message  to  me,  when  I  notified  him  of  the  success  of  this 

Congress  over  the  direct  cable  wire  which  we  have  in  this  building,  he  replied  and 

stated : 

"I  rejoice  over  the  splendid  success  of  the  Pan  American  Commer- 
cial Conference.  It  will  be  more  than  useful  to  bring  American  enter- 
prising spirit  and  capital  into  closer  touch  with  Peru,  where  we  are  long- 
ing for  both." 

Professor  Moreno-Lacalle,  already  introduced  to  you  by  our  Director  Gen- 
eral, will  now  honor  us  with  a  few  words. 

PROFESSOR  J.  MORENO-LACALLE  delivered  the  remarks  which  appear  on 
page  377. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  The  Acting  Secretary  of  State  has  tele- 
phoned me  that  Mr.  Breckenridge  Long,  Third  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  will 
be  here  shortly  to  represent  him. 

I  am  now  going  to  give  the  floor  to  Dr.  Johnson  of  New  Mexico,  who  has 
a  word  to  say  to  the  Conference. 

DR.  S.  M.  JOHNSON  read  the  paper  given  on  page  335. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  feel  very  much  honored  that  the 
Acting  Secretary  of  State,  Honorable  Frank  L.  Polk,  who  is  prevented  from  being 
here,  has  sent  a  most  worthy  representative,  a  man  who  not  only  occupies  a  high 
position  as  an  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  but  who  is  also  one  of  the  most 
eminent  and  progressive  younger  statesmen  of  the  great  State  of  Missouri,  one  who 
ever  since  he  has  held  his  position  in  the  State  Department  has  been  thoroughly  in 
sympathy  with  the  Pan  American  movement. 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  the  Honorable  Breckenridge 
Long,  Third  Assistant  Seretary  of  State. 

THIRD  ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  STATE:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen:  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  be  here  as  the  representative  of  the  Acting 
Secretary  .of  State,  to  express  very  briefly  something  of  the  gratification  which 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  feels  at  not  only  the  meeting  which  has  been 
held  here  but  also  at  the  success  of  the  Conference.  The  Government  is  very 
anxious  to  aid  in  every  way  efforts  at  cooperation  and  coordination  between  the 
Governments  and  the  peoples  of  these  two  hemispheres.  I  came  at  this  late  hour 
in  your  meeting,  not  to  take  additional  time  but  to  congratulate  those  who  have 
organized  and  carried  out  the  work,  and  those  who  have  participated  in  the  Con- ' 
ference,  upon  what  we  understand  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  successful,  if  not 
the  most  successful  meeting  of  its  kind  which  has  been  held  in  the  Americas,  and 
to  say  that  in  the  future,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  stands  and  will 
always  stand  ready  as  it  has  in  the  past  to  do  whatever  it  can  to  felicitate  and 
expedite  meetings  of  this  nature. 

I  express,  in  the  absence  of  the  Acting  Secretary,  and  because  of  his  inability 
to  be  here,  his  gratification  and  his  congratulations  to  you  and  to  the  officers  of 
your  Conference. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Before  presenting  the  very  brief  sum- 
mary which  I  shall  make,  which  will  only  take  a  few  minutes,  I  want  to  ask  a 
man  who  was  formerly  the  Secretary  of  the  Pan  American  Society  and  is  now 
the  Secretary  of  the  Argentine  American  Chamber  of  Commerce,  who  has  been 
assisting  us  in  this  Conference,  to  say  just  a  word — Mr.  Bard. 

DR.  H.  E.  BARD  read  the  paper  given  on  page  378. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Secretary,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
The  Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  adjourns  today  after  the  most 


86  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

successful  series  of  meetings  of  their  kind  ever  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Pan  American  Union.  Delegates  to  the  number  of  1181,  representing  the  official, 
unofficial,  commercial  and  business  life  of  all  the  American  republics,  have  been 
in  actual  attendance. 

The  Conference  has  undoubtedly  inaugurated  a  new  epoch  in  Pan  American 
commercial  relations.  Its  one  great  outstanding  characteristic  has  been  the  expres- 
sion of  the  Pan  American,  or  All  American,  idea  and  viewpoint.  The  interests 
of  each  country  of  Latin  America,  just  as  much  as  those  of  the  United  States, 
have  been  frankly  presented  and  discussed  by  the  most  eminent  and  skilled  authori- 
ties of  both  North  and  South  America.  Never  before  has  any  international  com- 
mercial conference  in  the  United  States  been  so  comprehensive  in  topics  discussed 
and  so  fair  to  all  the  countries  participating. 

Review  of  the  Work  of  the  Conference 

If  the  work  and  results  of  the  Conference  can  be  unofficially  summarized  in 
the  form  of  expressing  the  sentiments  of  the  majority  of  those  in  attendance,  as 
judged  by  their  addresses  and  comments,  the  following  conclusions  should  be 
cited : 

1.  The  early  establishment  of  ample  freight,  mail,  and  passenger  steamship 
facilities  between  the  principal  ports  of  the  Atlantic,  Gulf,  and  Pacific  ports  of  the 
United  States  and  the  corresponding  ports  of  Latin  America. 

2.  Thorough  reciprocity  and   mutual   cooperation  in  trading  methods    and 
regulations,  in  business  ethics,  and  in  general  treatment  of  commercial  relations, 
including  export  and  import  combinations,  and  other  governmental  aids  to  com- 
merce. 

3.  The  meeting  by  the  financial  annd  business  interests  of  the  United  States 
of  the  financial  needs  of  Latin  American  Governments  and  private  undertakings. 

4.  Safeguarding  of  patents,  trademarks,  and  copyrights  of  each  country  in 
all  the  other  twenty  countries  through  the  present  International  Bureau  at  Havana 
and  the  early  opening  of  one  in  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

5.  Making  the  parcel  post  beneficial  alike  to  the  exporters  of  the  United 
States  and  the  consumers  of  Latin  America  through  the  removal  of  unnecessary 
restrictions  and   regulations. 

6.  Improvement    in    the    administration    of    consular    offices;    developing 
similarity  of  consular  invoices  and  fees;  annulling  of  petty  laws  and  regulations 
annoying  to  trade  and  travel ;  the  revising  and  permanancy  of  tariffs;  better  con- 
ditions of  insurance  and  packing. 

7.  Extensive  railway  and  highway  construction  all  over  Latin  America;  the 
renewing  of  railways  already  in  existence  but  suffering  from  lack  of  supplies  due 
to  war  conditions ;  the  establishment,  as   soon  as   feasible,  of  fast  aviation  mail, 
express  and  passenger  service ;  and  the  building  immediately  of  a  chain  of  good 
hotels  in  the  principal  Latin  American  ports  and  capitals. 

8.  Better  credit  facilities  for  Latin  American  buyers  by  United  States  ex- 
porters ;  the  extension  of  United  States  banking  connections ;   and  more  intimate 
study  of  actual  Latin  American  trade  and  social  conditions  by  the  export,  import, 
and  financial  interests  of  the  United  States. 

9.  Study  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  languages,  Latin  American  insti- 
tutions, history  and  geography  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  a  corres- 
ponding  study  of   the   United   States   by   the   people   of   Latin   America;    general 
vocational  training  for   Pan  American  trade. 

10.  The   further   improvement  and   extension   of   news  and   cable  service; 
the   employment   of   the   best   methods    in    newspaper   and    magazine    advertising, 
catalogues,  business  films,  and  other  agencies  of  commercial  publicity  and  intelli- 
gence. 

11.  Holding  of  the  Second  Pan  American  Financial  Conference  at  Wash- 
ington, in  January,  1920,  called  by  invitation  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of 
the  United   States  and  attended  by  the  Latin  American  Ministers  of  Finance  and 
their  associates. 


FRIDAY    AFTERNOON    SESSION  87 

12.  Important  far-reaching  announcements,  affecting  Pan  American  rela- 
tions, including  (a)  that  of  Secretary  of  Commerce  W.  C.  Redfield,  pointing  out 
new  methods  and  opportunities  for  increasing  the  exchange  of  products  between 
the  United  States  and  Latin  America;  (b)  that  of  Chairman  E.  N.  Hurley  of  the 
United  States  Shipping  Board,  outlining  new  passenger,  mail  and  freight  steam- 
ship service;  (c)  that  of  Assistant  Secretary  L.  S.  Rowe  of  the  Treasury  regard- 
ing the  Second  Pan  American  Financial  Conference  in  January,  1920;  (d)  that  of 
President  Charles  M.  Schwab  of  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company,  stating  his  abso- 
lute confidence  in  the  business  possibilities  and  integrity  of  the  Latin  American 
Republics;  (e)  that  of  President  Frank  A.  Vanderlip  of  the  National  City  Bank 
of  New  York,  that  the  American  republics  could  and  should  avert  impending 
industrial  catastrophe  in  Europe  by  supplying  raw  materials  necessary  for  European 
.ndustries;  (f)  those  of  Latin  American  ambassadors,  ministers,  and  delegates, 
including  Sefior  Beltran  Mathieu,  Ambassador  of  Chile,  Sefior  Francisco  Tudela 
y  Varela,  Ambassador  of  Peru;  Sefior  Ignacio  Calderon,  Minister  of  Bolivia,  and 
others,  sincerely  welcoming  closer  commercial  and  financial  relations  with  the 
United  States. 

It  is  now  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  with  sincerity,  that  I  express  my  thanks 
to  all  those  who  have  helped  to  make  this  Conference  a  success.  I  want  to  thank 
the  Governing  Board  for  the  confidence  they  have  placed  in  me  for  carrying  out 
their  plans  and  mine  for  this  Conference,  by  backing  it  and  making  it  their  Con- 
ference. I  want  to  thank  them  for  their  participation,  which  was  so  notable  on 
the  days  that  were  assigned  to  them,  the  first  and  second  days,  and  for  their  sug- 
gestions. 

I  am  not  going  to  try  to  mention  individually  the  members  of  the  staff  of 
the  Pan  American  Union,  but,  Mr.  Secretary  Long,  there  is  nothing  that  has 
pleased  me  more  than  the  loyalty  that  has  been  shown  by  my  staff  during  the 
trying  period  of  preparation  for  this  Conference  and  during  the  holding  of  it. 
Every  one,  from  the  able  Assistant  Director  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  down 
to  the  man  working  to  clean  the  building  or  the  grounds,  has  had  a  desire  to  put 
this  Conference  over.  They  have  been  working  faithfully  at  all  hours,  day  and 
night. 

I  cannot  mention  names  in  detail,  but  I  would  say,  of  course,  that  the  wise 
counsel  of  my  Assistant  Director  has  been  with  me  every  moment,  and  also  that 
of  the  Acting  Chief  Clerk,  Mr.  W.  A.  Reid.  Then  in  our  temporary  staff  of  the 
Conference,  Mr.  John  Vavasour  Noel,  who  has  acted  as  General  Secretary,  Mr. 
Henry  L.  Sweinhart,  who  has  had  charge  of  publicity,  Professor  Julian  Moreno- 
Lacalle,  who  has  acted  as  Recording  Secretary,  Dr.  H.  E.  Bard,  and  .Senor  Jose 
Romero  who  have  also  acted  as  assistants,  and  the  other  members  of  their  staff, 
not  forgetting  the  lady  here  who  has  so  faithfully  done  her  part,  Miss  Gladys 
Russell. 

I  want  to  speak  with  the  utmost  sincerity — and  this  is  not  a  conventionality 
at  all — of  the  practical  cooperation  that  the  newspapermen  and  the  newspapers 
themselves  have  given  us.  I  think  we  too  often  forget  their  part  in  these  great 
gatherings.  I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  with  all  my  heart.  I  appreciate  your  con- 
stant attendance  here  when  you  might  be  doing  somethting  else  more  interesting, 
and  it  has  been  a  great  help  to  us  that  you  have  been  here  and  aided  us  as  you 
have,  and  we  ask  you  to  convey  our  thanks  to  your  editors. 

I  thank  the  All  Americas  Cable  for  installing  the  special  direct  cable  service 
to  Latin  America,  which  has  been  a  great  help,  and  over  which  the  messages  from 
the  Presidents  of  Latin.  America  have  come  and  the  acknowledgements  have 
been  sent. 

I  thank  the  officials  of  the  State  Department,  especially  the  Foreign  Trade 
Section,  and  those  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  of  the 


88  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

Department  of  Commerce,  for  their  very  active  and  helpful  participation  all  the 
time. 

I  thank  the  Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  President 
of  the  Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce  for  their  interest,  and  I  thank  the 
Police  Force  for  their  co-operation  in  looking  after  the  people  in  attendance. 

Again  with  all  my  heart,  I  thank  every  member  of  my  staff  and  all  those 
who  have  participated  in  this  Conference.  If  I  have  omitted  any  name  here  or  any 
reference  that  should  have  been  made,  it  is  because  one  cannot,  on  an  occasion 
like  this,  mention  every  name,  and  I  trust  no  one  will  be  offended  if  there  has 
been  any  oversight. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  is  just  eight  years  since  the  first  Pan  American 
Commercial  Conference  was  held.  A  great  world  disaster  interfered  with  the 
holding  of  a  second  one  earlier.  May  we  all  go  away  from  here  with  a  prayer 
that  there  has  begun  an  era  of  endless  peace,  that  peace  is  now  about  to  be  so 
perfectly  achieved  that  we  can  hold  another  one  of  these  Conferences  in  the  very 
near  future. 

I  may  say  that  I  have  been  gratified  by  the  large  number  of  Latin  Ameri- 
cans and  others  who  have  come  to  me  and  told  me  how  much  they  have  enjoyed 
this  Conference  and  how  much  benefit  it  has  meant  to  them. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  now  declare  the  Second  Pan  American  Commercial 
Conference  adjourned  sine  die. 


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PAPERS  AND  ADDRESSES 

ON  THE 

LATIN  AMERICAN  REPUBLICS 

AND  ON 

PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCE 


91 


SECOND   PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 
PAPERS  AND  ADDRESSES 

ARGENTINA 

ARGENTINE  TRADE  TODAY 

BY  SENOR    PABLO  ROTH,  MANAGER,  EXPORT  DEPARTMENT,  THE  UNION  TRADING 
COMPANY,  BUENOS  AIRES. 

(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Monday,  June  2) 

I  wish  to  express  my  appreciation,  in  the  name  of  the  Argentine  gentlemen 
present,  and  in  my  own,  of  the  cordial  invitation  that  has  been  extended  to  us  by 
the  Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  to  take  part  in  this  Conference, 
with  the  object  of  giving  and  receiving  the  most  ample  information  possible  tend- 
ing to  facilitate  and  expand  Pan  American  commercial  intercourse  or  exchange. 

Although  the  Pan  American  Union  has  gathered  and  put  at  the  disposal 
of  all  of  us  statistical  data  and  general  information  of  the  greatest  utility,  I  con- 
sider it  convenient  on  my  part  to  present  some  data  which,  from  their  nature  and 
my  own  observation  made  of  them,  may  contribute  to  the  amplification  of  the 
knowledge  of  certain  special  characteristics  of  the  commercial  movement  of  the 
Argentine  Republic,  and  its  importance  in  general,  as  well  as  in  particular,  with 
reference  to  this  country. 

According  to  the  General  Office  of  Statistics  of  the  Nation,  the  true  value 
of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  Republic  in  the  year  1918  reached  the  amount  of 
$1,307,392,000  gold,  $480,896,000  corresponding  to  importation,  and  $826,496,000  to 
exportation.  The  balance  in  favor  of  the  country  amounted  to  345,600,000  pesos. 

The  general  figures  of  the  Argentine  foreign  commerce  in  1918,  present 
differences  in  considerable  amounts  from  those  of  previous  years,  among  which  it  is 
convenient  to  note  the  following: 

The  greatest  exportation  up  to  today,  as  much  for  its  quantity  as  for  its 
value,  surpassed  in  the  amount  of  $244,000,000,  gold,  the  highest  value  obtained, 
which  was  that  of  the  exportation  of  1915  in  the  sum  of  $582,179,000  gold.  If  the 
prices  of  the  articles  of  exportation  could  have  been  coordinated  with  the  freedom 
of  commerce,  with  the  acquiring  capacity  of  the  purchasing  countries,  the  value  of 
the  exportation  in  1918,  would  have  reached  approximately  $1,130,000,000  gold. 
The  fact  of  not  having  b'een  able  to  establish  that  coordination  represented  a  loss 
to  the  country  of  more  than  $300,000,000  gold. 

During  the  year  1918,  the  "quantity"  of  articles  imported  is  the  least  recorded 
in  the  last  fifteen  years,  representing,  per  capita,  a  sum  of  little  more  than  half 
of  that  recorded  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years  back  and  something  less  than  the 
third  part  of  that  corresponding  to  the  years  of  greater  importation. 

The  favorable  remainder  of  the  commercial  balance  is  the  highest  recorded 
up  to  today.  It  surpasses  in  the  amount  of  68,900,000  the  highest  obtained  which 
was  that  of  1915  ($276,700,000  gold). 

The  Argentine  gold  peso  now  equals  the  American  gold  dollar. 


TRADE  METHODS 
SPEEDY  LEGALIZING  OF  SHIPPING  DOCUMENTS 

BY  SENOR  ERNESTO  C.  P£REZ,  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  ARGENTINA  IN  NEW  YORK. 

The  commerce  of  this  country  with  the  Argentine  Republic  has  increased 
during  the  war  to  such  an  extent,  and  it  is  hoped  that  it  will  be  proportionately 
maintained  in  the  future.  It  has  modified  the  old  system  of  the  clearance  of  ships 


92  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

in  such  a  way  that  today,  in  protection  of  that  commerce  a  practical  organiza- 
tion is  necessary  and  urgently  needed,  which  at  the  present  moment  is  lacking. 

At  present  the  steamship  companies  after  the  cargo  has  been  accepted 
by  the  captain  of  the  ship  and  after  the  freight  has  been  paid,  deliver  the  ship- 
ping documents  to  the  shipper ;  these  are  presented  to  the  Consulate  for  legal- 
ization. 

Usually  because  of  a  very  short  period  of  time  between  the  delivery  of 
these  documents  to  the  party  concerned  and  the  sailing  of  the  vessel,  the  Con- 
sulate finds  itself  besieged  by  four  or  five  hundred  packages  with  six,  seven  or 
eight  nundred  sets  of  shipping  documents  which  have  to  be  legalized  for  each 
boat  within  a  certain  number  of  hours,  it  frequently  happening  that  two  or  three 
vessels  with  the  same  sailing  date  will  be  despatched  in  one  Consulate. 

The  shipper  in  many  cases  has  to  negotiate  these  documents  with  some 
bank,  and  this  can  only  be  done,  as  is  well  known,  after  the  documents  have  been 
legalized.  Further,  these  should  follow  in  the  same  mail  in  order  that  they  may 
be  presented  within  the  time  the  Customs  House  allows  for  the  retiring  of  goods. 

Considering  that  this  practice  causes  complaints  through  delays  and  fines 
to  which  this  commerce  is  exposed,  just  as  much  from  the  shipper  as  from  the 
receiver  of  the  goods,  the  undersigned  thinks  it  convenient  to  suggest  to  the  ship- 
ping companies  interested  in  maritime  traffic  with  the  Argentine  Republic,  the 
modification  of  the  present  system  governing  the  clearance  of  ships,  as  it  does 
not  conform  with  the  needs  of  this  commerce,  and,  with  this  purpose  in  view, 
to  submit  to  the  consideration  of  the  Conference,  the  following  practical  proce- 
dure: 

That  hereafter  all  the  documents  which  comprise  the  loading  of  a  ship 
be  presented  at  the  same  time  at  the  Consulate  by  the  shipping  companies,  to  be 
delivered  later  by  the  respective  companies  after  being  legalized  to  the  parties 
concerned  and  that,  after  this  has  been  done,  the  sailing  date  of  the  vessel  be 
fixed  taking  into  account  that  they  should  accord  the  shippers  a  reasonable  time 
in  order  to  enable  them  to  make  their  banking  operations  and  reach  the  mail  which 
should  take  these  documents  to  their  destination,  so  that  the  receiver  of  the 
goods  may  take  immediate  possession  of  the  same. 


OPPORTUNITY  FOR  AMERICAN  INVESTMENT  AND  TRADE  IN  ARGENTINA 

BY  SENOR  HORACIO  Bossi  CACERES,  ARGENTINE  CONSUL  GENERAL  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

As  a  Consular  Representative  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  it  gives  me  great 
satisfaction  to  express  my  opinion  and  that  of  my  country  in  regard  to  those  pro- 
pellant  factors  which  should  be  put  in  motion,  so  that  existing  commercial  inter- 
course between  our  respective  countries  may  be  consolidated  and  established  upon 
a  solid,  permanent  basis. 

It  is  now  evident  that  owing  to  the  disastrous  war  which  so  ruthlessly 
scourged  old  Europe  and  almost  destroyed  the  industries  in  those  countries,  the 
great  Northern  Republic  had  the  opportunity  of  being  better  acquainted  with  and 
therefore  more  able  to  estimate  her  Southern  sister  Republics,  then  discovering 
that  there  are,  within  their  boundaries,  immense  and  accredited  markets  which  will 
enable  her  to  rapidly  increase  her  wealth  and  extension. 

Until  five  years  ago  your  knowledge  of  the  markets  beyond  the  marvelous 
Panama  Canal  were  extremely  insignificant  because  your  endeavors  to  enlarge  them 
were  insignificant,  too,  this  fact  being  due  perhaps  to  pressure  of  your  pro- 
tectionist commercial  policies,  which  traditionally  have  kept  your  capitalists  in  the 
background  of  the  stage  of  the  commercial  life  on  this  Contitnent,  when  as  a  matter 
of  fact  your  wonderful  progress  and  inmeasurable  wealth  are  reasons  more  than 
sufficient  to  entitle  your  nation  to  go  far  ahead  of  all  of  the  European  countries, 
which,  however,  having  been  more  foresighted  and  better  connoisseurs  of  the 
Southern  Republics,  po'ured  out  their  money  into  them  and  brought  the  efforts  of 
their  workers'  strong  arms  to  make  us  and  to  make  themselves  rich.  This  remark- 
able fact  has  been  synthetized  by  a  notable  statesman  of  my  country,  when  he  said : 

*  *  *  "We  owe  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  Argentine  Republic  to  the 
sterling  pounds  of  England  and  to  the  strong  arm  of  the  Spaniards  and  Italins.  *  *  *" 

Yes;  that  is  true.  The  solid  and  unshaking  foundation  of  British  prepond- 
erance and  control  of  South  America  lies  upon  the  above  mentioned  fact.  And  it 


ARGENTINA  93 

certainly  will  be  very  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  to  lessen  that  preponderance, 
unless  weapons  and  procedures  similar  to  those  England  has  used,  should  be  used, 
also. 

Time  after  time  it  has  been  openly  advised  by  your  most  proficient  business 
men  to  employ  several  means  not  only  to  prevent  actual  intercourse  between  the 
Argentine  and  the  United  States  from  going  down,  but  instead  to  surpass  the  high 
figures  already  reached  which  made  a  record  in  the  history  of  our  commercial  life. 
Yet,  only  a  few  amongst  them  have  demonstrated  an  exact  understanding  of  Ar- 
gentina's commercial  history  and  have  pointed  out  the  true  items  and  causes  which 
interfered  with  the  growing  up  of  North  America's  interests,  the  figures  of  which 
should  be  remembered  now  in  order  to  make  a  comparative  sttady  of  the  situation. 

From  1883  till  1913,  that  is,  a  period  of  over  30  years,  the  bulk  of  commerce 
between  Argentina  and  the  United  States  in  comparison  with  the  bulk  of  com- 
merce between  Argentina  and  Germany  and  England  during  the  same  period  reached 
the  following  figures: 

1883.  1913. 

England $36,652,000  $251,254,000 

Germany 11,851,000  129,227,000 

United  States 8,443,000  84,727,000 

Later  on  these  figures  changed  on  account  of  the  European  war  and  at  the 
end  of  1917  the  United  States  had  risen  to  the  top,  according  to  the  following  data : 

United  States $299,854,000 

England 243,831,000 

Germany 294,000 

If  we  were  to  study  the  extraordinary  triumph  won  by  your  country  at 
this  exceptional  moment  in  the  world's  commercial  life  we  certainly  should  find  out 
two  most  transcendental  facts  which  cannot  escape  the  judgment  of  a  sttidious 
and  calm  observer,  to  wit:  the  complete  elimination  of  Germany  from  the  markets 
of  this  Continent  and  the  ever  growing  strength  of  the  commercial  links  which  bind 
England  and  the  Argentine,  allowing  the  former  to  retain  unshaken  the  high  place 
in  the  financial  and  business  world  of  my  country  in  spite  of  her  enormous  losses 
on  the  sea  and  her  most  critical  economical  political  situation. 

Yet,  the  explanation  of  the  British  preponderance  in  Argentina's  market 
could  be  easily  found  if  only  bearing  in  mind  that  she  made  such  great  investments 
in  behalf  of  the  economical  and  industrial  development  of  Argentina,  investments 
which  are  represented  by  the  enormous  sum  of  two  billions  of  dollars,  with  which 
we  have  been  able  to  move  our  locomotives  and  street  cars,  feed  our  ports,  exploit 
our  forests,  cattle  and  agriculturing  enterprises  and  inject  vigorous  life,  activity 
and  progress  into  all  our  industries,  maintaining  at  the  same  time  the  credit  of  our 
Public  Treasury  with  the  almost  whole  British  subscription  of  our  foreign  public 
debt. 

A  statement  formulated  the  31st  of  December,  1908,  shows  the  British  capital 
in  Argentina,  as  represented  by  the  following  figures : 

Capital.  Interest. 

Loans,  Government,   Provincial,  Municipal...  $319,273,215  $15,232,990 

Railways   831,803,415  40,247,155 

Banks 39,312,000  3,525,480 

Agricultural  loans  and  mortgages 34,236.080  1,298,660 

Tramways    101,423,525  4,378,115 

Electricity  25,762,950  1,438,425 

Agriculture 20,094,985  1,241,020 

Various 73,648,540  3,929,930 


Total   $1,445,554,710  $71,291,675 

The  value  of  maritime  interests  represented  by  quite  a  large  number  of  ships, 
as  well  as  the  capital  invested  in  other  numerous  transactions,  totals  more  than 
$100,000,000,  which  should  be  added. 


94  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

Second  to  England,  France  is  the  nation  among  the  European  powers  which 
had  faith  in  the  credit  and  capacity  of  Argentina  and  has  made  investments  of 
nearly  $400,000,000,  distributed  as  follows : 

States  funds $261,661,530 

Banks  51,678,400 

Transports 64,011,450 

Mines   , 2,744,890 

Various 14,900,000 


Total $394,966,270 

Germany  was  the  third  till  the  beginning  of  the  war,  her  investments  being 
estimated  at  nearly  $300,000,000,  distributed  in  banks,  industrial  concerns,  electric 
companies,  electric  railways,  etc.  The  above  figures  correspond  to  the  same  date, 
December  31,  1908. 

Summarizing,  the  foreign  capital  which  met  a  most  profitable  and  safe  invest- 
ment in  the  Argentine  Republic  is  far  above  the  amount  of  three  billions  of  dollars, 
of  which  two-thirds  are  owned  by  England,  while  such  a  small  percentage  cor- 
responds to  the  United  States  that  it  has  to  be  considered  under  the  column  of 
"others." 

Having  in  view  the  practical  application  which  characterizes  the  American 
spirit  in  all  orders  of  human  activity,  and,  according  to  the  facts  just  set  forth 
above,  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  should  be  very  easy  for  you  to  foresee  the  measures 
of  a  defensive  nature  that  England,  France,  Italy,  etc.,  shall  present  in  opposition 
to  you  in  order  to  keep  for  their  own  benefit  the  position  they  had  reached  after 
long  years  of  fruitful  perseverance  and  uninterrupted  accumulation  of  new  and 
valuable  investments  and  the  fruits  of  their  energies. 

Nevertheless,  that  does  not  mean  that  your  cooperation  in  the  business  life  of 
Argentina  should  have  to  face  obstruction.  On  the  contrary,  the  forceful  exclusion 
of  Germany  which  necessarily  has  been  disastrous  to  that  country  and  the  weaken- 
ing of  France  and  Belgium  which  will  bring  their  sources  of  production  to  a  very 
low  level  for  years  to  come,  will  leave  open  and  free  the  door  of  an  immense  field 
for  yo'ur  industries,  if  you  only  know  how  to  appreciate  the  opportunity  and  meet 
the  demand  of  Argentina,  affording  the  same  kind  consideration,  credit,  loyalty  and 
benevolence  that  the  industrial  people  of  Europe  have  always  granted  to  her. 

So  it  is  my  opinion  that  you  should  not  hesitate  in  pouring  out  your  capital 
and  labor  into  the  young,  flourishing  land  of  Argentina,  where  institutions,  codes 
and  laws  are  so  very  similar  to  yours ;  try  to  help  her  by  laboring  her  soil,  cooper- 
ating in  the  development  of  railroads,  the  irrigation  of  lands,  the  building  up  of 
roads,  harbors,  etc.,  thereby  securing  the  sale  of  your  merchandise  which  are  to  be 
transported  on  your  new  efficient  merchant  fleet  and  the  return  freight  to  make  the 
traffic  profitable. 

One  of  your  most  conspicuous  business  men,  Mr.  John  C.  Claussen,  the  Vice 
President  of  the  Crocker  National  Bank  of  San  Francisco,  when  addressing  the 
Ninth  Convention  of  the  Southern  Commercial  Congress  held  at  New  York  City, 
pointed  out  that  American  business  men,  who  have  hitherto  been  reluctant  to  make 
outside  investments,  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  with  the  swift  and  extensive  de- 
velopment of  his  country  the  natural  tendency  has  been  to  invest  his  money  in  local 
enterprises  and  lands.  But  while  it  is  true  that  s"uch  investments  have  largely  con- 
tributed to  the  agrandizement  of  his  country,  it  is  also  true  that  in  proportion  of 
the  growing  of  its  resources  there  exists  the  danger  that  this  preference  to  make 
investments  on  lands  may  some  day  cause  the  prices  of  these  lands  to  go  to  the 
highest  point,  and  therefore,  it  is  advisable  and  desirable,  Mr.  Claussen  says,  that 
the  accumulated  capital  at  home  should  find  new  open  channels  for  best  benefit  and 
advantage  of  Americans. 

Now  then,  those  channels  are  open  to  North  American  labor  and  capital 
in  the  beautiful  land  of  Argentina.  Its  exceptional  geographical  situation,  its  vast 
and  undeveloped  meadows  and  luxuriant  woods,  healthy  climate,  wise  legislation 
and  social,  commercial  and  political  culture  at  the  same  level  with  the  most  pros- 
perous nations  in  the  world  cordially  invite  your  labor  and  capital  to  undertake  all 
kind  of  activities. 


ARGENTINA  95 

AMERICAN  NEWS  AND  TRADE  IN  ARGENTINA 

BY  ROBERT  S.  BARRETT,  TRADE  ADVISER,  BUREAU  OF  FOREIGN  AND  DOMESTIC  COM- 
MERCE, FORMERLY  COMMERCIAL  ATTACHE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EMBASSY 
AT  BUENOS  AIRES. 

(Delivered  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  There  are  two  striking  things  in 
reference  to  this  subject,  one  of  which  has  been  discussed  to  some  extent  today, 
but  the  other  has  not  been  touched  upon.  I  remember  so  strongly  it  made  such 
a  tremendous  impression  upon  me,  the  development  of  American  news  service  in 
South  America  and  particularly  in  the  Argentine.  You  have  all  heard  on  many 
occasions  how  American  news  was  slighted  by  the  South  American  press  and 
you  have  been  told  the  .reasons  for  that,  why  the  South  American  was  more  in- 
terested in  .European  news  than  he  was  in  news  from  North  America  because  of 
the  fact  that  the  newspapers  of  South  America  were  subscribers  to  European 
press  service  instead  of  to  American  press  agencies. 

That  was  changed  two  or  three  years  ago  when  La  Nacion,  one  of  the 
great  newspapers  of  Buenos  Aires,  commenced  to  receive  a  direct  service  from 
the  United  States.  On  January  1  of  this  year,  the  Associated  Press  went  into 
South  America  and  now  I  believe  it  has  some  twenty  subscribers  among  the 
great  daily  newspapers  of  South  America,  and  the  United  Press  has  almost  an 
equal  number  of  subscribers. 

The  Associated  Press,  for  instance,  is  sending  some  three  thousand  words 
a  day  of  press  service  to  the  Argentine  and  most  of  this  is  American  news  of 
great  interest  to  our  country  and  to  the  people  in  Argentina.  Then,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war,  our  Government  established  in  Buenos  Aires  a  most  use- 
ful service,  a  branch  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Information  and  I  want 
to  say  to  say  to  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  no  department  of  the  United 
States  Government  ever  rendered  more  valuable  and  important  service  to  this 
country  during  the  war  than  the  Committee  on  Public  Information.  There  were 
times  when  they  published  in  the  great  daily  newspapers  of  Buenos  Aires  from 
three  to  four  columns  every  day  of  live  information  regarding  our  developments 
in  the  war,  our  preparations  for  the  war  and  our  reasons  for  going  into  the 
war.  It  was  a  matter  of  great  regret  to  me  that  when  the  armistice  was  signed 
the  work  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Information  was  discontinued.  I  hope 
the  time  is  coming  when  some  organization  will  be  established  by  American  bus- 
iness men  who  will  take  up  that  work  of  publishing  in  the  great  newspapers  of 
South  America  supplementary  news  and  information  which  cannot  be  carried 
by  cable. 

The  Director  General  has  asked  me  to  speak  to  you  for  a  few  moments 
this  morning  on  a  subject  which  is  somewhat  foreign  to  that  under  discussion 
but  which  he  wished  me  to  bring  to  your  attention,  and  that  is  the  very  great 
question  which  is  in  the  minds  of  every  man,  of  the  export  trade  in  the  United 
States  today.  Will  the  United  States  hold  any  considerable  portion  of  this  great 
export  trade  which  it  has  gained  during  the  war  and  will  it  hold  it  in  Argentina, 
which  is  one  of  the  greatest  countries  buying  American  products  and  American 
goods  ? 

After  studying  this  situation,  and  considering  it  for  the  past  year,  in  order 
that  I  could  bring  back  to  you  the  most  reliable  information  on  this  subject,  I 
am  glad  to  be  able  to  state  that  I  believe  that  the  United  States  will  hold  a  great 
part  of  the  trade  which  it  has  gained  during  the  war. 

Our  condition  has  been  greatly  improved.  We  are  now  prepared  to  give 
the  credits  which  are  desired.  We  have  our  own  two  splendid  American  branch 
banks  located  in  Buenos  Aires.  Those  two  banks  at  the  present  time,  although 
one  of  them  is  only  three  years  old  and  the  other  a  year  and  a  half,  have  ap- 
proximately sixty  million  dollars  in  deposits.  One  of  those  institutions  started  a 
year  ago  a  savings  campaign  and  in  less  than  seven  months  gained  one  hundred 
and  seven  thousand  individual  depositors  in  its  savings  account,  with  a  total  of 
about  five  millions  of  dollars. 

We  have  in  Buenos  Aires  at  the  present  time  eighty-eight  representative 
American  firms  who  are  carrying  stock,  either  in  their  own  branch  houses  or  by 
direct  representation.  Those  concerns  are  prepared  to  meet  any  European  com- 
petition and  are  selling  direct  to  the  consumer,  the  thing  which  is  absolutely 


96  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

necessary  in  foreign  trade  to  do  a  very  large  business.  I  particularly  refer  to 
the  paper  trade,  before  the  war,  the  paper  trade  in  the  Argentine  was  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  Germans.  Two  American  wholesale  houses,  carrying  tre- 
mendous stocks,  are  now  located  in  Buenos  Aires.  One  of  these  houses  alone 
did  very  close  on  to  three  million  dollars  worth  of  business  last  year.  That 
house  includes  customers  from  the  smallest  printers  from  one  end  of  the  coun- 
try to  the  other.  They  have  their  traveling  representatives,  their  branch  stores; 
they  give  credits  that  are  necessary  and  consequently  they  have  the  business  so 
the  Germans  can  never  come  back  and  get  the  paper  trade.  That  is  true  of 
many  other  of  our  branch  houses  of  American  manufacturers  and  our  branch 
lines. 

I  want  to  add  just  one  word  before  I  leave  and  that  is  rather  pessimistic. 
Do  not  look  for  too  much  trade  from  Argentina  during  the  balance  of  this  year. 
Argentina  is  like  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  it  is  suffering  from  the  war,  it  is  suf- 
fering from  the  readjustment,  it  is  suffering  somewhat  from  labor  troubles, 
strikes,  etc.,  not  any  worse  than  anywhere  else  but  enough  to  make  people  restrict 
purchasing.  Then  there  is  the  firm  belief  in  the  minds  of  the  Argentine  business 
prices  are  going  to  be  lower.  They  believe  that  manufacturing  costs  all  over  the 
man— and  I  tell  you  that  they  are  the  cleverest  business  men  in  the  world— that 
world  must  fall;  that  freight  rates  are  going  to  drop  and  consequently  they  are 
buying  from  day  to  day  and  are  not  placing  any  larger  orders  until  this  Fall  prices 
drop,  which  they  anticipate.  Consequently,  buying  in  Argentina  is  very  limited. 

Then  there  is  an  over-surplus  in  many  lines  of  manufactured  articles  in 
Argentina.  When  the  armistice  came  in  November,  every  manufacturer  in  the 
world  who  had  orders  pending  in  Argentina  for  goods — some  of  which  had  been 
pending  for  a  year  and  a  half — shipped  everything  that  they  had  all  at  one  time 
to  Argentina.  Fortunately  for  them,  when  the  armistice  came  there  was  ship- 
ping which  could  be  diverted  to  their  use  which  we  had  anticipated  using  for 
moving  troops  to  Europe  and  we  sent  those  ships  in  November  and  December 
and  January  to  the  Argentine  and  they  came  down  there  loaded  to  their  capacity 
with  manufactured  goods. 

The  result  was  that  there  was  an  over-surplus,  there  was  a  panic  in  some 
lines,  textiles  fell  in  prices  40  per  cent,  below  prices  in  New  York  and  that  con- 
dition is  going  to  last  throughout  practically  all  this  year.  So  do  not  look  for 
too  much  business  in  Argentina  this  year,  but  remember  that  Argentina  is  today 
the  most  prosperous  nation  on  the  face  of  the  world. 

Any  country  that  two  years  ago  could  lend  the  Allied  nations  $250,000,000 
to  buy  wheat  and  corn  and  meats  and  can  come  back  again  this  year  and  lend 
those  countries  $200,000,000  more;  which  could  put  up  $140,000,000  to  keep  the 
American  dollar  from  declining  in  the  Argentina  market ;  which  could  pay  to  Ger- 
many and  to  France  and  to  England  practically  $350,000,000  of  obligations  during 
the  war,  who  has  had  a  balance  of  trade  in  its  favor  of  $600,000,000  during  the 
last  four  years,  and  which  today  has  a  larger  per  capita  gold  reserve  than  any 
other  nation  in  the  world,  is  a  country  that  is  going  to  be  in  business  when  these 
temporary  conditions  are  done  away  with  and  which  is  going  to  be  the  largest 
consumer  of  American  products.  And  the  Argentinians  like  us,  they  want  us 
down  there,  they  are  willing  to  buy  our  goods  and  all  that  they  want  is  a  fair 
show.  I  am  sure  that  we  will  be  able  to  give  it  to  them. 


97 

BOLIVIA 

PAN  AMERICAN  FINANCES  AND  TRADE  WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO 

BOLIVIA 

BY  SENOR  JULIO  ZAMORA,  FINANCIAL  AGENT  OP'  THE  BOLIVIAN  GOVERNMENT. 
(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

Gentlemen: — All  of  us,  North,  Central  and  South  Americans  congratulate 
ourselves  upon  this  opportunity  afforded  by  the  Pan  American  Union  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  commercial  and  economical  subjects.  At  this  momentous 
time  marking  the  conclusion  of  the  greatest  war  in  history,  this  conference  per- 
mits us  to  reorganize  our  business  and  to  lay  the  corner  stone  of  normal  life  for 
all  nations. 

The  most  striking  lesson  for  the  South  American  Republics,  learned  since 
the  beginning  of  the  great  War,  has  undoubtedly  been  a  knowledge  of  the  un- 
certain situation  of  the  countries,  constituting  one  Continent,  and  which  bound 
by  ties  of  neighborhood,  race,  language  and  history  have  neglected  to  live  eco- 
nomically independent,  due  to  the  fact  that  they  had  overlooked  commercial  in- 
terchange among  themselves. 

Profiting  by  this  experience,  the  leading  men  of  the  South  American  Re- 
publics, should  direct  their  steps  to  effect  a  complete  reorganization  in  the  in- 
dustrial field.  They  should  promote  preferably  through  a  policy  of  reasonable 
protectionism  the  wide  distribution  of  national  raw  material  for  manufactures, 
and  should  inaugurate  a  spirit  of  enterprise,  so  often  lacking  amongst  some  of 
our  wealthy  people.  This  would  be  the  starting  point  for  the  commercial  inter- 
change between  neighboring  countries,  and,  therefore,  would  compel  Pan  Amer- 
icanism in  the  future  to  be  based  upon  very  close  economic  relations,  thus  bind- 
ing with  even  stronger  ties,  all  the  Nations  that  constitute  the  Americas,  as 
these  will  be  more  firm  than  those  created  by  Diplomatic  channels. 

South  America  possesses,  herself,  all  sorts  of  products  to  amaze  the  world, 
with  an  overabundant  production  of  whatever  its  needs  may  be.  Each  of  the 
Republics  has  within  its  territory  particular  zones  which  render  special  products, 
and  no  doubt  a  day  will  come  when  South  America  will  supply  all  the  needs  of 
the  other  Continents,  a  day  when  she  will  go  "over  the  top."  But  to  make  this 
fact  a  reality,  South  America  needs  capital  and  immigration.  As  regards  Bo- 
livia in  particular,  I  can  assure  you,  without  any  fear  of  contradiction,  that  noth- 
ing would  please  us,  the  Bolivians,  more  than  to  promote  our  industries  and  to 
settle  our  fertile,  although  now  deserted  agricultural  regions,  and  to  this  end 
we  prefer  to  interest  American  capital  and  American  immigration  rather  than 
any  other.  For  we  have  every  reason  to  admire  most  heartily  and  to  envy  the 
gigantic  activity  and  vigor  of  this  country,  that  possesses  along  with  a  lofty 
democratic  spirit,  the  gift  of  carrying  out  and  organizing  great  and  astonishing 
enterprises. 

It  is  my  own  opinion  that  the  duty  now  of  the  United  States  is  to  look 
forward  to  the  commercial  and  industrial  development  of  the  countries  of  Latin 
America.  I  advocate  the  following  reasons : 

First :  American  solidarity  demands  the  use  of  American  capital  in  pref- 
erence to  any  other;  Second,  the  weakened  and  crushed  condition  of  Germany 
makes  it  imperative  for  the  United  States  to  replace  in  the  economical,  com- 
mercial and  industrial  field  all  that  Germany  gave,  loaned  and  purchased  in  South 
America;  Third,  because  the  War  and  the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  have 
operated  to  entirely  change  the  commercial  situation  in  that  part  of  America, 
making  of  the  United  States  the  pivot  of  this  movement. 

Bearing  these  facts  in  mind,  the  United  States  will  not  accomplish  the 
redeeming  work  so  successfully  started  in  the  name  of  right  and  justice,  if  they 
do  not  give  the  necessary  attention  and  care  concerning  the  economical  and  indus- 
trial necessities  of  each  of  the  South  American  countries,  and  in  so  doing  this 
work  will  be  of  mutual  benefit.  It  is  essential  to  state  that  when)  we  seek  Amer- 
ican capital  or  lay  down  commercial  transactions  before  merchants  and  bankers 
in  the  United  States  we  do  not  ask  gratuitous  favors,  rather  we  offer  extraor- 
dinary profits. 


98  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

The  United  States  of  North  America  cannot  excuse  themselves  for  lack 
of  capital,  as  they  are  to-day  the  wealthiest  country  in  the  world.  If  there  is 
anything  over  and  above — it  is  money.  They  should,  therefore,  lend  their  financial 
help  to  practical  and  profitable  enterprises,  provided,  of  course,  they  are  duly 
guaranteed. 

To  accomplish  this,  they  must  accommodate  their  banking  transactions  to 
South  American  peculiarities,  and  it  is  essential  that  the  leading  banks  of  the 
United  States,  or  an  association  of  these  banks,  open  branches  in  every  one  of 
the  South  American  Republics. 

The  first  and  mutual  advantage  rendered  by  these  offices  will  be  the  most 
trustworthy  source  of  information  for  American  investors  on  contemplated  trans- 
actions, as  whatever  we  may  now  say  regarding  the  undeveloped  resources  of 
immense  wealth  of  our  territory;  of  our  credit,  and  of  the  advantage  of  certain 
transactions,  this  information  might  be  received  with  prejudice  by  those  who 
think  it  is  a  question  of  mere  propaganda. 

It  is,  therefore,  necessary  that  this  information  be  transmitted  by  the 
American  agents  as  quickly  as  possible,  thus  enabling  speedy  and  trustworthy 
transactions. 

I  myself  believe  that  the  opening  of  branch  banking  houses  in  all  the 
South  American  Countries,  must  be  one  of  the  endeavors  of  this  Second  Pan 
American  Conference,  as  this  involves  the  solution  of  economic  and  commercial 
problems. 

Now,  dealing  with  the  Bolivian  financial  situation  and  necessities,  I  must 
state  that  the  Bolivian  people  have  realized  that  the  most  sensible  thing  to  do 
in  order  to  be  in  readiness  for  the  natural  development  of  its  unexploited  riches 
is  to  construct  railroads;  therefore,  the  collective  effort  of  the  Republic  has 
been  directed  to  their  construction.  Bolivia  not  only  produces  silver,  gold,  tin, 
tungsten,  antimony,  bismuth,  copper,  etc.,  as  is  generally  known  at  the  present 
time,  but  she  also  possesses  fertile  regions  suitable  for  agriculture,  wonderful 
plains  for  cattle  raising  on  the  North  and  Northeastern  territory,  and  vast  for- 
est which  produce  all  fruits  and  woods  known  to  the  world.  Unfortunately  ex- 
ploitation on  a  larger  scale  cannot  now  be  effected,  due  to  the  enormous  distances 
separating  these  regions  from  the  consuming  towns  or  seaports. 

With  the  desire  to  reach  by  ra?l  the  most  distant  and  wealthiest  places  of 
the  Republic,  a  plan  was  inaugurated  in  1916  and  a  contract  entered  into  with  the 
National  City  Bank  and  Speyer  &  Company  to  construct  a  system  of  railroads 
by  means  of  a  Construction  Company,  capitalized  with  five  and  a  half  million 
pounds  and  secured  as  follows : — The  American  firms  contributed  three  million 
pounds  in  debenture  notes  of  first  mortgage  on  the  railroad  to  be  constructed, 
and  two  and  a  half  million  pounds  were  subscribed  by  the  Bolivian  Government 
on  income  bonds  issued  on  Second  Mortgage,  which  are  to  be  cancelled  in  the 
year  1932.  This  contract  was  duly  and  legally  carried  out  by  both  parties.  The 
roads  were  constructed  and  the  capital  entirely  expended.  These  roads  are  now 
in  full  operation  and  their  profits  are  increasing  daily,  thus  confirming  the  ex- 
pectations which  originally  induced  the  capitalists  to  undertake  the  work. 

The  Railroad  System  now  completed  and  in  operation  comprises  the  fol- 
lowing lines:  Oruro-La  Paz,  Oruro-Cochabamba,  Potosi-Rio  Mulato  to  join 
the  main  trunk  line  of  the  Antofagasta-Oruro,  and  the  line  frorn^  Uyuni  another 
station  of  the  main  system,  towards  the  Argentine  Republic,  joining  the  Central 
Norte  Argentine,  which  has  the  same  standard  3  ft.  gage  as  the  Bolivian  Rail- 
roads which  is  also  the  gage  of  the  Arica-La  Paz  Railway.  The  completed  system 
will  link  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans  by  a  railway  starting  in  Buenos  Aires, 
and  terminating  in  Pacific  Port  of  Arica. 

The  above  shows  the  great  international  importance  of  this  work  in  which 
completion  the  Bolivian  Government  is  so  keenly  interested  and  for  which  it  is 
seeking  a  million  and  a  half  pounds  loan  which  will  be  explained  further  on. 

The  capital  obtained  through  the  Speyer  contract  was  only  enough  to  carry 
out  the  work  of  those  lines  as  above  stated,  and  it  is  the  aim  of  the  Bolivian 
Government  to  continue  the  extension  of  its  Railroad  System  securing  fresh 
capital  and  new  contractors.  Those  lines  to  be  constructed,  or  in  the  course  of 
construction,  are: 


BOLIVIA  99 

(a)  Atocha-Tupiza  Railroad,  with  an  estimated  cost  of  one  million  pounds 
sterling  to  join  to  the  Argentine  System.    I  have  stated  before  the  international 
significance  of  this  road  and  I  shall  only  add  that  it  goes  through  a  region  of 
unexhausted  wealth   where  the  "Quechisla"  and  "Oploca"  Mines  are  located. 

(b)  Potosi-Sucre   Railroad,   now   under  construction   by   the   Government. 
An  estimate  of  one  million  pounds  will  be  necessary  for  its   completion.     This 
line  has  industrial  significance  as  it  is  the  first  to  be  extended  into  the  produc- 
tive eastern  agricultural  and  petroleum  districts. 

(c)  Cochabamba-Santa  Cruz  Railroad.     Surveys  on  this  line  are  actually 
being  made,  and  it  is  also  very  important,  as  it  will  branch  the  Speyer  System 
to  the  wealthiest  district  of  Bolivia,  a  zone  which  produces  rice,   sugar,  woods 
and  similar  tropical  products,  and  also  cattle.     The  actual  production  of  which 
is  now  very  limited,  due  to  lack   of  cheap  transportation  facilities. 

(d)  Railway  from  La  Paz  to  a  Navigable  Point  on  the  Beni  River.    This 
itself  means  a  very  important  route,  running  through  vast  and  wealthy  agricul- 
tural regions    to  heart  of   rubber  plantations.     It  is  now  under  construction  by 
the  Government   with   American  capital.     To  start  this  work  Bolivia  secured  a 
loan  of  five  hundred  thousand  pounds,  through  the  banking  house  of   Chandler 
&  Company,  and  this  sum  will  only  suffice  to  reach  the  Yungas  Zone'.     Its  prin- 
cipal  production   consists   of   coca,   coffee,   tobacco,   fruits   and  woods.     We  now 
require  the  necessary  capital  to  extend  this  line  to  the  Beni. 

Here,  to  interest  capital  on  the  loan  required  by  the  Bolivian  Government, 
I  want  to  point  out  the  following: 

The  Speyer  System,  which  runs  through  the  heart  of  Bolivia,  has  been 
constructed  with  American  capital,  and  will  be  the  exclusive  property  of  Amer- 
icans the  moment  they  return  to  the  Bolivian  Republic  the  two  and  a  half  mil- 
lion pounds  which  represents  the  share  of  the  Bolivian  Government  on  second 
mortgage  bonds. 

All  the  benefits  of  these  railroads,  and  the  increased  value  that  they  will 
attain  through  the  development  of  the  country,  will  also  benefit  the  owners. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  these  four  lines  will  ultimately  be  joined  to  the  South 
American  System  of  Railroads,  and  that  they  will  bring  into  closer  contact  re- 
gions now  far  distant.  These  facts  will  be  of  such  interest  to  American  capitalists 
that  the  necessary  funds  that  Bolivia  needs  for  the  extension  of  these  lines  will 
assuredly  be  forthcoming. 

At  any  rate,  this  reflection  is  only  a  mere  explanation  and  should  not  be 
considered  as  of  general  interest.  Further  on  I  will  offer  a  thorough  explana- 
tion of  this  question. 

Bolivia,  a  young  nation,  wishes  to  place  her  name  in  a  prominent  position 
as  regards  international  personality  through  sincere  fulfillment  of  her  obliga- 
tions, and  I  here  wish  to  call  to  your  attention  the  fact  that  my  country  has 
never  used  the  proceeds  of  any  loan  in  unprofitable  enterprises,  such  as  war 
preparations,  payments  of  debt,  luxurious  buildings  or  normal  administration 
expenses,  but  has  devoted  these  funds  entirely  to  the  construction  of  railroads 
and  to  constitute  the  Banco  de  la  Nacion  Boliviana,  which  is  the  medium  for 
the  distribution  of  credit  and  which  provides  the  means  for  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial transactions  of  the  country. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  outstanding  balance  of  our  loans: 

Morgan  Loan— 1918:  Outstanding— £362,000.  This  small  sum  has  been 
bought  in  to  the  last  cent  by  the  Banco  de  la  Nacion  Boliviana;  therefore,  the 
Government  is  relieved  of  any  obligations  to  the  above  mentioned  Bankers. 

French  Loan— 1910:  Outstanding— £354,000,  which  was  allotted  to  the 
foundation  of  the  Banco  de  -la  Nacion  Boliviana.  The  Bolivian  Government  re- 
tains all  shares,  and  is  authorized  to  offer  these  shares  as  a  guarantee  for  any 
future  loans  now  required.  It  must  be  added,  here,  that  the  management  of 
this  bank  is  carried  on  by  the  shareholders  through  an  Advisory  Board  of  five 
members,  of  which  only  two  are  appointed  by  the  Government.  The  financial 
situation  of  this  Bank  is  particularly  remarkable,  and  successful,  as  may  be  seen 
by  its  semi-annual  statements. 

French  Loan— 1913 :  Outstanding  £946,000.  The  purpose  of  this  loan  is 
for  the  construction  of  the  Tupiza-La  Quiaza  (Argentina)  Railway,  and  was  is- 
sued on  bonds  at  the  net  rate  of  90  per  cent.,  5  per  cent,  interest  and  1  per  cent, 
sinking  fund.  This  loan  was  obtained  under  the  best  conditions,  so  far  obtained 


CUBA 

F0REIGK  COMMERCE  1917 

TGTAIi  *  639,4-19, 000 


UNITED  STATES 
$.206.353,000. 


OTHER 
AMERICAN 
COUNTRIES 


BOLIVIA  101 

by  the  nation,  and  only  one-third  of  the  whole  amount  has  been  spent  up  'to  the 
present  time.  The  proceeds  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Trustees,  the  "Credit  Mo- 
biliere." 

Chandler  Loan— 1917:  Outstanding  $2,361,000  American  Gold,  for  the 
construction  of  the  La  Paz-Yungas  Railroad  already  referred  to  as  being  the 
first  part  of  the  Beni  Railroad. 

Outside  of  these  loans,  which  added  together,  make  a  total  of  £3,134,000, 
the  Bolivian  Republic  has  no  other  obligations.  Deducting  from  this  amount 
£2,500,000,  which  the  Concessionary  Company  owes  the  Bolivian  Government  on 
second  mortgage  of  these  Railways,  and  which  are  to  be  paid  in  the  year  1932, 
the  external  public  debt  in  reality  only  amounts  to  £634,000. 

In  order  to  show  how  sound  is  the  Bolivian  economical  situation,  I  must 
also  refer  to  her  internal  debt,  which  only  reaches  the  figure  of  £2,400,000,  in- 
cluding in  this  amount  internal  credits,  military  indemnities,  loans  for  public 
works  and  similar  obligations  since  the  origin  of  the  Republic. 

Now  then,  adding  this  internal  debt  of  £2,400,000  to  the  total  amount  of 
£3,134,000  external  loans,  without  deducting  the  amount  of  railway  concessions, 
we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  the  Republic,  with  two  and  a  half  million  inhab- 
itants, only  owes  £5,534,000,  which  in  American  currency  is  $10.  per  capita. 

The  latest  statistics  which  are  available  to  show  the  financial  conditions 
of  some  of  the  cities  of  the  world  points  to  the  favorable  situation  of  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  Brazil.  This  City  lately  obtained  a  loan  of  ten  million  dollars  American 
currency.  The  latest  statistics  state  through  the  firm  of  Imbrie  &  Company  that 
her  debt  is  $65.  per  capita:  These  statistics  further  show  London  with  an  in- 
debtedness per  capita  of  $120,  Paris  with  $105;  New  York  with  $207;  Baltimore 
with  $114,  etc.,  etc. 

It  is  not  only  my  intention  to  compare  the  resources  of  these  great  cities 
with  those  of  my  country  just  awakening  to  industrial  life,  but  I  believe  the 
trifling  amount  of  its  debt  is  remarkable  in  relation  to  its  population. 

It  is  due  to  all  these  facts  that  Bolivia  has  never  defaulted  in  the  payment 
of  the  principal  and  interests  of  any  of  its  funded  indebtedness,  which  may  be 
confirmed  by  the  bankers  who  have  loaned  the  money. 

Bolivia  is  now  seeking  new  loans  and  feels  absolutely  positive  that  she  will 
again  punctually  meet  her  obligations. 

Among  the  securities  offered  as  guarantees  are  presented,  firstly:  several 
internal  taxes,  which  are  now  being  deposited  in  the  special  accounts  and  which 
could  be  directly  handed  to  the  bankers,  applicable  to  payments  of  interests  and 
sinking  fund.  Secondly,  the  Government  shares  of  the  Banco  de  la  Nacion  Bo- 
liviana,  together  with  their  income.  Thirdly,  the  two  and  half  millions  of  sterling 
pounds  in  second  mortgage  bonds  on  the  Speyer  Railroads.  Fourthly,  the  special 
mortgage  of  each  of  the  railroads  to  be  constructed,  allowing  the  bankers  the 
control  they  may  deem  necessary  on  the  exact  and  complete  investment  of  the 
principal;  and  fifth:  internal  revenue  of  the  Republic. 

My  country  requires  also  loans  for  public  improvements,  such  as  sewers, 
etc.,  in  the  principal  cities,  to  be  guaranteed  by  sound  national  revenues,  which 
will  permit  a  prompt  payment  and  the  securities  for  which  could  be  deposited 
with  the  bankers  who  will  make  the  loan. 

Besides  the  Legation  in  Washington  and  the  Financial  Agent  on  a  Special 
Mission,  who  has  the  honor  of  addressing  you,  Bolivia  has  a  Consul  General  in 
New  York  who  will  furnish  the  necessary  data,- which  may  be  required  by  those 
who  are  interested  in  our  enterprises. 

On  my  part,  I  want  to  add :  Bolivian  laws  and  public  authorities  guaran- 
tee personal  freedom,  property  and  the  rights  of  foreigners,  as  well  as  those  of 
their  own  citizens.  Our  political  Constitution  has  been  taken  on  its  basis  from 
the  American  Constitution,  and  is  faithfully  adhered  to  and  observed  ^  by  all. 
The  Military  caste,  which  in  the  first  years  of  the  Republic  created  agitations, 
has  now  totally  disappeared  and  the  Army  is  meritorious  and  the  best  guarantee 
for  the  national  welfare.  Political  parties  fight  without  hatred,  and  there  is  not 
a  man  who  does  not  deeply  realize  that  internal  peace  is  the  solid  base  of  future 
progress  of  the  country. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  the  following  commercial 
abnormalities:  to  European  ports.  For  instance,  a  ton  of  mineral  to  English 


102  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

ports  only  costs  £7,  from  the  Chilean  port  of  Arica,  while  the  cost  of  same  to 
New  York  is  £9. 

Second :  The  latest  restrictions  concerning  the  importation  of  tin,  have 
greatly  affected  the  Bolivian  market,  as  that  metal  is  Bolivia's  principal  product. 
Under  conditions  of  free  trade  it  is  particularly  serious  and  extremely  prejudicial 
to  Bolivian  commerce  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  certain  metal  into  the  United 
States. 

For  mutual  benefit,  I  would  suggest  that  these  precarious  measures  be  sus- 
pended. If  our  tin  is  not  sold  in  the  United  States  and  converted  into  gold  we 
cannot  very  well  buy  here  our  necessities. 

I  apologize  for  this  lengthy  address.  I  thank  you  for  your  most  generous 
welcome,  and  wish  success  and  prosperity  to  all  the  sister  Republics  herein  rep- 
resented. May  closer  bonds  of  sincerity  and  friendship  unite  them  for  common 
welfare  and  prosperity. 


COMMERCIAL  CONDITIONS  OF  BOLIVIA 

BY  SENOR  JOSE  MANUEL  GUTIERREZ,  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  BOLIVIA  OF  NEW  YORK. 

The  European  war  terminated,  in  its  principal  phases,  last  November,  and 
in  changing  the  international  policy  of  the  Nations  of  the  world,  it  has  changed 
and  will  even  further  change  the  commercial  progression  of  peoples,  and  especially 
so  those  of  the  Latin-American  countries. 

If  the  commerce  among  peoples  constitutes  the  foundation  of  their  wealth, 
of  their  vinculum  and  amity,  to  the  point  of  creating  common  sympathy  and  affec- 
tion, we  should  devote  our  utmost  attention  to  it  in  order  to  establish  in  this  way  a 
commercial  intercourse  and  develop  a  future  abounding  with  benefits  to  individuals 
and  nations. 

It  is  an  undisputed  and  unquestionable  axiom  that  friendship  among  peoples 
is  precedent  to  the  maintenance  of  commercial  relations  with  equity  and  honesty. 
Commerce  brings  about  goodwill  among  individuals,  forms  families,  thus  improving 
races,  interests  Governments,  associating  the  interests  and  strengthening  the 
promises  of  the  future.  Governments  themselves  can  do  nothing  before  interests 
are  created  by  commercial  intercourse.  They  must  follow  the  courses  prescribed 
by  the  said  interests,  support  them  or  regulate  them,  but  curtail  them — never. 
Countries  that  have  no  commercial  vinculum  either  do  not  know  each  other  or 
mutually  distrust  one  another. 

Up  to  1914  South  American  commercial  progression  pursued  a  fixed  course 
toward  European  markets.  The  Europeans  had  learned  to  know  our  customs  and 
our  idiosyncracies,  excusing  perhaps  our  deficiencies  and  also  taking  advantage  of 
our  sincerity  as  young  peoples.  The  United  States  did  not  solicit  our  commerce. 
They  had  too  many  important  matters  at  home  to  direct  their  attention  toward 
South  America.  Nor  did  we  South  Americans  endeavor  to  do  business  with  this 
country.  We  did  not  know  each  other  nor  was  there  any  marked  inclination  toward 
a  new  commercial  contact.  That  remoteness,  without  animosity,  of  course,  would 
perhaps  have  lasted  a  long  time,  notwithstanding  the  extensive  work  of  the  Pan 
American  Union  and  of  other  associations  of  prestige  in  the  United  States,  had 
not  the  difficulties  of  the  war  for  both  created,  in  prominent  characters,  a  happy 
relation  of  commercial  interests  between  b.oth  Americas. 

Four  years  have  elapsed  since  the  intercourse  began,  years  of  anguish^  dan- 
gers and  uncertainties.  In  this  length  of  time,  do  we  know  one  another  sufficiently 
well,  i.  e.,  our  customs,  needs,  aptitudes,  habits  and  interests?  We  can  frankly 
say  that  we  are  still  very  remote.  We  have  not  intermingled.  The  same  circum- 
stances imposed  by  the  war,  with  its  innumerable  restrictions,  have  hindered  the 
establishment  of  a  conscious  relation.  And  it  is  regrettable  but  imperious  to  say 
that  in  that  abnormality  of  circumstances  and  relations,  we  South  Americans  have 
endured  the  worst  part.  Yet,  through  all  we  find  the  contact  already  begun  and 
there  is  a  desire  and  indication  to  perpetuate  a  normal  union.  This  Conference, 
of  vast  importance  at  this  time  when  everything  seems  to  change  and  follow  a  new 
direction,  is  an  eloquent  manifestation  of  that  tendency  to  contract  the  commercial 
union  between  the  Latin  American  countries  and  the  United  States.  It  is  a  mutual 
ambition,  for  the  realization  of  which  there  is  needed  an  abundance  of  determina- 
tion and  an  analytic  investigation  of  the  best  means  of  establishing  a  commercial 


BOLIVIA  103 

intercourse  between  both  parts  of  the  American  continent.  Among  the  points  to  be 
investigated  we  should  not  lost  sight  of  the  special  character  of  the  South  Ameri- 
can, his  sensitiveness,  even  in  the  commercial  field,  his  timidity  at  times  and  his 
ingenuous  impulse  toward  grandeur.  These  investigations  must  bring  about  a 
desire  to  assimilate  fixed  customs  on  both  sides.  The  development  of  facilities  for 
producer  and  consumer,  sagacity  in  filling  orders  and  execution  of  the  details 
desired  by  the  Bolivian  merchants,  consideration  of  the  means  of  transportation  in 
South  America  when  packing  goods  and  other  minor  details  constitute  the  basis 
of  good  commerce. 

We  feel  that  it  is  not  in  vain  to  comment  here  upon  the  system  that  the 
German  merchants  of  South  America  had  followed.  German  commerce  paid  par- 
ticular attention  to  orders  and  exercised  the  greatest  care  in  the  execution  thereof, 
adhering  to  the  desires  of  customers  and  even  to  their  personal  preferences ;  they 
established  houses  in  all  cities,  even  in  the  less  populated  sections  where  there 
scarcely  exists  any  agricultural  or  livestock  industry.  In  1917,  I  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  travelling  over  the  northwestern  and  eastern  rivers  of  Bolivia,  on  the 
banks  of  which  there  are  small  populations  of  about  100  or  200  inhabitants,  and  I 
noticed  that  in  each  centre  there  was  a  German  agency  and  a  warehouse  of  mer- 
chandise of  a  quality  appropriate  to  the  climate  and  customs  of  the  natives.  Those 
agencies  exchanged  their  merchandise  for  products  of  exportation,  such  as  hides, 
sugar,  rubber,  etc.  They  tried  to  absorb  the  large  as  well  as  the  small  markets 
of  Bolivia,  and  their  action  followed  a  perfectly  systematic  course.  We  cite  this 
example  only  with  the  view  of  proving  the  necessity  of  developing  an  active  and 
analytic  commercial  policy. 

Having  disclosed  these  general  considerations  it  is  now  expedient  that  we 
cite  figures  with  regard  to  the  commercial  activity  of  Bolivia  these  last  years. 
Our  purpose  is  to  prove  that  Bolivia  is  a  large  productive  country  and  that  it 
possesses  valuable  natural  elements  of  intercourse  in  its  industrial  applications.  In 
citing  these  figures  we  are  going  to  make  evident  that  the  United  States  had  not 
directed  her  attention  nor  influences  toward  Bolivia,  until  the  European  conflict 
broke  out.  We  also  desire  to  manifest  that  Bolivia  possesses  natural  products 
sufficiently  extensive  to  interest  the  commerce  and  capital  of  this  country. 

Bolivia  pursued,  with  the  other  South  American  countries,  a  commercial 
course  toward  European  markets  up  to  1914.  Commerce  was  almost  entirely 
directed  to  England,  France,  Germany,  Belgium  and  other  countries,  sending  their 
mineral  products  in  exchange  for  manufactured  goods  and  articles.  The  United 
States  did  not  wish  to  play  a  commercial  role  in  that  movement  of  barter  or  inter- 
course. German  commerce  encouraged  its  activity  to  the  extent  of  establishing  an 
office  in  the  German  Transatlantic  Bank  which  took  charge  of  propping  up  its 
commerce,  with  more  than  capital,  with  a  scries  of  credit  combinations,  taking 
advantage  of  the  good  will  and  good  faith  which  characterize  the  type  of  person 
found  in  Bolivia.  The  European  firms  in  Bolivia  came  to  study  the  country,  its 
necessities,  giving  certain  facilities  to  commerce,  not  under  a  gratuitous  pretext. 
With  or  without  pleasure,  Bolivia  accepted  these  facilities,  considering  that  it 
needed  and  still  needs  them  for  the  strength  of  its  situation.  In  1913  the  exterior 
commerce  of  Bolivia  gave  the  following  figures : 

Exportation 

59,327,343  Kilograms  with  a  value  of  Bs.  65,801,146,  corresponding  to  the 
United  States  nothing  more  than : 

3,149,556  Kilograms  with  a  value  of  Bs.  2,452,500,  an  insignificant  proportion, 
considering  the  importance  and  extent  of  the  American  factories  which  needed 
natural  materials  such  as  tin,  bismuth,  copper,  antimony,  etc.,  etc.  It  frequently 
happened  that  these  materials  which  the  United  States  received  from  Europe  had 
originally  come  from  Bolivia  and  gone  first  to  France,  England,  Germany  or 
Belgium.  This  signifies  that  up  to  1913  the  United  States  scarcely  represented  a 
proportion  of  11  per  cent  as  receivers.  From  1914  (end  of  the  year)  the  commercial 
course  begins  to  change,  with  marked  tendency  toward  the  United  States  until 
it  reaches  the  following  figures  in  1917: 

Exportation   (From  Bolivia) 

Kilograms 

To  the  United   States 54,175,079 

To  other  countries   97,621,952 


151,797,031 


104  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

the  United  States  having  a  proportion  of  35  per  cent  of  the  total  production  of 
Bolivia. 

In  1918  the  commercial  activity  of  Bolivia  was  as  follows : 

Exportation 

Kilograms 

For  the  United  States   35,796,012 

For  other  countries   35,877,617 


Total .     71,673,629 

Value  in  Bolivians 

For  the  United  States $Bs.    56,601,002 

For  other  countries   $Bs.    78,203,518 


Total $Bs.  134,804,520 

In  1917  the  imports  of  Bolivia  reached  147,267,236,706  kilograms  with  a  value 
of  $Bs.  33,480,831.10,  of  which  36,649,461,585  kilograms  with  a  value  of  $Bs. 
11,167,398.44  corresponded  to  the  United  States. 

In  1918,  the  figures  corresponding  wholly  to  the  United  States  reached 
217,415,299  kilograms.  Since  the  termination  of  the  war,  the  commercial  situation 
of  Bolivia  has  been  unstable.  The  producers  annd  importers  surely  await  inter- 
national adjustments  to  guide  their  course  of  action. 

The  sudden  decline  of  wolfran  and  the  prohibition  of  the  importation  of  tin 
into  this  country  are  causes  that  have  deeply  perturbed  the  commercial  activity  of 
Bolivia.  Should  this  situation  continue,  surely  Bolivian  commerce  will  turn  toward 
European  markets  no  matter  how  long  the  latter  may  delay  in  executing  orders. 
To  overcome  this,  official  action  should  be  taken  by  the  United  States.  It  must  be 
considered  that  Bolivia  lives  upon  and  is  sustained  by  the  value  and  the  good  and 
ready  market  for  its  mineral  products^,  the  only  source  of  its  national  wealth.  It 
would  be  futile  for  North  American  commerce  to  think  of  supplying  Bolivia  if  it 
does  not  offer  a  favorable  market  for  its  own  products.  Will  it  be  possible  to 
face  this  question  in  a  manner  salvable  to  international  intercourse? 

The  decline  in  the  price  of  minerals  in  this  country  has  brought  about  a 
violent  decline  in  exchange.  In  1918  Bolivian  exchange  had  risen  to  2.38  Bolivians, 
having  gradually  declined  recently  to  2.82  Bolivians,  a  frightful  reduction  for 
the  Bolivian  importers  of  articles  from  the  United  States. 

Tin  being  the  principal  export  product  and  the  prime  industry  of  Bolivia, 
which  regulates  the  importations  and  the  exportations  of  the  country  and  which 
constitutes  to  a  great  extent  the  public,  as  well  as  the  private  wealth,  it  is  deemed 
advisable  to  enumerate  data  on  this  point.  In  1917  Bolivia  exported  46,056,460 
kilograms  in  bars  and  concentrated  form,  with  an  official  value  of  84,366,952.51 
Bolivians,  to: 

Weight  Value 

Per  cent       Bs.  Per  cent 

Great  Britain 66.95  67.83 

United  States 32.33  31.58 

France    0.57  0.44 

Chile  0.15  0.15 

In  1918,  Bolivia  exported  48,801,027,000  kilograms  with  an  official  value  of 

129,611,139.64  $Bolivians,  about  54  per  cent  of  which  corresponded  to  the  United 

States. 

The  importations  of  tin  to  the  United   States  in  the  year  1917,  taking  the 

different  zones  of  production,  including  Bolivian  bar  tin,  in  tons  of  2,400  Ibs.,  were 

as  follows: 

Tons. 

Straits   i 32,675 

Australia 1,483 

"Banca  &  Billiton"    9,274 

England    6,155 

China  5,177 

Others  104 

54,868 
which,  when  reduced  to  metric  tons  would  be  55,747. 


BOLIVIA  105 

Bolivian  statistics  of  1917  show  the  following  total  of  tin  exportations,  partly 
in  bars,  to  the  United  States : 

Ks.    14,889,360 
Bars Ks.          46,687 


Total Ks.    14,936,047 

During  the  years  of  1917  and  1918,  tin  reached  extremely  high  levels,  but 
the  restrictions,  prohibition  and  consequences  of  the  "black  lists"  limited  the 
industrial  action  of  Bolivia,  the  high  price  of  the  product  making  it,  in  fact, 
illusory.  The  black  lists,  especially,  brought  about  the  stagnation  of  warehoused 
products  in  Bolivia  and  largely  caused  the  panic  among  the  exporters,  even  though 
they  had  no  connection  with  German  houses.  It  is  regrettable  to  have  to  admit 
that  the  said  black  lists  enormously  injured  Bolivian  industry,  to  the  point  of  mak- 
ing a  number  of  victims,  thus  proving  detrimental  to  both  private  industries  as 
well  as  to  the  State.  The  curtailment  of  mineral  products  in  Bolivia  alone  was 
disastrous,  both  because  the  producer  had  been  accustomed  to  consider  his  material 
as  finding  a  ready  market,  and  because  of  that  being  apparently  the  only  source 
of  his  wealth,  he  saw  no  other  means  of  importing  material  from  abroad. 

Very  different  is  the  situation  of  other  agricultural  countries  that  enjoy 
the  use  of  credit  or  advances  against  harvests.  Those  countries  generally  enjoy 
credit  for  one  year  periods.  Bolivia  places  raw  material  on  the  market  and  requires 
immediate  remuneration,  and  therefore  rarely  resorts  to  credit. 

The  Argentine  Republic,  for  example,  an  agricultural  and  live-stock  country, 
effects  enormous  exportations  to  Europe  and  the  United  States,  but  must,  to  a 
great  extent,  apply  for  credit,  in  view  of  the  time  it  must  wait  to  realize  upon  its 
products  or  harvests. 

The  United  States,  for  national  economic  reasons,  has  prohibited  the  importa- 
tion of  tin  to  its  markets.  Respecting  those  measures,  which  must  be  of  great 
importance  for  their  own  interests,  we  only  cite  this  circumstance  as  conclusive 
of  the  flight  of  Bolivian  merchants  toward  other  countries.  How  can  the  Bolivian 
merchant  trade  with  a  country  which  closes  to  him  its  markets  for  his  principal 
product?  How  would  he  pay  the  value  of  the  goods  that  he  acquired  from  that 
country?  Commerce  indispensably  requires  the  execution  of  the  principle  of 
reciprocity,  as  the  motive  and  basis  of  its  transactions.  To  close  its  markets 
means  cancellation  of  orders. 

The  Pan  American  Union,  in  homage  of  its  high  mission,  should  aim  to 
overcome  these  difficulties  in  order  to  create  a  normal  and  increasing  intercourse. 
In  this  report  our  commercial  situation  is  manifested,  its  antecedents,  its  oscilla- 
tions, its  courses  and  its  actual  situation,  a  situation  which  we  cannot  qualify  but 
with  uncertainty. 

Transportation  in  Bolivia,  as  in  all  countries,  is  intimately  connected  with 
its  commercial  and  financial  activity.  Bolivia,  a  mountainous  and  broken  country, 
incrusted  in  the  summits  of  the  Andes,  with  lofty  hills  that  project  giant-like  over 
the  immense  plains,  with  violent  cuts  that  form  streams  and  rivers  that  irrigate 
valleys  of  exceptional  vegetation,  some  running  into  the  Amazon,  others  into  the 
River  Plate  and  some  branches  into  the  Pacific,  has  geographical  conditions  which 
require  over  the  development  of  everything,  a  railroad  project,  if  that  rich  country 
is  to  be  made  a  producing  power. 

There  are  probably  few  countries  in  the  world,  perhaps  none  like  Bolivia, 
abounding  in  natural  wealth.  Yet,  it  seems  that  nature  desires  to  control  that 
wealth  by  adverse  geographical  conditions. 

The  work  of  the  Bolivian  Government,  for  many  years  back,  has  been  in- 
sistent in  endeavoring  to  lay  railways  across  the  territory,  which,  by  bringing 
together  the  populated  centers  and  uniting  the  mining  districts  with  them,  may 
actually  result  in  the  development  of  the  industry.  The  Government  has  determined 
to  exert  every  possible  effort  to  effect  that  work  and  has  invested  the  capital  and 
credit  of  the  Nation. 

Unfortunately,  despite  all  the  effort  and  labor,  the  work  projected  has  not 
been  completed.  Several  lines  of  vast  importance  and  immediate  need  are  still 
lacking,  either  to  unite  territorial  sections,  or  to  form  a  strong  link  with  neighbor- 
ing countries.  The  construction  of  the  Atocha-Tupiza  stretch  which  will  unite  the 
ports  of  the  Pacific  with  that  of  Buenos  Aires  on  the  Atlantic,  is  a  work  which 
preottupies  the  Bolivian  Government.  When  that  wdrk,  which  does  not  represent 


106  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

more  than  105  kilometers,  is  terminated,  the  interocean  communication  crossing 
over  the  high  peaks  of  the  Andes  into  the  richest  mineralogic  region,  will  be  an 
important  factor  not  only  for  Bolivia,  but  for  all  America. 

The  impulsive  pursuit  of  the  Sucre-Potosi  Railroad,  uniting  the  rich  valley 
of  Chuquisaca  with  the  mines  of  Potosi,  will  conclude  a  positive  national  progress. 

The  Cochabamba-Santa  Cruz  line,  uniting  the  agricultural,  live-stock  and 
petroleum  centres  of  both  cities,  will  serve  as  an  opulent  dispensation  to  the  entire 
Republic. 

The  line  projected  to  the  head-waters  of  the  river,  to  connect  the  Bolivian 
plateau  with  the  navigable  waters  of  the  Amazon,  means1  a  prospect  of  capital 
importance  to  Bolivia  and  to  Brazilian  commerce. 

Other  lines  projected  by  the  Supreme  Government  of  Bolivia,  will  complete 
the  railroad  system,  placing  the  country  in  a  position  to  develop  its  industries  to 
the  extent  that  its  necessities  and  natural  ambition  to  promote  the  movement  of 
intercourse  which'  the  foreigner  may  require. 

Its  existing  railroads,  even  if  they  fulfill  the  indispensable  needs,  do  not 
facilitate  an  extensive  development.  There  are  three  routes,  which,  starting  from 
three  points  on  the  Pacific  coast,  permit  the  country  to  effect  its  imports  and 
exports  originating  from  the  mining  centers  of  the  Republic.  Those  routes  are 
not  sufficient  to  assure  easy  communication. 

The  Government  aims  to  complete  the  railroad  system,  projected  and  to 
accomplish  it,  the  National  Congress  has  instituted  laws  that  authorize  the  Execu- 
tive to  negotiate  for  sufficient  loans.  To  effect  those  national  credit  operations, 
the  Supreme  Government  has  established  in  the  United  States  a  Special  Financial 
Mission,  presided  over  by  Mr.  Julio  Zamora. 

We  believe  that  this  is  an  opportune  time  for  North  American  capitalists 
to  facilitate  the  resources  needed  by  Bolivia  for  the  work  referred  to.  We  have  as 
a  basis,  in  proposing  these  transactions,  in  the  first  place,  national  honor  and  the 
good  faith  of  the  Bolivian  Government,  verified  in  several  previous  transactions, 
financed  with  the  utmost  exactness  and  answering  obligatory  provisions  with  strict 
punctuality.  In  the  second  place,  we  have  as  title  and  basis  of  operation  our 
natural  wealth,  made  profitable  upon  the  extension  of  our  means  of  railway  com- 
munication;  we  have  certain  fixed  revenues  to  serve  as  security  and  we  have 
untried  industries,  such  as  petroleum,  which  by  themselves  would  be  sufficient  for 
the  consummation  of  credit  transactions. 

--Possessing,  as  we  do,  such  elements,  what  is  lacking  for  enterprising  and 
influential  capitalists  to  furnish  us  the  resources,  which  would  complete  our 
progress  in  transportation  and  would  be  the  foundation  of  flattering  mutual  pros- 
pects for  the  negotiators  and  for  the  country?  That  comprehension  of  our  wealth 
and  of  the  liberality  of  our  laws  is  lacking;  knowledge  of  our  internal  conditions 
and  of  the  facilities  required  is  lacking;  there  is  lacking  promotion  of  the  con- 
viction in  the  United  States  that  Bolivia  is  not  a  turbulent  country  inclined  toward 
revolutionary  movements  or  political  changes;  there  is  lacking  the  fixing  in  the 
minds  of  the  capitalists  of  the  United  States  the  evidence  that  every  new  country 
requires  rational  assistance  or  perhaps  simply  the  elimination  of  pressing  condi- 
tions. In  the  United  States,  capitalists  and  merchants  manifest  their  desire  and 
resolution  to  negotiate  with  the  South  American  countries.  To  carry  out  those 
^projects  they  must  take  upon  themselves  the  means  expeditious  to  consummating 
"transactions;  they  must  understand  that  profits  are  obtained  after  labor  has  been 
undertaken,  not  before  work  has  been  executed.  To  solicit  anticipated  profits  is  to 
annul  the  progress  offered  or  surmised.  The  different  companies  that  have  con- 
structed railroads  in  Bolivia  or  that  have  exploited  them,  have  been  able  to  prove 
this  truth.  None  of  them  can  say  that  they  have  suffered  losses.  All  of  them  can 
say,  with  affirmation  of  evident  truth,  that  their  financial  transactions  have  sur- 
passed their  hopes.  It  is  useless  to  think  of  uniting  the  United  States  with  Bolivia 
commercially  if  facilities  are  not  anticipated,  and  among  which  that  relative  to 
transportation  within  the  Republic  requires  immediate  action.  We  realize  that 
this  point  is  fundamental. 

As  supplementary  data  to  these  references  we  attach  to  this  report  among 
other  tables,  one  on  "Kilometric  Extension  and  Distances  of  the  National  Rail- 
roads." 

The  foreign  obligations  of  the  Republic  of  Bolivia  are  taken  care  of,  as  we 
have  already  manifested,  with  great  scrupulosity,  without  a  single  case  of  delay 
or  excuse  in  fulfillment  having  taken  place  to  date.  The  National  Government 


BOLIVIA  107 

and  the  entire  country  know  very  well  that  there  is  no  better  means  of  fomenting 
favorable  opinion  of  one  country  in  another  than  the  fulfillment  of  obligations, 
which  become  testimonies  of  good-faith  and  earnestness. 

At  the  end  of  1918,  the  external  debt  of  Bolivia  stood  as  follows: 

MORGAN  LOAN.— Contracted  in  New  York  in  virtue  of  Law  under  date 
of  November  28th,  1908,  with  the  bankers,  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  for  £500,000  at 
the  rate  of  90  per  cent  issue,  6  per  cent  annual  interest  and  2  per  cent  sinking- 
fund.  This  obligation  having  been  served  in  the  meantime,  existed  until  July  1st, 
1918,  a  total  of  £378,730.15.0,  minus  that  withdrawn  in  casting  lots  in  January 
of  the  present  year,  or  nothing  more  than  about  £362,000.00.0. 

FRENCH  LOAN.— Was  contracted  in  Paris  with  the  Creditor  Mobilier 
Francais  for  £1,500,000,  conforming  to  the  Legislative  authorization  of  February  5, 
1910.  Up  to  the  1st  of  July,  1918,  there  was  a  circulation  of  nothing  more  than 
£1,354,840. 

FRENCH  LOAN  OF  1913.— Was  authorized  for  the  construction  of  the 
Quiaca-Tupiza  Railroad  by  Law  of  December  5th,  1912.  The  amount  issued  is 
£1,000,000.  Up  to  July  1st,  1918,  there  remained  a  balance  of  £946,280. 

LOAN  FOR  THE  YUNGAS  RAILROAD.— Authorized  by  law  under  date 
of  November  17,  1914,  and  September  25,  1915,  it  was  contracted  in  New  York, 
January  22,  1917,  with  Chandler  &  Co.,  for  $2,400,000,  there  being  in  circulation  of 
$2,351,280  up  to  June  30,  1918.  "The  total  amount  of  bonds  originating  from  the 
loans  mentioned  has  been  £3,560,007.  The  balance  to  that  date  was  reduced  to 
£3,184,700.15.4."  (The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  so  reports  in  his  message  to  the 
Assembly  in  1918.) 

The  internal  debt  up  to  June  30,  1918,  was  estimated  at  5,070,849.98  Bolivians, 
which  is  likewise  taken  care  of  by  the  Government  with  zealous  exactitude. 

Here  are  the  exterior  and  interior  national  obligations,  which  are  not  large 
considering  the  wealth  of  the  country  and  the  value  of  its  products. 

With  the  revision  of  these  figures  and  a  reference  to  the  "Presupuesto 
Nacional,"  which  distributes  the  ingress  and  egress,  it  would  be  easy  to  discern 
the  natural  question  of  what  are  the  causes  of  the  official  wealth  or  revenue  of 
the  State  being  so  small,  with  such  insignificant  obligations  on  the  part  of  the 
Nation  and  an  exportation  of  material  on  such  a  large  scale.  The  interrogation  is 
probably  logical,  and  we  must  therefore  explain  the  causes  that  result  in  that 
abnormality.  And  as  an  explanation  there  is  nothing  better  than  to  transcribe  what 
Mr.  Dario  Gutierrez,  ex-Secretary  of  the  State,  says  in  his  Ministerial  Message  to 
the  last  Assembly. 

In  its  foreign  commerce,  Bolivia  really  has  exceptional  conditions.  Judging 
from  statistics,  the  value  of  the  material  which  it  exports  is  equivalent  to  four  and 
a  half  times  that  of  the  aggregate  of  its  imports. 

There  is  doubtless  an  error  with  regard  to  the  figures  that  indicate  the  value 
of  the  material  imported,  arising  from  the  fact  that  the  Custom  House  tariff  of 
1905  was  taken  as  a  basis,  which  ascribes  greatly  reduced  valuations  to  the  greater 
part  of  the  merchandise.  In  order  to  have  a  result  more  consistent  with  truth 
in  this  respect,  the  total  amount  of  imports  should  be  increased  by  50  per  cent,  as 
per  official  indication  made  by  the  Director  General  of  Custom  Houses. 

Statistics  of  international  commerce  for  1917  show  the  following : 

Importation   Bs.      33,480,831.10 

Exportation  Bs.    157,748,054.09 

adopted  as  a  basis  of  calculation,  for  the  aforesaid  reason. 

The  official  referred  to  advises  that  an  importation  of  Bs.  50,221,245.65  be 
In  any  case,  the  value  of   the  exports  would  represent  triple  that  of  the 
imports. 

This  tremendous  difference  could  be  supposed  a  constant  accumulation  of 
capital  in  the  country,  a  lively  industrial  development  and  an  economic  prosperity 
in  harmony  with  the  results  of  intercourse.  But  not  all  of  the  volume  of  exports 
represents  national  wealth.  The  geological  conditions  of  our  soil  offer  an  abund- 
ance of  mineral  products  which  the  demand  of  the  industry  appraises ; ;  but,  the 
net  profit  of  the  greater  part  Fs  distributed  outside  of  the  country,  a  severe  un- 
stable equilibrium  in  the  Bolivian  economic  situation  having  been  observed  during 
the  long  period  of  that  commerce,  the  principal  sign  of  which  was  the  undervalua- 
tion of  > the  money  in  circulation,  or,  as  is  said  in  commercial  language,  the  decline 
in  foreign  exchange. 


108  SECOND   PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

The  most  careful  administrative  disposition  was  not  sufficient  to  maintain 
the  monetary  circulation  in  a  normal  condition,  nor  did  the  efforts  of  public  in- 
fluence avoid  the  issue  of  specie,  which,  in  the  capacity  of  merchandise,  liquidated 
export  obligations. 

If  after  perusing  the  press  of  thirty  or  even  twenty  years  ago,  we  consult 
the  lessons  of  our  economists,  the  initiative  of  our  politicians,  the  reflections  of 
business  men,  facing  a  constant  exportation  of  coined  silver,  whose  value  in  foreign 
markets  exceeded  that  which  the  laws  of  the  interior  ascribed  to  it,  we  shall  be 
able  to  realize  the  numerous  errors  that  were  made  in  those  times,  the  basis  of  our 
scientific  knowledge  concerning  this  unsettled  problem. 

Terrible  crises  came  to  pass  one  after  another,  and  on  some  occasions  they 
coincided  with  the  rise  in  price  of  our  natural  products  and  the  increase  of  indus- 
trial exploitation.  In  view  of  that  ironic  paradox,  statesmen  resorted  to  artificial 
measures,  either  taxing  the  exportation  of  money  in  order  to  maintain  internal 
circulation,  or  prohibiting  it  entirely  if  the  exterior  demand  for  specie  increased 
the  difference  of  its  intrinsic  value  over  the  tax  rate  itself.  Taking  the  consequence 
for  the  cause  or  the  indication  for  evil,  means  were  then  sought  to  maintain  foreign 
exchange  at  a  high  level ;  without  considering  that  that  phenomen  depends  upon  the 
conditions  of  commerce  and  production,  which  must  be  studied  from  their  beginning 
in  order  to  find  a  way  of  insuring  a  firm  and  genuine  wealth  which  is  reflected 
in  that  rise  of  exchange.  This  must  not  be  the  object  of  our  preoccupations,  but 
the  true  economic  welfare,  the  sterling  richness,  the  effectual  accumulation  of 
capital  in  the  interior  and  its  profitable  circulation  through  national  economy. 

Legislators  and  financiers,  in  seeking  an  adequate  remedy  against  an  evil 
they  did  not  succeed  in  determining  with  precision,  focused  their  attention  upon 
the  conditions  of  circulation  and  believing  that  there  were  defects  in  the  monetary 
system,  they  altered  it,  the  ineflficacy  of  which  soon  became  evident,  because  money 
always  had  to  overcome  the  frontiers,  when  the  economic  strength  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  maintain  it  in  the  internal  circulation.  Silver  money,  a  metal  depreciated 
in  the  quotations  of  large  markets  and  subject  to  considerable  fluctuation,  came  to 
be  substituted  by  pounds  sterling.  But  it  resulted  that  only  these  were  to  be 
maintained  in  circulation,  as  the  blank  money  under  the  silver  system,  if  economic 
conditions  permitted  it,  and  were  issued,  as  that,  when  the  unstable  equilibrium 
existed. 

Not  many  years  ago,  in  the  Government  and  the  Legislative  Houses,  the 
true  cause  of  the  evil  was  pointed  out,  showing  how  fallacious  the  statistical  figures 
are  when  they  are  examined  singly,  without  connection  with  their  antecedents  and 
concomitances.  In  many  parliamentary  documents  there  can  now  be  observed  that, 
when  the  mines  or  export  industries  in  general,  are  exploited  for  the  benefit  of 
foreign  companies,  the  country  obtains  very  little  profit  from  their  success  and 
fruitfulness.  Have  not  these  ideas  spread  sufficiently  to  make  it  high  time  to  find 
a  means  of  cutting  short  the  evil,  now  known  and  perfectly  analyzed? 

The  question  is  resumed  in  this  program,  simple  in  its  enunciation,  though 
very  far-reaching:  to  nationalize  mining  exploitations.  Considering  the  importance 
of  this  work,  the  means  of  realizing  this  must  be  sought  and  to  that  end  the  efforts 
of  all  men  charged  with  safe-guarding  Bolivian  interests  must  be  directed. 

To  contribute  to  that  purpose  some  contingent  of  initiative,  I  beg  to  submit 
for  contemplation,  an  idea  which  I  do  not  believe  necessary  to  hand  over  as  a 
definite  project  for  official  procedure,  but  which  I  disclose  so  that  it  may  be 
utilized  when  the  study  of  a  new  legislation  is  undertaken,  which  I  regard  as 
unavoidable,  directed  to  maintain  the  product  of  mineral  wealth  within  the  country 
in  a  more  important  proportion  than  that  represented  today  by  salaries  and  taxes 
of  exportation. 

The  mining  law  of  Bolivia  is  based  on  this  principle :  The  undersoil  is  the 
property  of  the  State.  The  latter,  under  pretext  of  owner  of  the  undersoil  adjudges 
ownership  to  individuals  under  the  conditions  stipulated  by  a  large  and  complicated 
legislation.  The  State  considers  itself  unfit  to  exploit  mines  on  its  own  account 
and  limits  its  action  to  encouraging  and  protecting  the  industry  which  individuals 
or  associations  actuate,  importuning  a  profit  to  remunerate  its  initiatives,  capital, 
risks  and  efforts.  All  the  mining  legislation  is  directed  to  that  end  and  is  gauged 
to  establish  and  guarantee  the  rights  that  come  under  its  protection. 

Liens  on  mining,  which  may  either  be  privileges  or  rights  to  export^products, 
are  established  not  as  remuneration  to  the  State  for  the  adjudgments  that  it  author- 
izes, but  in  virtue  of  the  authority  with  which  it  sanctions  all  the  other  duties  that 


BOLIVIA  109 

must  further  its  development.  The  adjudgments  of  mines  are  essentially  gratui- 
tous. The  State,  although  it  demands  resources  to  promote  its  action,  does  not 
seek  its  own  wealth  in  the  mines,  but  that  of  the  inhabitants,  at  the  same  time 
endeavoring  to  have  their  welfare  redound  to  national  profit. 

The  practice  of  such  liberal  principles  results  unfavorably  among  us  in  a 
certain  aspect.  It  is  true  that  there  are  dangerous  risks  in  the  mining  industry, 
the  capital  that  is  consumed  without  profit  not  being  slight,  after  having  been 
invested  in  unprofitable  explorations,  incomplete  study  annl!  fruitless  experiments, 
it  is  certain  that  no  other  (industry)  produces  such  prodigious  results,  the  original 
capital  contributed  to  the  enterprise  having  been  multiplied  many  times  by  tenths 
or  hundredths.  Meanwhile,  it  may  be  that  the  country  does  not  offer  safe  and 
reassured  inducements  for  investing  within  it  the  products  obtained  by  mining 
success,  or  perhaps  other  motives  induce  the  tradesmen  to  put  the  fruit  of  their 
labor  in  the  exterior,  the  fact  is  that  the  capital  issuing  from  that  industry  emi- 
grates in  considerable  quantity,  causing  the  pernicious  unstable  equilibrium,  in 
national  economy,  to  which  this  chapter  refers. 

To  maintain  within  the  country  a  greater  quantity  than  remains  under  actual 
circumstances,  originating  from  exportation  of  minerals,  is  a  work  incompatible 
with  the  present  system  of  gratuitous  adjudgments  which  encourage  production, 
without  the  slightest  precautionary  measure  to  insure  the  return  to  the  country, 
of  the  price  obtained  outside  of  it  for  the  products  of  the  industry. 

If  the  State,  having  declared  itself  a  participant  in  the  industrial  issues, 
should  make  suitable  rules,  very  different  from  those  that  govern  the  mining 
adjudgments,  it  could  retain  within  the  country. a  considerable  part  of  that  wealth, 
which  is  ever  ready  to  leave  it;  this  would  be  assimilated  in  the  interior  and  would 
serve  to  create  new  industries,  the  development  of  agriculture  and  cattle-raising; 
and  the  constant  circulation  of  capital  within  national  economy,  would  result  in 
fecundating  the  fields  of  prosperity  and  opulence. 

Without  undertaking  to  enumerate  the  rules  to  be  established  within  that  new 
system,  which  would  effect  a  true  transformation  in  Bolivian  economy,  I  must 
only  say  that  they  would  all  have  as  a  basis  the  participation  of  the  State  in  the 
exploitation  of  the  mines  which  may  be  adjudged  in  the  future. 

Those  that  are  owned  and  exploited  at  the  present  time,  whose  ownership 
is  founded  on  rights  existing  previous  to  the  new  law,  would  continue  being  sub- 
ject to  the  system  of  free  exploitation  for  the  benefit  of  their  owners,  without  other 
obligation  with  regard  to  the  participation  of  the  State,  than  that  of  paying  the 
corresponding  taxes. 

The  entire  new  adjudgment  would  contain  the  condition  that  the  State  be 
participant  in  its  profits,  in  a  proportion  varying  according  to  the  outcome  of  the 
enterprise. 

At  first  sight  it  seems  as  if  that  measure  would  present  the  danger  of  dis- 
couraging the  mining  enterprise,  once  a  gratuitous  and  annoying  partner  must 
divide  his  profits  equally.  Nevertheless,  there  is  nothing  more  inaccurate  than  this 
idea,  above  all  if  the  law  establishes  the  non-participation  of  the  State  in  mines 
whose  production  may  not  reach  the  limit  fixed  by  it. 

It  must  be  taken  into  account  that  none  of  those  miners,  whom  fortune  pre- 
sented huge  profits,  disproportionate  to  the  magnitude  of  their  efforts  and  the 
amount  of  their  capital,  counted  upon  such  favorable  results  in  the  beginning  of 
their  industrial  labor.  None  of  them  would  have  failed  to  enforce  the  work 
which  afterwards  created  immense  wealth,  if  they  had  known  beforehand  that 
they  were  obligated  by  law  to  share  one-fourth  of  their  profits,  for  example,  with 
the  national  treasury. 

I  intentionally  avoid  discussing  this  matter  further,  recommending  its  study 
to  the  men  called  upon  because  of  their  knowledge  of  political,  social  and  legal 
matters,  to  undertake  it  with  determination  and  patriotism. 

The  thought  of  the  administrative  difficulties  in  winning  must  not  discourage 
us,  owing  to  fiscal  participation  in  a  number  of  private  enterprises.  The  economic 
and  financial  result  of  the  reform  would  compensate  all  sacrifices. 

Such  is  the  sketch  of  the  commercial  and  economical  condition  of  Bolivia, 
substantiating  a  notable  progress  obtained  several  years  back  beneath  the  shade 
of  an  inalterable  public  peace,  encouraged  by  the  national  criterion  toward  prac- 
tical labor  and  the  desire  of  honorable  national  governments,  which,  inspired  by 
common  welfare,  have  elevated  the  country  by  secure  routes  to  a  place  making 
it  worthy  of  credit  and  giving  it  a  reputation  of  an  honorable  and  respected  nation, 


DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC 

FOREIGN  COMMERCE  1917 

TOTAL  $39,845,000. 


OTHER 

COUNTRIES 

179,000 


1TAI7XT 
4  95,000. 

F.RANCE 


BOLIVIA  111 

both  as  to  its  own  laws  and  the  interests  of  its  friendly  countries.  If  with  these 
properties  and  the  wealth  of  its  natural  soil,  Bolivia  does  not  obtain  the  coopera- 
tion and  initiative  necessary  for  her  growth  in  the  commercial  concert  of  South 
American  nations,  it  would  mean  that  destiny  is  inexorable  in  its  injustice  toward 
Bolivia,  which  merits  the  practical  sympathies  of  its  neighbors  and  other  nations 
of  the  American  and  European  continents. 

The  moment  has  arrived,  and  this  is  the  best  opportunity  to  make  known 
what  we  have  in  Bolivia,  what  we  can  produce,  what  we  must  do  in  favor  of  our 
progress  and  happiness  and  what  we  await  of  the  strong  nations,  particularly  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States. 

We  would  ask  that  eyes  be  set  upon  Bolivia  and  that  its  conditions  be  studied 
carefully.  Once  we  are  known,  we  are  sure  that  we  shall  be  highly  considered  and 
that  we  will  receive  efficacious  cooperation. 


A  DIGEST  OF  COMMERCIAL  CONDITIONS     IN  BOLIVIA. 

BY  SENOR  ALBERTO  PALACIOS,  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  BOLIVIA  AT  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

The  rapid  succession  of  events  during  the  past  few  years — War,  Peace, 
Reconstruction — has  affected  to  a  certain  extent  practically  every  country  of  the 
globe  in  accordance  with  the  participation  taken  by  each,  viz:  industrial  strength 
and  public  wealth.  The  war  developed  resources  heretofore  unknown  and  re- 
vealed latent  economic  forces  that  existed,  awakened  individual  initiative  and 
stimulated  genuises  to  produce,  with  the  result  that  while  in  the  battlefields  of 
Europe  the  wealth  of  the  Old  Continent  was  destroyed  at  random,  other  coun- 
tries labored  day  and  night  to  replace  the  losses  and  provide  the  Allied  Nations 
with  the  necessary  supplies  in  order  to  bring  about  success  for  their  cause — meats 
from  Australia,  wheat  from  Argentina,  Platinum  from  Colombia,  furs  from 
Alaska,  gold  from  South  Africa,  and  the  rarest  metals  and  delicious  fruits  of 
nature  were  requisitioned  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Allied  soldiers. 

The  United  States  threw  on  the  same  side  its  inexhaustible  supply  of 
wealth  and  industrial  organizations,  thus  with  her  greatness  and  military  power 
virtually  assuring  the  triumph  of  the  Allied  arms. 

Bolivia,  a  small  nation  situated  in  the  heart  of  a  continent,  away  from  the 
general  paths  of  communication,  due  to  the  fact  that  she  was  deprived  of  her 
own  coast  line, — situated  in  the  highest  regions  of  the  Andean  mountains,  also 
did  her  modest  share.  Morally,  breaking  relations  with  the  Imperial  Teutonic 
Regime,  under  the  aspect  of  economy,  she  placed  at  the  disposition  of  the  Allies 
the  rich  metals  stored  in  her  mountains,  indispensable  for  the  various  uses  of 
the  war. 

She  sent  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  of  tin  to  can  foodstuffs,  the 
antimony  used  in  all  of  the  projectiles  from  the  Berthas  and  Black  Marias  up 
to  the  sharp  and  diminutive  shrapnels  which  rained  from  the  machine  guns; 
silver  for  monetary  purposes,  and  the  manufacture  of  fine  surgical  instruments; 
the  tungsten  used  in  the  manufacturing  of  cannons ;  copper,  bismuth,  lead,  mo- 
lybdenum, India  rubber,  alpaca  wool,  have  been  shipped  to  the  English  and 
American  markets  in  appreciable  quantities,  as  it  may  be  observed  from  the  fol- 
lowing data  taken  from  statistics  of  the  year  1917: 

Tin  valued  at  $34,103,392 

Copper    ..valued  at  4,768,457 

Antimony    valued  at  6,807,162 

Tungsten    valued  at  4,324,116 

Bismuth    valued  at  1,646,670 

Silver    valued  at  2,108,764 

Lead    valued  at  605,965 

Zinc    valued  at  212,312 

Rubber    valued  at  6,169,680 

Coca    and    Quinine valued  at  354,253 

Live  Stock  and  Wool..... ....Vatu'e-d  at  1,W464 


SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

During  the  year  1918  the  exportation  of  tin  had  risen  to  50,000  tons  val- 
ued at  $51,844,400.00. 

A  large  portion  of  these  products  came  to  the  United  States,  with  which 
country  trade  has  increased  in  a  noticeable  proportion;  so  much  so  that  while 
in  1914  it  amounted  only  to  $2,835,700,  in  1918  it  had  reached  almost  $40,000,000- 
that  is  to  say,  fifteen  times  as  much. 

The  following  data  refers  only  to  the  trade  carried  through  the  ports  of 
the  Pacific,  excluding  commerce  conducted  through  the  ports  of  Argentina  and 
Brazil : 

Importations   from  the  United   States  via  the   Pacific 

during   1918 :     52,735,326  kilos    $9,161  144 

Exportations  to  the  United  States,  36,796,012  kilos....     22,600,400 

If  the  contribution  made  by  Bolivia  is  duly  examined  in  connection  with 
war  requirements  from  1914  to  1918  it  will  be  found  that  she  supplied  465,529 
tons  of  minerals  and  other  raw  materials  amounting  to  $200,000,000.00. 

The  transition  from  war*  to  peace  has  caused  a  delicate  situation  in  Bolivia, 
in  consequence  of  the  demoralized  business  in  buying  centers.  Suddenly  the 
demand  has  become  paralized,  and  shipments  have  been  suspended,  due  to  the 
accumulation  of  stocks  by  England  and  the  United  States,  to  such  drastic  extent 
as  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  tin.  We  have  hopes  that  these  steps  will  be 
maintained  for  only  a  short  period,  because  if  such  action  is  intended  to  defend 
the  fiscal  interest  of  those  countries,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  discouraging 
the  interests  of  countries  like  Bolivia,  they  disorganize  her  economical  life,  by 
which  precedent,  on  reducing  its  productive  capacity,  they  also  weaken  its  pur- 
chasing power,  which  in  the  end  mean  that  the  harm  would  not  only  be  suf- 
fered by  the  Bolivian  miners,  but  equally  by  the  American  merchants  who  do 
business  with  them. 

From  the  moment  that  the  exportation  of  our  minerals  became  reduced, 
shipments  from  the  United  States  automatically  began  to  decrease.  This  refers 
particularly  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  as  it  may  be  seen  from  the  following  data: 

During  the  past  year  there  was  shipped  from  San  Francisco  destined  to 
Bolivia  29,551,728  kilos  valued  at  $1,542,189.30  and  from  Seattle  10,583,965  kilos 
valued  at  $497,684.95,  outside  of  other  quantities  from  Los  Angeles.  Commencing 
with  January  of  the  present  year,  shipments  have  been  reduced  to  an  alarming 
extent,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  insignificant  figure : 

Exportation  from  San  Francisco  January  to  April  inclusive,  453,159  kilos, 
$84,993.38. 

My  above  assertion  to  the  effect  that  any  restriction  placed  on  the  pur- 
chase of  our  products  will  carry  as  a  consequence  almost  a  total  cancellation  of 
the  intercourse  with  the  foreign  markets,  which  act  would  not  leave  American 
commerce  untouched,  at  the  present  moment  when  a  plan  of  commercial  ex- 
pansion is  trying  to  be  brought  about,  which  procedure  has  been  met  with  the 
good  will  and  approval  of  the  Southern  Republics. 

This  radical  change  can  very  well  introduce  doubts,  that  European  com- 
petition will  surely  try  to  take  advantage  of,  as  they  will  be  able  to  affirm  that 
the  increase  of  business  with  the  United  States  was  a  temporary  phenomenon 
due  to  the  war,  and  that  only  the  European  markets,  as  in  pre-war  times,  are 
capable  of  supplying  the  necessities  of  our  economical  and  industrial  life.  The 
following  articles  are  the  principal  ones  exported  by  San  Francisco  and  Seattle: 
— Lumber,  explosives  for  mining  machinery,  mineral  oils,  gasoline,  steel  cable, 
cement,  rice,  evaporated  milk,  canned  fruits,  fish  and  other  merchandise,  details 
of  which  may  be  found  in  the  enclosed  lists. 

Regarding  lumber,  I  take  this  opportunity  to  point  out  the  necessity  of 
endeavoring  to  bring  about  an  extensive  business  through  a  larger  number  of 
exporters,  as  actually  those  engaged  in  the  exportation  of  this  article  are  very 
few,  for  which  reason  the  business  consummated  is  of  a  limited  amount. 

In  the  high  plateaux,  the  most  thickly  populated  parts  of  Bolivia,  the  lum- 
ber used  for  the  frame  work  of  the  mines  and  work  of  construction  is  imported 
from  California,  and  undoubtedly  if  they  do  not  consume  any  more  it  is  only  due 
to  the  restriction  above  mentioned.  However,  if  by  initiating  an  extensive  com- 
petitive campaign,  placing  same  within  the  reach  of  miners,  builders  and  other 
industries,  its  cbnsumption  would  be  materially  increase^;  matty  other  construe- 


BOLIVIA  113 

tion  materials  manufactured  in  the  Western  part  of  the  United  States  will  find 
a  ready  market  in  Bolivia,  if  an  attempt  is  made  to  introduce  them  on  a  larger 
scale. 

In  many  cities  construction  is  active  and  I  might  state  at  a  cost  which  did 
not  prevail  10  years  ago,  whereas  at  the  present  time  it  is  not  rare  to  see  a  build- 
ing erected  at  a  cost  of  one  million  Bolivian  pesos.  Fifteen  years  ago,  a  few 
lots  situated  on  Avenida  16  De  Julio  La  Paz,  which  all  combined  could  have  been 
purchased  for  one  hundred  .  thousand  Bolivian  pesos,  today  would  cost  five  mil- 
lion, to  pay  for  the  cost  of  buildings  erected  in  the  four  blocks  of  this  .  avenue, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  which  they  have  built  pretty  commodious  homes.  The 
material  used  is,  in  part,  obtained  in  the  country,  the  remainder  being  of  foreign 
importation,  such  as  lumber  from  California,  paints  and  wall-paper,  hardware 
and  decorations  from  Germany.  A  much  larger  market  could  be  found  for  ce- 
ment if  it  was  possible  to  obtain  cheaper  freight  rates,  a  problem  which  must  be 
solved  by  the  manufacturers,  as  this  not  only  affects  the  Bolivian  markets  but 
affects  as  well  all  of  the  Western  coast.  San  Francisco  previously  exported  more 
or  less  eighteen  million  of  flour  kilos  yearly,  but  no  shipments  have  been  made 
during  the  past  two  years,  but  it  is  hoped  that  as  soon  as  all  restrictions  have 
been  removed,  the  American  flour  will  again  find  its  way  into  the  Bolivian  mar- 
ket, even  if  in  a  smaller  proportion,  as  this  country  is  commencing  to  produce 
some  for  its  own  consumption,  thanks  to  the  completion  of  mills  in  the  depart- 
ment Cochabamba.  , 

This  new  situation  offers  to  the  California  millers  an  opportunity  to  in- 
vest their  capital,  establish  mills  and  culitvate  wheat,  which  capital  would  be 
welcome  by  the  farmer's  of  these  valleys,  who  could  very  well  associate  themselves 
with  the  American  capitalists  looking  forward  to  a  greater  success  in  the  business. 

Should  it  prove  of  interest,  we  submit  the  following  data,  pertaining  to 
this  business : 

In  1916  the  railroad  to  Cochabamba,  the  capital  of '  the  Department  of  the 
same  name,  was  completed  .  at  a  cost  of  14,000  pounds  sterling  per  kilometer.  It 
was  constructed  by  English  capitalists,  under  the  name  of  the  "Bolivian  Railway 
Company,"  who  were  induced  to  construct  it  upon  realizing  the  ready  access  it 
afforded  to  an  almost  unlimited  stretch  of  land  which  was  suitable  for  the  cul- 
tivation of  wheat,  fruit  and  many  other  products. 

Cochabamba  has  an  electric  railroad  of  80  kilometers  extending  through 
the  valleys  of  Quillacollo  and  Arani. 

The  climate  is  temperate  and  there  is  an  abundance  of  water  which  could 
be  used  for  irrigation  purposes.  Its  altitude  is  2575  meters  above  the  sea  level. 

The  area  of  the  Department  of  Cochabamba  is  60,417  square  kilometers. 

Until  15  years  ago  the  greater  part  of  the  flour  consumed  in  Bolivia  came 
•from  Cochabamba,  but  due  to  the  old  fashioned  methods  pursued^  it  became 
cheaper,  after  the  completion  of  the  railroad  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  to  import  for- 
eign flour  and  in  consequence  the  national  production  decreased. 

It  is  a  known  fact  that  flour  produced  in  Bolivia  is  equal  in  quality  to  that 
imported  from  abroad  and  surely,  it  would  be  much  cheaper,  that  is  if  modern 
mills  could  be  erected,  as  the  paying. of  ocean  freight,  custom  duties  and  all  other 
expenses  incurred  in  the  importation  of  flour  from  abroad  would  be  eliminated. 
Another  factor  which  would  bring  down  its  cost  is  the  cheapness  of  labor.  It 
is  probably  unknown  by  a  good  many,  but  it  is  never  the  less  a  fact  that  the  price 
of  flour  is  so  high  in  Bolivia  that  it  is  a  luxury  to  most .' people.  The  poorer  class 
— the  Indians — can  only  afford  it  once  or  twice  a  week  at  the  most. 

During  the  year  1916,  outside  of  the  flour  produced  in  the  country  Bolivia 
imported  flour  to  the  amount  of  $1,500,000  weighing  25,000,000  kilos  of  which 
18,000.000  valued  at  $1,140,000  were  imported  from  the  United  States. 

Customs  duties  collected  amounted  to  $135,530.00. 

Notwithstanding  the  prosperity  brought  about  by  the  development  of  min- 
ing, the  country  has  awakened  to  the  realization  that  this  industry  is  merely  one 
of  the  factors  of  the  public  wealth;  therefore,  without  disregarding  its  import- 
ance efforts  must  now  be  encouraged  toward  the  exploitation  of  our  fertile 
lands,  which  are  capable  of  yielding  all  the  known  agricultural  products  of  the 

The  manufacturers  of  agricultural  implements  will  most  assuredly  find  a 
future  market  in  Bolivia,  and  if  I  mention  the  future,  it  is  because  it  will  be 


114  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

necessary  first  of  all  to  carry  on  an  extensive  advertising  campaign,  and  secondly 
to  educate  the  people  in  the  use  of  these  implements,  which  procedure  is  well 
known  to  the  American  manufacturers.  After  having  observed  with  very  much 
interest  the  splendid  results  which  were  obtained  through  the  annual  exposition 
at  Davis,  California,  I  believe  that  the  sending  of  a  similar  exposition  to  Bolivia, 
which  would  be  in  a  position  to  tour  the  greater  part  of  the  country,  would  un- 
doubtedly bring  about  satisfactory  results.  Having  spoken  with  several  exhib- 
itors of  tractors,  they  informed  me  that,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Amer- 
ican farmer  has  now  become  accustomed  to  the  use  of  these  modern  implements, 
it  was  only  brought  about  by  the  unrelenting  efforts  put  forth  by  the  manufac- 
turers in  their  attempts  to  point  out  the  advantages  that  were  to  be  found  in  the 
adoption  of  the  tractor.  When  one  takes  into  consideration  the  high  cost  and  the 
fact  that  the  farmer  was  so  accustomed  to  working  with  horses,  the  difficulty 
under  which  the  manufacturers  were  compelled  to  labor,  in  order  to  assure  their 
universal  adoption,  cannot  be  too  greatly  magnified. 

Only  by  the  active  propaganda  put  forth  by  the  Government  in  their  de- 
sire to  increase  the  crops  and  the  publicity  campaign  made  by  the  manufacturers 
followed  by  practical  demonstrations,  has  it  been  possible  to  overcome  these  dif- 
ficulties. 

If  this  is  the  case  in  this  country,  it  is  logical  to  suppose  that  the  South 
American  farmers,  will  be  more  incredulous  as  to  the  advantages  to  be  found  in 
the  use  of  such  modern  equipment.  Catalogs,  advertisements  and  circular  letters 
will  be  of  little  importance  if  they  are  not  backed  up  by  practical  demonstrations. 
From  the  above  facts  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  the  organization  of  such 
an  exposition  would  prove  successful.  The  idea  could  be  supported  by  some  of 
the  foreign  trade  associations  in  cooperation  with  the  manufacturers  who  are 
directly  interested,  with  the  assurity  that  this  method  of  advertising  would  bring 
forth  the  desired  results,  not  only  from  a  business  standpoint  but  also  from  that 
of  progress  and  education. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  point  out  that  this  exposition  should  go  only  to 
Bolivia,  but  rather  that  it  should  tour  all  the  Western  republics,  returning  by  way 
of  the  Atlantic.  Neither  would  it  be  necessary  to  send  a  formal  exposition,  as 
it  would  be  sufficient  to  send  an  adequate  number  of  tractors  which  could  be 
easily  transported,  together  with  their  corresponding  tools  and  implements. 

This  system  of  demonstrating  to  the  prospective  purchaser  the  article  that 
is  being  offered,  even  if  it  should  be  a  heavy  piece  of  machinery,  is  not  a  new 
procedure.  The  linotype  monufacturers  introduced  it  into  South  America  in 
this  manner,  which  method  was  followed  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Germans  were 
controlling  this  market  with  their  tipographs. 

Give  us  the  money  to  exploit  our  mines  with  modern  machinery,  money 
for  the  construction  of  the  many  railroad  lines  which  we  intend  putting  through, 
money  for  farming,  barbed  wire  for  fencing  our  grazing  lands,  even  superior  to 
those  of  Argentina,  and  then  the  American  investor,  manufacturer  and  merchant 
will  have  opened  a  new  "market."  In  the  South  American  republics  "commerce" 
means  to  finance  to  the  necessary  extent  their  requirements,  take  from  here  the 
surplus  coin  to  exploit  the  natural  resources  extensively  found  there.  Both  fac- 
tors united  would  produce  millions,  the  same  as  were  produced  in  the  Western 
part  of  the  United  States,  as  it  has  been  proven  that  the  phenomenal  develop- 
ment of  the  West  was  not  due  to  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  but  rather 
to  the  millions  invested  by  Wall  Street. 

Speaking  about  Bolivia,  I  have  heard  that  notwithstanding  her  700,000 
square  miles,  scarcely  populated  by  3,000,000  people,  of  which  50  per  cent,  are 
Indians,  there  are  numerous  difficulties  presented  which  would  hinder  the  develop- 
ment of  the  country.  Protesting  against  this,  as  an  example,  I  only  wish  to  men- 
tion the  South  African  Union,  where  due  to  the  similarity  of  various  circum- 
stances, one  finds  a  good  example  of  what  could  be  done  in  Bolivia.  The  coun- 
tries which  form  this  Union  possess  an  extensive  territory  of  over  500,000  square 
miles,  with  a  population  of  only  5,500,000,  of  which  only  1,200,000  are  whites, 
controlling  about  4,000,000  colored  people.  Even  under  such  conditions,  they 
have  attained  a  high  degree  of  prosperity  which  is  revealed  by  the  following 
data: 

Their  coramercte  before  the  war  amoypted  to,  $400,000,000,  trjeir  estimated 
expenditures  $50,T)'00,OtfO,  and  their  debt  $550;000,'000.  Th'e  railroad  lines  had 


BOLIVIA  115 

an  extension  of  7000  miles.  However,  it  is  impossible  to  forget  that  the  enter- 
prising spirit  of  the  Boer,  to  a  great  extent,  is  responsible  for  this  attractive 
success,  but  also  it  should  be  accepted  that  the  natives  of  South  Africa  cannot 
he  compared  with  the  Bolivian  Indian,  whose  thriftiness,  physical  strength  and 
agreeable  disposition  makes  of  him  a  desirable  element;  they  supply  all  labor  re- 
quired by  the  mines,  farms  and  railroads  of  the  country. 

Mr.  John  Jackson,  builder  of  the  railroad  line  from  Arica  to  La  Paz,  at 
the  time  when  he  made  delivery  of  this  line,  officially  stated  that  after  having 
constructed  several  colonial  lines,  he  was  of  the  opinon  that  never  before  during 
his  long  experience,  had  he  met  with  better  laborers.  Mr.  Victor  M.  Coster, 
American  traveller,  wrote  from  Bolivia  to  a  New  York  magazine,  making  the 
following  statement :  "The  Indians  form  an  ideal  working  class ;  they  are  sober, 
hard-working  and  adapt  themselves  easily  to  all  kinds  of  work  and  manufacture." 

In  these  modern  times,  when  the  most  delicate  products  are  transported 
from  one  continent  to  another,  such  as  fruits  and  meats  from  Australia  to  Eng- 
land over  a  distance  of  12,000  miles;  apples  from  Canada  to  Europe;  peaches 
and  plums  overland  from  California  to  New  York, — there  is  no  reason  why  it 
should  not  be  possible  to  import  from  Bolivia  a  variety  of  foodstuffs,  whose 
superior  quality  can  only  be  obtained  there. 

Allow  me  to  mention  our  potatoes.  The  quality  produced  in  the  United 
States  is  indeed  very  good  and  the  variety  is  extensive,  but  never  will  it  be 
possible  to  compare  them  with  the  Bolivian  product,  whose  nourishing  power 
is  greater,  flavor  is  better,  and  the  varieties  more  numerous.  184  different  va- 
rieties have  been  classified,  which  are  being  at  present  cultivated  in  different 
regions,  from  an  altitude  of  13,000  feet  over  the  sea  level,  down  to  6000  feet. 

Potato  raising,  if  conducted  under  modern  methods  and  in  a  conservative 
manner,  would  place  us  in  a  position  to  immediately  export  the  product  to  the 
countries  bounding  us,  viz:  Argentina  and  Brazil,  where,  notwithstanding  that 
the  product  is  raised,  it  is  not  of  the  same  quality. 

Another  commodity  which  may  be  exported  in  the  future  is  "quinua,"  this 
being  a  cereal  raised  in  the  Andean  heights  and  regarding  which  the  learned 
Californian,  Mr.  Burbank,  said  the  following:  "This  plant  has  been  under  cul- 
tivation and  close  observation  in  my  farms  for  ten  years  or  more,  and  has  been 
greatly  improved  by  a  selection;  a  more  delicious  breakfast  food  was  never  of- 
fered to  America."  I  had  the  pleasure  of  personally  meeting  this  gentleman, 
who  upon  confirming  his  opinion,  stated  that  this  grain  is  subject  to  be  attacked 
by  aphides  when  raised  in  the  lower  altitudes,  but  this  would  not  be  the  case 
in  the  high  regions  of  the  Bolivian  Andes,  where  besides  a  better  and  more  con- 
sistent product  is  obtainable. 

I  also  wish  to  take  up  the  matter  of  maritime  shipping  from  the  American 
Pacific  Coast  to  South  American  ports.  Exporters,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
and  newspapers  in  general  are  constantly  complaining  about  the  lack  of  ^  tonnage 
and  poor  passenger  service  when  compared  with  Eastern  facilities  available  to 
Eastern  markets,  and  which  places  this  Western  Coast  in  a  most  .disad- 
vantageous  position  when  competition  has  to  be  met,  consequently  limiting 
their  possibilities  for  development  of  trade  throughout  Ecuador,  Bolivia  and 
Chile.  In  support  of  my  statement,  I  would  point  out  that  the  only  direct  line 
of  steamers  plying  between;  ports  in  the  said  territories,  is  a  Japanese  line,  and 
therefore  the  American  traveller  is  compelled  to  use  the  steamer  of  a  com- 
petitive country  when  it  becomes  necessary  for  him  to  take  direct  passages. 

There  is  a  strong  desire  to  better  such  an  unsatisfactory  state  of  affairs 
on  this  Coast,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  prospects  are  encouraging  for  the  near 
future.  At  a  meeting  held  on  the  22nd  of  this  month  in  the  Foreign  Trade 
Club,  to  which  the  Consuls  of  Argentina,  Mexico,  Chile  and  Bolivia  were  kindly 
invited,  it  was  announced  that  the  Rolph  Navigation  Company  had  decided  to 
start  immediately  the  operation  of  a  direct  steamship  line  which  would  not  only 
go  as  far  as  Chile,  but  even  as  far  as  to  the  Argentine  Republic,  making  the  voy- 
age around  the  Cape. 

Summing  up,  the  increase  of  intercourse  with  the  U.  S.  A.  will  depend 
upon  the  interest  taken  in  the  development  of  the  vast  natural  resources  of  Bo- 
livia, which  can  only  be  done  by  the  investment  of  the  capital  necessary  to  ex- 
ploit our  unlimited  natural  wealth,  and  I  must  state  once  more  that  in  order  to 
secure  a  satisfactory  increase  of  our  commerce,  it  is  imperative  that  due  finan- 
cing should  be  taken  into 'consideration  in  this  country. 


116  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

BRAZIL 

WHAT  BRAZIL  BUYS  AND  SELLS 

BY  SENHOR  TH.  LANGGAARD  DE  MENEZES,  ATTACHE  OF  THE  BRAZILIAN  EMBASSY, 
COMMERCIAL  AGENT  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF  AGRI- 
CULTURE, INDUSTRY  AND  COMMERCE  OF  BRAZIL. 

(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

Before  coming  to  this  Conference  I  refreshed  my  memory  of  Brazilian 
commercial  statistics  by  reference  to  a  publication  issued  by  the  Ministry  of  Ag- 
riculture, Industry  and  Commerce,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  in  the 
United  States  as  Commercial  Agent.  The  title  of  this  publication  is  "What  Bra- 
zil Buys  and  Sells;"  and  I  mention  it  here  because,  in  my  opinion,  it  expresses 
the  fundamental  idea  on  which  we  Brazilians  seek  to  base  our  international 
trade  relations. 

We  realize  in  Brazil  that  foreign  commerce  is  a  matter  of  international 
cooperation,  of  give  and  take.  We  are  anxious  to  sell  our  goods  to  other  coun- 
tries, but  we  are  equally  desirous  to  buy  those  things  which  others  can  produce 
at  less  cost  than  we.  Therefore,  our  Ministry  of  Commerce  has  taken  great  pains 
to  collect  and  publish  information  that  will  assist  the  business  men  of  other  coun- 
tries, whether  they  buy  or  sell. 

We  Brazilians  believe  that  we  are  on  the  threshold  of  great  commercial  ex- 
pansion. Our  business  men  are  wide  awake  to  the  new  opportunities  created  by 
the  war  and  the  peace  settlement  now  being  arranged.  Whereas,  before  the  war, 
we  looked  for  capital  and  for  trade  chiefly,  across  the  Atlantic,  now  our  chief 
opportunities  lie  nearer  home,  in  the  New  World. 

Territorially  Brazil  is  going  through  a  stage  of  progress  familiar  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  Behind  the  well  settled  area  and  the  great  cities 
along  our  coast  lie  millions  of  acres  of  undeveloped  forest  and  plain.  Our  young 
men,  like  yours  of  two  or  three  generations  ago,  as  Horace  Greeley  told  your 
young  men  60  years  ago,  are  beginning  to  go  west.  To  utilize  the  extraordinary 
resources  of  our  interior  we  need  capital.  Europe  will  be  in  no  position  to  help 
for  many  years  to  come.  We  must  look  for  the  cooperation  of  the  United  States. 
But  we  know  that  the  investment  of  American  capital  must  go  hand  in  hand  with 
the  development  of  our  North  American  commerce. 

Brazil  has  one  product  in  particular  which  the  United  States  desires  and 
must  have — coffee.  If  I  were  asked  to  enumerate  Brazil's  contributions  to  the 
Victory  of  the  Allies  I  should  place  coffee  neai  the  head  of  the  list.  I  wonder 
if  you  realize  the  important  part  our  national  bt,,erage  played  in  the  war.  The 
men  who  wore  the  khaki  of  Uncle  Sam  consumed  nearly  a  hundred  million 
pounds  of  it. 

I  have  seen  it  stated  that  one  day's  coffee  ration  for  a  single  division  of  the 
American  Army  of  Occupation  in  Germany  amounts  to  2,500  pounds.  Those 
boys  get  four  or  five  cups  of  it  a  day. 

Of  course,  even  a  Brazilian  would  not  attribute  their  valor  wholly  to  these 
coffee  rations,  but  the  fact  speaks  for  itself — the  American  Army  drank  more 
coffee,  more  real  coffee,  than  all  the  other  Allied  Armies  combined — and  how 
they  could  fight! 

In  coffee  growing  Brazil  leads  the  world  and  it  seems  to  me  that  we  dis- 
play sound  business  judgment  in  making  this  product  the  basis  of  our  first  or- 
ganized effort  since  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  to  stimulate  foreign  trade. 

Since  I  came  a  month  ago  from  S.  Paulo,  the  State  which  grows  and  ex- 
ports two-thirds  of  the  world's  coffee  crop,  perhaps  I  can  make  no  better  use  of 
part  of  my  time  than  to  tell  you  something  of  what  the  coffee  planters  of  Sao 
Paulo  have  done,  and  are  doing,  to  increase  the  interest  of  their  best  customer, 
the  United  States. 

In  this  country,  I  have  heard  advertising  referred  to  as  "the  soul  of 
business."  Well,  the  coffee  growers  of  Sao  Paulo  are  trying  to  put  more  of  this 
kind  of  "soul"  into  their  business.  They  have  provided  for  a  fund  of  one  mil- 
lion dollars  to  be  spent  during  the  next  four  years  in  advertising  in  the  United 
States — not  any  particular  kind  or  brand  of  coffee — just  coffee.  The  money  comes 
from  a  tax  on  all  coffee  grown  in  Sao  Paulo;  and  it  will  give  you  some  concep- 


BRAZIL  117 

tion  of  the  immensity  of  our  coffee  crop  when  I  tell  you  that  this  million-dollar 
fund  represents  only  about  one  sixty-sixth  of  a  cent  in  each  pound  exported 
from  that  State. 

I  have  called  the  attention  of  this  Commercial  Conference  to  the  Brazilian 
coffee  campaign  because  it  singularly  demonstrates  the  increasing  good  will  be- 
tween the  business  men  of  the  two  countries. 

The  administration  of  this  million-dollar  advertising  fund  has  been  en- 
trusted to  a  committee  of  coffee  roasters  and  distributors  residing  in  and  citizens 
of  the  United  States.  I  know  of  no  more  conspicuous  and  satifactory  example 
of  international  teamwork. 

But  I  would  not  have  you  think  that  Brazil  is  by  any  means  a  one-prod- 
uct country.  Her  vast  arable  territory  with  its  diversity  of  altitude,  climate 
and  soil  furnishes  unbounded  possibilities  for  a  variety  of  crops  and  industries. 
We  have  taken  advantages  of  the  many  economic  opportunities  presented  by 
the  war,  to  develop  not  only  our  plantations  but  our  mines  and  our  factories. 
The  exportation  of  minerals  has  increased  since  1913  more  than  six  fold.  In 
March  of  last  year  the  Government  encouraged  the  manufacture  of  steel  and  iron 
and  stimulated  mining  by  some  noteworthy  special  favor  decrees.  For  example, 
we  grant  loans  up  to  the  sum  of  the  capital  of  installation  on  iron  and  steel  fac- 
tories, showing  a  minimum  daily  output  of  twenty  tons.  We  will  arrange  with 
railways  and  steamship  lines  for  minimum  freight  rates  on  pig  iron  and  steel 
produced  in  national  factories,  as  well  as  for  apparatus,  machinery  and  material 
for  the  upkeep  of  such  factories.  We  stand  ready  to  construct  small  branch 
railways  necessary  for  the  transportation  of  their  raw  material  and  products. 

Speaking  of  products  essential  to  both  war  and  peace,  I  must  not  forget 
our  great  staple,  rubber.  During  the  fiscal  year  ending  June,  1918,  the  exportation 
of  Brazilian  rubber  to  the  United  States  amounted  to  41,277,914  pounds. 

In  November,  1914,  we  began  the  exportation  of  chilled  and  frozen  meats. 
This  industry  has  been  developed  with  amazing  success.  The  total  value  of  these 
exports  rose  from  $301  in  1914,  to  more  than  $15,000,000  in  1917,  the  last  year 
for  which  figures  are  available,  while  the  total  export  value  of  all  animal  products 
in  that  year,  rose  to  $56,320,000,  as  compared  with  $18,835,000  in  1913. 

Had  I  time  I  might  speak  of  our  tobacco  industry,  of  sugar,  beans,  rice, 
manganese,  cotton  and  woods.  The  mere  cataloguing  of  these  products  should 
serve  to  demonstrate  the  variety  of  our  resources  and  the  opportunities  awaiting 
investors.  The  unprecedented  growth  of  our  trade  with  the  United  States  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  exports  from  Brazil  to  that  country  have  increased  since 
1913  more  than  thirty-three  per  cent.,  while  imports  from  the  United  States  have 
increased  one  hundred  per  cent.  In  short,  the  United  States  is  the  chief  gainer  in 
the  readjustment  of  trade  caused  by  the  severance  of  relations  with  Germany, 
from  which  country  we  purchased  in  1913  goods  valued  at  more  than  $58,000,000. 

In  closing,  I  wish  to  say  that,  next  to  capital  for  the  development  of  our 
immense  potential  wealth,  Brazil  needs  improved  means  of  transportation  for  her 
foreign  trade.  So  far  as  Sao  Paulo  is  concerned  we  are  well  equipped  with  rail- 
roads. Facilities  for  getting  our  products  to  the  coast  are  excellent.  If  nec- 
essary, the  railroads  into  Santos,  the  world's  greatest  coffee  port,  could  run  a 
coffee  train  every  ten  minutes  day  and  night  for  weeks  at  a  time. 

What  Brazil  wants  is  ships.  Increase  in  business  with  the  other  American 
Republics  is  largely  a  problem  of  transportation. 

We  are  the  only  country  in  the  world  with  a  waterway  by  which  vessels 
of  ocean  draft — 22  or  23  feet — can  steam  2,200  miles  into  the  interior.  We  have 
5,000  miles  of  rivers  awaiting  vessels  of  such  draft.  The  Amazon  valley  offers 
20,000  miles  of.  rivers  navigable  for  trade.  , 

The  period  of  German  exploitation  in  Brazil  is  over,  never  to  return.  We 
are  looking  to  the  United  States  for  men  and  money,  and  we  stand  ready  to  give 
value  for  value  received. 


PROSPECTS  OF  THE  VEGETABLE  OIL  INDUSTRY 

BY  SENHOR  JOSE  CUSTODIO  ALVES  DE  LIMA,  BRAZILIAN  CONSUL  GENERAL  AT  LARGE 
AND  INSPECTOR  OF  THE  CONSULATES  OF  BRAZIL  IN  NORTH  AMERICA  AND  ASIA. 

A  bond  of  union  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  the  United 
States  of  Brazil,  which  has  been  my  earnest  wish  for  almost  four  years,  prompts 


118  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

me  to  bring  before  the  American  people  a  product  just  as  important  in  the  future 
as  coffee,  meat  and  rubber. 

It  is  an  article  still  dormant,  completely  neglected,  so  much  so  that  my 
own  countrymen  have  not  yet  realized  its  wonderful  possibilities. 

I  refer  to  the  vegetable  oils  from  palm  trees,  growing  without  any  special 
care  along  our  extensive  coast,  about  2,600  miles  long,  and  even  inland,  from  4 
degrees  above  the  equator  to  23  degrees  below.  Of  course,  palm  trees  grow  in 
all  tropical  zones,  but  none  of  them  are  so  accessible  to  the  chief  markets  of 
Europe  and  the  United  States  as  those  of  Brazil.  And  that  can  be  verified  by 
simply  looking  at  the  map  of  the  world. 

Brazil  possesses,  so  far,  not  more  than  2,500,000  cocoanut  trees  on  a  stretch 
of  coast  line  nearly  1,000  miles  long,  that  is,  between  the  States  of  Bahia  and 
Parahyba,  where  she  could  and  should  eventually  grow  200,000,000  trees,  not 
taking  into  account  what  can  be  raised  from  the  coast  line  running  from  the  State 
of  Parahyba  to  the  States  of  Para  and  Amazon.  We  must  also  consider  that 
from  the  State  of  Bahia  as  far  as  Santos,  the  great  coffee  seaport,  cocoanut  trees 
grow  just  as  well  as  in  the  northern  part  of  Brazil,  but  in  the  South  they  do 
not  produce  nearly  as  many  nuts  as  in  the  North. 

It  is  logically  certain  that  from  now  on  farseeing  American  business  men 
will  endeavor  to  turn  the  adverse  balance  of  vegetable  oil  supply  sources  in 
their  favor  by  devoting  their  energy  and  ample  surplus  finances  to  this  planting 
development  in  Brazil.  They  no  longer  will  allow  this  great  potential  region  to  lie 
fallow  or  permit  it  to  be  taken  in  hand  by  overseas  interests. 

As  a  striking  example  of  unprecedented  prosperity  following  a  systematic 
development,  .1  can  cite  coffee  in  my  own  State  of  Sao  Paulo,  which  though  a 
beverage  and  not  a  food  staple,  yields  at  present  a  yearly  revenue  of  more  than 
$200,000,000.  American  business  men  will  now  become  aware  of  the  fact  that 
Brazil  has  been  awaiting  them  for  the  opportunity  to  develop  vegetable  oil  plant- 
ing, with  a  potential  yearly  revenue  of  some  $500,000,000,  which  is  attended  with 
far  less  hazard  and  less  market  fluctuations  than  coffee. 

I  am  indebted  to  Frederic  A.  G.  Pape,  a  distinguished  gentleman  who  has 
travelled  all  through  this  Brazilian  region  and  who  holds  the  unique  record  of 
having  studied  and  worked  among  Cocoanuts  and  Oil  Palms  in  the  Old  World 
tropics  for  30  years,  for  the  important  data  about  such  an  important  food  staple. 
American  imports  of  cocoanut  products  rose  within  twelve  months  115  per  cent, 
to  the  enormous  figure  of  487,000,000  pounds,  and  exceeds  the  billion  mark  today. 

The  cocoanut  in  the  last  few  years  has  sprung  into  several  important  new 
fields  of  usefulness.  It  is  used  now  exclusively  in  candy  making.  From  it  ex- 
cellent nut  butter  is  now  made  universally.  In  Europe  this  product  has  largely 
supplanted  cow  butter  for  good.  Americans  use  only  as  yet  1%  pounds  per  head, 
England  18  pounds  per  head  and  Scandinavia  40  pounds  per  head.  The  fibre  is 
used  for  brushes,  twine,  mats,  mattresses  and  the  dust  increasingly  for  insulating 
material  in  refrigerators,  pipes,  etc. 

It  costs  $1.00  to  raise  a  cocoanut  tree  to  maturity  (seven  years),  including 
all  charges  for  land,  labor,  upkeep,  management,  etc.  One  acre  holds  fifty-five 
trees.  The  trees  bear  full  crops  for  seventy-five  to  ninety  years.  Native  trees 
yield  about  fifty  nuts  per  annum,  the  best  plantations  250  nuts  per  tree,  a  fact 
which  I  have  observed  many  times  near  the  city  of  Bahia  and  further  north  at 
Mageio,  Recife  Parahyba,  etc.,  on  my  travels  to  this  country  from  Brazil. 

There  is  a  safe  profit  of  from  30  to  50  per  cent,  in  the  cocoanut  and  oil 
palm  plantation  industry,  all  according  to  perfection  of  system  and  scientific  man- 
agement, taking  full  advantage  of  all  chances.     One  acre  of  cocoanut  trees   will 
yield : 
By  Native  Method  :  Value  : 

Cocoanut  oil.  %  ton '. . $50.00 

Fibres,  1-6  ton 15,00 

Husk  dust,  1-5  ton . 12.00 

Cattle  cake,  2-5  ton 20.00 

$97.00 

By  Scientific  Method:  Value: 

Cocoanut  oil,  1  ton  appr $200.00 

Fibres,  1  ton  appr .- 60.00 

Husk  dust,  1  ton  appr 

Cattle  cake.  1  ton  appr 40.00 


BRAZIL  119 

To  these  figures  we  must  invariably  add  about  25  per  cent,  to  35  per  cent., 
representing  the  value  of  catch  crops  or  stock  raised  in  conjunction  with  the  plan- 
tation proper.  Peanuts  being  prime  favorite,  take  only  60  days  to  mature. 

Cocoanut  land  in  Brazil  compares  well,  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Frederic 
Pape,  with  those  of  India  and  Ceylon.  It  is  among  the  very  best,  yet  at  present 
the  cheapest  of  all.  In  the  whole  world  the  price  of  cocoanut  land  is  about  $100 
to  $350  an  acre,  while  in  Brazil  it  may  be  had  freehold  from  about  $15  upward. 
For  all  these  reasons  the  time  has  come  to  embark  in  this  industry  before  increas- 
ing shortage  and  inquiry  sends  the  land  prices  sky  high. 

I  take  pleasure  in  announcing  to  all  interested  in  the  vegetable  oil  indus- 
tries that  the  Congress  of  Brazil  already  has  authorized  our  Government  to  ex- 
empt from  customs  duties  and  clearing  charges  all  machinery  intended  for  the 
manufacture,  distillage  and  refining  of  vegetable  oils. 

Americans  contemplating  this  new  field  of  enterprise  should  take  advant- 
age of  the  new  law  because,  as  a  general  rule,  the  most  suitable  site  for  the  de- 
velopment of  any  industry  is  where  the  raw  material  is  raised  and  handled  in  the 
cheapest  possible  way.  It  will  be  then  a  part  of  my  duty,  while  in  this  country, 
to  assist  anybody  wishing  to  employ  his  capital  and  energy  toward  such  a  prom- 
ising industry.  It  remains  now  for  the  northern  states  of  Brazil,  largely  inter- 
ested in  this  new  industry,  to  do  away  with  any  customs  duties  which  may  exist 
for  the  promotion  of  its  steady  development  and  expansion. 

Air  transportation  has  made  such  a  wonderful  progress  during  the  war  that 
the  time  has  come  for  the  nations  to  face  the  problem  in  an  entirely  different 
light.  No  more  barriers  now ;  the  ocean  has  been  bridged ;  and  in  a  year  or  two 
Brazil  will  probably  be  only  24  hours  from  the  United  States.  Trade  relations 
will  undoubtedly  increase  an  hundredfold.  The  reciprocity  treaties  among  nations 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere  will  become  inmperative  instead  of  advisable,  opening 
a  vista  of  unprecedented  commercial  and  social  intercourse.  And  the  example  set 
by  the  two  gerat  republics  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  under  such  a  regime,  will 
bring  into  line  those  nations  which  are  still  fighting  for  territorial  aggrandizement 
because  one  is  in  constant  fear  of  the  other. 


CHANGES  IN  TRADE  LAWS  AFFECTING  THE  UNITED  STATES 

BY  SENHOR  JOSE  CUSTODIO  ALVES  DE  LIMA,  BRAZILIAN  CONSUL  GENERAL  AT  LARGE, 
AND  INSPECTOR  OF  THE  CONSULATES  OF  BRAZIL  IN  NORTH  AMERICA  AND  ASIA. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  American  public  I  herewith  submit  some  of  the  al- 
terations that  have  been  made  by  the  Brazilian  Congress  since  January  6,  1919. 

As  the  United  States,  outside  of  Belgium  and  Holland,  is  the  only  country 
which  receives  our  most  important  products  free  of  duty,  the  present  resolutions 
will  be  appreciated  here  more  than  in  any  other  country  of  both  hemispheres. 

1.  Exempt    from    customs    duties,    including   clearing   charges :      Dru^s    of 
foreign    origin,    duly   certified   and    approved   by    the    Director    General   of    Public 
Health,   k^own   under  the  names  of  arseno-benzol,   salvarsan,   neo-salvarsan  and 
new-arseno-benzol. 

2.  Eight  per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  machinery  intended  for  the  first  instal- 
lations of  sugar  factories  and  machinery  and  apparatus  for  the  use  of  the  by- 
products. 

3.  A  reduction  of  the  tax  on  import  duties,  even  to  the  extent  of  allowing 
entry  free   of   dutv.   during  definite  periods,   on   articles   of  foreign   origin   which 
might   compete    with    similar   domestic   products   when   the    former    are   raised   or 
traded  bv  "trusts." 

4.  E^em^t    ^roi-n   customs   diifies   according   to   the   ruling  promulgated   bv 
the  decree  No.  85^3  of  March  8,  I9ll  :  Fresh  fruits  from  Argentine  Republic  nnd 
from  other  roiin^r'es  of  the  Americas  which  will  offer  tariff  advp"taeres  and  im- 
ports to  its  territories  of  Brazilian  products,  and  whose  entry  the  Government  will 
permi^   in^^endent   of  any  other   taxes. 

5.  Exempt   from   customs  duties:   All  machinery  and  accessories  indispen- 
sable for  the  installation  of  industrial  refrigerating  plants,   for  slaughter  houses, 
warehouses  for  the  storing  of  meats  and  for  factories  in  the  preparation  of  cattle 
products.     The  plans  of  such  installations  must  be  submitted  for  the  approval  of 


ECUADOR 

FOREIGN*  COMMERCE  1917 

4  26,486,000. 


TJMITED  STA.TJES 
5,932,000. 


UK1TED  STATES 
,  OOO. 


BRAZIL  121 

the  Minister  of  the  Treasury,  so  as  to  avoid  the  importation  of  material  intended 
for  other  purposes. 

6.  The  authority  vested  with  the  Brazilian  Government  to  adopt  a  pref- 
erential tariff  is  still  in  force  for  one  or  two  more  classes  of  foreign  products, 
with  the  power  to  reduce  same  to  the  extent  of  20  per  cent,  a  limit  which,  in  case 
of  wheat  flour,  may  be  reduced  as  low  as  30  per  cent  in  case  such  concessions  are 
met  by  concessions  made  to  Brazilian  products,  especially  in  tobacco  and  rubber. 

7.  The    Brazilian    Government    is    still    authorized    to    cooperate    with    the 
Brazilian  States  in  solving  the  problems  of  the  home  industry,  having  the  power, 
among  others,  to  modify  the  export  tax  on  rubber  collected  by  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. 

8.  Exempt  from  all  duty:  The  necessary  raw  material  for  the  building  of 
ships,  aeroplanes  and  automobiles. 

9.  Free  entry  into  the  territory  of  Brazil,  independent  of  any  fiscal  meas- 
ures, cattle  of  any  species  intended  for  breeding  and  fattening  purposes,   there 
remaining  in  force  solely  the  duty  on  cattle  for  slaughtering  purposes. 

10.  Coal  and  petroleum,   when  imported   as   fuel,    shall   pay   a  2  per   cent 
tax,  according  to  the  circular  of  the  Minister  of  the  Treasury,  No.  73,  October 
11,  1916. 

11.  Exempted   from  import  duties  and  clearing  charges:   Machinery  and 
accessories    intended    for    exploration,    exploitation,    moulding,    pulverization    and 
preparation  of  mineral  coal;  as  well  as  machinery,  accessories  and  materials  in- 
tended for  the  preparation  and  use  of  the  by-products  and  transformation  of  coal 
mine  products  by  river,  land  and  sea. 

12.  Exempt    from    duty,   including  clearing   charges :    Raw   petroleum   in- 
tended for  agricultural  machines. 

13.  The  Government  is  authorized  to  grant  exemption  of  duties  and  clear- 
ing charges  for  ten  years  to  shipyards  built  under  the  terms  of  the  present  law. 

14.  Exempt    from    any   import    duty    and    clearing    charges:    Barbed    and 
smooth  wire  intended  for  fences  and  inclosures  in  the  agricultural  districts  and 
railroad  properties. 

15.  The   Brazilian  Government   is   empowered   to  make   agreements,   pacts 
or  treaties  with  friendly  nations  with  the  view  of  better  regulating  and  protecting 
the  rights  and  interests  of  industry,  commerce  and  finance,  stipulating  and  agree- 
ing to  reciprocal  obligations  and  advantages,  all  dependent  on  the  approval  of 
the  national  Congress,  inasmuch  as  that  comes  within  its  jurisdiction. 

It  is  a  great  satisfaction  that  these  important  measures  should  have  been 
adopted  in  my  own  country,  Brazil,  in  the  last  two  years  for  the  expansion  of 
the  trade  abroad  and  particularly  with  the  United  States  of  America. 


BRAZIL'S  TRADE  WITH  THE  UNITED  STATES  DURING  THE  WAR 

BY  SENHOR  SEBASTIAO  SAMPAIO,  CONSUL  OF  BRAZIL  IN  ST.  Louis. 
(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  have  been  just  seven  months  in  the  United  States. 
I  do  not  speak  English,  not  yet.  But  I  must  obey,  I  must  speak  today  here  and 
I  have  confidence  in  your  good  will. 

I  will  use  my  five  minutes  to  show  you  with  numbers  from  American  Offi- 
cial Statistics  that  the  trade  between  the  United  States  and  Brazil  during  the 
last  five  years  was  and  is  the  most  progressive  trade  not  only  of  America  but  of 
all  the  world. 

Business,  exports  and  imports  included,  between  the  United  States  and 
Latin  America  increased  60  per  cent.  But  business  between  Brazil  and  the 
United  States  alone  increased,  not  60  per  cent.,  but  160  per  cent. 

I  do  not  know  of  another  example  of  such  an  increase  in  trade.  Brazilian 
exports  to  the  United  States  increased  more  than  50  per  cent,  and  Brazilian  im- 
ports more  than  100  per  cent. 

This  increase  is  more  interesting  for  our  consideration  because  Brazilian 
coffee  (70  per  cent,  of  Brazilian  exports  before  the  war)  decreased  to  40  per 
tent,  during  the  war.  We  did  not  help  the  allies  only  with  our  navy  in  the  North 
Sea,  or  with  our  military  surgeons  and  aviators  in  France,  or  with  our  one-half 


122  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

a  million  tons  of  merchant  marine  given  to  the  allies,  or  with  our  friendship. 
We  also  improvised  tremendous  new  industries  in  Brazil,  like  beef  to  help  the 
allies  with  food,  like  manganese — all  the  manganese  which  you  asked  for  the 
needs  of  your  steel  manufacturing  during  the  war. 

Now,  I  remember  that  our  biggest  increase  in  the  trade  with  the  United 
States  was  the  imports  from  your  country.  Our  figures  increased  each  year.  In 
1916  Brazil  alone  imported  more  from  the  United  States  than  all  the  River 
Plate  Republics.  Argentina,  Uruguay,  Paraguay  and  Venezuela,  imported  to- 
gether from  the  United  States  $92,500,000.  Brazil  alone  imported  from  the  United 
States  $101,000,000.  In  1918,  the  year  of  the  biggest  restrictions  of  tonnage  during 
the  war,  almost  no  ships  from  the  United  States  to  Brazil.  Of  course,  your  ex- 
ports to  my  country  decreased  50  per  cent.  But  in  1919,  with  more  ships  every 
day,  you  got  again  the  same  situation  of  1917. 

I  finish  with  the  last  official  numbers  of  Washington  statistics,  about  April, 
1919,  one  month  ago.  In  April,  1918,  Brazil  imported  from  the  United  States 
$5,000,000. 

Last  April,  one  month  ago,  Brazil  imported  $13,000,000  of  your  prod- 
ucts. All  of  South  America  imported  $29,000,000,  of  which  Brazil  imported  $13,- 
000,000,  almost  one  half  of  that  amount. 


TRADING  IN  BRAZIL 

BY  LEON  N.  BENSABAT,  MANUFACTURERS  AGENT  AND  IMPORTER,  Rio  DE  JANEIRO 
(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  say  a  few  words  to 
you  in  regard  to  Brazil,  that  wonderful  country,  that  stretches  majestically  and 
almost  interminably  in  the  South  American  Continent.  I  have  been  established 
in  the  beautiful  Capital  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  for  over  twelve  consecutive  years  as 
manufacturers'  agent  and  importer  and  I  am  now  on  one  of  my  periodical  visits 
to  my  folks  and  business  friends  here.  You  have  already  heard  the  unusually 
interesting  address  of  Mr.  Sebastiao  Sampaio,  the  bright  and  active  Brazilian 
Consul  in  St.  Louis  and  that  of  Mr.  Theodore  Langard  de  Menezes,  the  sound 
expert  and  live  commercial  wire  attached  to  the  Brazilian  Embassy.  Both  gen- 
tlemen impressed  me  as  being  too  sober  in  their  statements  and  altogether  too 
modest  and  moderate  in  dealing  with  the  unlimited  resources  and  unequalled 
opportunities  of  their  vast  Country. 

The  war  wrought  some  radical  changes  in  most  countries  but  Brazil  is 
undeniably  the  one  country  that  has  derived  the  greatest  and  fullest  benefit  from 
the  World's  War.  What  the  Brazilians  have  accomplished  during  the  darkest  four 
years  in  human  history  is  simply  amazing.  Coffee  and  rubber,  rubber  and  coffee 
were,  prior  to  the  war,  the,  so-to-speak,  main  products  of  Brazil;  they  constituted 
its  almost  exclusive  resources  and  stood  as  the  back-bone  of  its  whole  economical 
life.  The  constant  efforts  and  energies  of  the  whole  Brazilian  Nation  were  actually 
directed  and  centered  solely  into  those  two  divine  mannas  when  the  war  broke 
out.  The  larger  part  of  the  European  markets  was  suddenly  shut  off,  and 
whatever  shipping  tonnage  there  was  to  carry  these  two  commodities  into  such 
markets  as  were  still  open  and  able  to  buy,  shrunk  almost  daily  to  an  alarming 
extent.  Brazil  was  then  face  to  face  with  the  most  terrific  crisis  ever  recorded 
in  its  history;  industrial,  commercial  and  financial  crisis.  Desolated  Europe  could 
not  help  and  the  United  States  had  their  hands  full  helping  the  champions  of 
liberty  and  the  heroic  defenders  of  modern  civilization  ruthlessly  outraged  and 
trampled  upon  by  the  fiercest  enemy  of  mankind.  A  miracle — yes,  a  miracle  only 
could  have  saved  Brazil  and  the  miracle  took  place.  It  emerged  from  the  very 
roots  of  Brazilianism,  from  the  vital  fibre  of  the  young  Brazilian  Nation.  Brazilian 
officials,  having  the  welfare  of  their  country  at  heart,  sounded  the  alarm.  A  wide 
aggressive  campaign  was  soon  mapped  out  and  rapidly  set  on  foot.  New  depart- 
ments were  created,  technical  men  in  farming,  agriculture  and  cattle  breeding  were 
summoned  and  entrusted  with  what  seemed  to  be  a  superhuman  job.  Failure  in 
carrying  out  the  wise  policy  of  the  Government  would  have  spelled  disaster  to  the 
Brazilian  Nation — success  would  have  meant  material  help  to  the  Allies  and 
unbound  prosperity  for  Brazil.  There  was  no  other  alternative  for  the  Brazilians 
but  to  succeed.  In  less  than  one  year  the  "two-product"  country,  the  coffee 
and  rubber  land  "par  excellence"  developed  like  magic  into  a  magnificently 


BRAZIL  123 

rich  country  of  cereals  such  as  rice,  mandioca,  black  beans,  etc.  The  production 
of  sugar  cane,  cotton,  herve-matte,  cocoa,  tobacco,  hides  and  wool  also  received 
a  vigorous  impulse  and  the  results  proved  most  gratifying,  exports  of  all  these 
products  having  increased  manifold  during  the  last  two  years,  as  you  can  readily 
see  by  recent  statistics. 

The  exploitation  of  timber,  another  big  resource  of  Brazil,  was  likewise 
promoted  and  a  beautiful  income  derived  from  the  timber  trade.  Brazil  possesses 
unquestionably  the  wealthiest  forests  of  precious  timber  in  the  world.  Not  any- 
where can  be  found  a  harder  and  finer  wood  for  general  construction  and  ship- 
building, for  highgrade  furniture,  etc.  Gold,  iron,  coal,  manganese,  all  sorts  of 
precious  stones,  are  also  to  be  found  in  Brazil  and  the  exploitation  of  these 
valuable  minerals  is  being  actively  pushed,  good  returns  being  already  apparent. 
Medicinal  plants  in  great  variety  also  constitute  another  source  of  wealth  still 
lying  idle  in  the  exhuberant  Brazilian  forests  bathed  by  the  Amazon  and  the 
Parana  Rivers  and  their  tributaries. 

Yet,  of  all  the  recent  achievements  of  Brazil  as  a  result  of  the  Great  War, 
the  meat  industry  is  one  of  which  they  feel  most  justly  proud.  The  possibilities 
in  this  new  field  have  not  been  overlooked  in  this  country.  Armour  and  Com- 
pany, Swift  and  Company  and  other  Chicago  Packing  Houses  are  already  estab- 
lished in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  S.  Paulo  and  Rio  Grande.  Their  hams  prepared  and 
packed  according  to  American  improved  methods  are  favorably  looked  upon  by 
the  Brazilian  public  and  they  are  gradually  replacing  the  famous  English  York 
hams  which  sell  at  a  higher  price  owing  to  import  duty. 

The  Honorable  William  C.  Redfield,  Secretary  of  Commerce,  expressed  some 
surprise  the  other  day,  when  addressing  this  conference,  at  the  fact  that  the  South 
American  markets  do  not  seem  to  consume  enough  of  some  of  our  goods  which 
are  "cheap  and  palatable."  I  presume  he  referred  to  canned  meats  or  canned 
fruits.  The  duties  for  both  in  Brazil  are  comparatively  high  and  the  reason  will 
be  easily  explained  by  the  fact  that  canned  meats  are  now  manufactured  on  a  fairly 
large  scale  in  Southern  Brazil  and  a  large  variety  of  fruit  preserves  all  over  the 
Country.  We  should  not,  however,  forget  that  we  enjoy  a  preferential  rate  of 
duty  on  many  articles.  American  flour  is  allowed  a  reduction  of  30  per  cent  and 
the  following  goods  enjoy  a  reduction  of  20  per  cent.:  Typewriters,  scales,  ice  boxes, 
cement,  corsets,  dried  fruits,  condensed  milk,  rubber  sundries,  school  furniture, 
windmills,  pianos,  watches,  office  desks,  paints  and  varnishes. 

More  items  could  be  added  from  time  to  time  to  the  above  list  by  making 
mutual  concessions.  The  matter  requires  close  study  and  consideration  on  both 
sides. 

The  rough  sketch  I  have  just  laid  before  you  regarding  such  Brazilian 
resources  now  being  exploited  with  wonderful  success  and  many  other  resources 
still  undeveloped,  the  wonderful  result  attained  during  the  last  two  years  by  our 
sturdy  Brazilian  friends  with  no  other  means  but  their  own,  are  sufficiently  elo- 
quent facts  which  speak  for  themselves.  If  I  may  express  my  opinion,  as  an 
American,  based  on  twelve  years'  experience  of  Brazil  and  the  Brazilians,  I  would 
say  that  I  know  of  no  better  country  than  Brazil  for  the  investment  of  American 
capital. 

That  the  Brazilians  are  true  friends  of  ours  nobody  will  question,  their 
friendly  relations  with  the  United  States  can  be  traced  as  far  back  as  the  Empire. 
Brazil's  Chancellor,  the  late  Barao  do  Rio  Branco  is  credited  with  saying  that 
the  reason  for  the  perfect  understanding  that  existed  at  all  times  between  the 
United  States  and  Brazil  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  are  the  only  two  countries  in 
the  American  Continent  that  speak  a  different  language.  If  this  statement  were 
true,  it  would  be  but  a  humorous  way  of  his  asserting  once  more  Brazil's  tra- 
ditional friendship  towards  the  United"  States. 

The  adoption  of  our  Thanksgiving  Day  and  our  Fourth  of  July  as  legal 
Brazilian  Holidays  and  the  high  significance  attached  to  such  an  act  would  suffice 
to  dispel  any  doubts  in  the  most  obdurate  mind  as  to  the  extent  and  the  sincerity 
of  the  feelings  of  the  Brazilian  Nation  toward  America. 

Under  such  auspices,  dealing  with  Brazilians  ought  to  be  a  pleasure.  It  is 
so  with  me  and  with  hundreds  of  Americans  doing  a  thriving  business  in  Brazil. 
Mutual  esteem  and  confidence  preside  over  our  deals.  We  know  exactly  what 
the  Brazilian  requirements  are  and  have  no  trouble  in  meeting  them.  _  We  give 
ample  credit  to  our  customers  and  extend  to  them  terms  consistent  with  prices. 
The  Brazilian  merchant  of  today,  I  mean  the  good  and  reliable  merchant  worthy 
of  our  attention  does  no  longer  expect  the  old  German  terms  of  six,  nine  and 
twelve  months  and  he  in  turn  has  discontinued  similar  facilities  to  his  out-of-town 


124  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

£) 

customers.  Thus  the  question  of  terms  was  automatically  adjusted.  The 
Brazilian  merchant  is  prepared  to  deal  on  the  basis  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  days 
and  in  fact  has  been  doing  business  on  that  basis  for  a  number  of  years.  This 
statement  of  mine  can  be  easily  vouched  for  by  all  commission  and  export  houses 
in  this  country  and  in  England  and  France  as  well. 

What  may  have  irritated  most  the  Brazilians  and  even  some  of  us  Americans 
established  abroad,  is  the  unwarranted  attitude  of  a  few  American  manufacturers 
— doubtless  war  mushrooms — who  exacted  cash  with  order  and  often  withheld  for 
several  months  the  cash  received  in  advance  alleging  inability  to  fill  order  promptly 
owing  to  war  restrictions.  Such  are,  however,  anomalies,  bitter  fruit  of  the  great 
war,  likely  to  never  occur  again.  The  Brazilians  who  were  the  first  to  side  with 
us  in  the  deadly  struggle  and  who  threw  in  their  lot  with  us  prior  to  a  formal 
declaration  of  war  to  Germany,  are  broadminded  enough  to  understand  the  situa- 
tion and  I  may  assure  you  that  it  will  be  through  no  fault  of  theirs  that  we  will 
lose  the  valuable  trade  that  we  have  brought  home  in  the  last  four  years.  It 
will  be  up  to  the  American  manufacturer  to  deliver  the  goods  exactly  as  they  are 
wanted,  rather  than  indulge  in  idle  advice  as  to  what  he  deems  our  Brazilian 
friends  should  want.  If  he  means  to  cover  the  Brazilian  market  he  should  do  so 
with  the  firm  and  honest  intention  of  sticking  to  it  permanently  and  cease  to  regard 
it  as  a  nice  "fill  in"  for  the  dull  season. 

I  would  strongly  recommend  catalogues,  price  lists  and  correspondence  in 
Portugese,  the  official  language  of  Brazil,  and  not  in  English  or  Spanish  as  is  often 
the  case.  Brazilians  are  justly  entitled  to  such  a  deference  and  their  trade  with  us 
is  already  valuable  enough  to  warrant  the  printing  of  catalogues  in  Portugese. 
I  would  also  suggest  to  some  manufacturers  to  discontinue  that  obsolete  system  of 
discounts  consisting  of  something  like  this:  50-15-10  and  5  per  cent. — 20-30-5-10 
and  3  per  cent.  Get  the  trade  used  to  net  prices  for  time  and  cash  payment.  These 
little  details,  trifling  as  they  may  seem,  deserve  serious  attention  on  the  part  of 
manufacturers.  Nothing  is  any  too  big  or  any  too  small  if  the  business  structure 
that  we  are  about  to  erect  is  to  be  solid  and  of  long  duration. 

Manufacturers  of  specialties  requiring  detail,  publicity  and  propaganda  work 
must  be  prepared  to  make  liberal  allowances  for  such  important  a  factor  in  their 
business.  While  they  spend  freely  in  this  country  in  advertising  their  wares  they 
generally  expect  their  agents  in  foreign  lands  to  perform  wonders  with  insignifi- 
cant amounts.  The  practice  of  working  up  the  'ads'  at  this  end  in  the  language 
of  the  country  for  which  they  are  intended  should  also  be  discontinued.  The  man 
on  the  spot  is  in  a  far  better  position  to  decide  in  such  matters. 

Last,  but  not  least,  manufacturers  must  not  attempt  to  enter  the  Brazilian 
market  without  first  causing  their  trade  marks  to  be  registered.  The  laws  govern- 
ing trade  marks  in  Brazil  are  somewhat  different  from  ours  and  many  a  sad  and 
costly  experience  will  be  avoided  by  complying  with  such  laws.  In  this  connec- 
tion I  will  strongly  recommend  Mr.  Richard  P.  Momsen,  the  only  American  Attor- 
ney in  Brazil,  Ex-American  Consul  in  Rio  and  fully  conversant  with  registration 
laws  in  that  country. 

Before  closing,  I  am  afraid  I  have  gone  much  further  than  anticipated,  let 
me  say  two  words  to  you  in  behalf  of  the  American  Chamber  of  Commerce  for 
Brazil,  of  which  I  am  a  member,  and  delegate  to  this  Conference.  Born  in  the 
middle  of  1916,  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Ambassador  to  Brazil,  the 
Honorable  Edwin  V.  Morgan  and  the  late  American  Consul  in  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
Mr.  A.  L.  Moreau  Gottschalk,  the  American  Chamber  of  Commerce  for  Brazil  has 
proven  quite  an  important  factor  in  the  promotion  of  trade  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  Bazil.  However,  owing  to  its  limited  number  of  members,  its 
resources  have  fallen  way  below  the  requirements  of  the  big  job  it  has  undertaken. 
The  Brazilian  American  Trade  Review,  which  is  the  Official  organ  of  the  Cham- 
ber, will  surely  be  read  with  keen  interest  by  all  those  who  already  have,  or  con- 
template having  trade  connections  with  Brazil.  The  subscription  price  per  year  is 
$5.00.  It  would  be  most  advisable  that  manufacturers  in  this  country  in  some  way 
or  other  connected  with  Brazil  should  become  members  of  the  American  Chamber 
of  Commerce  for  Brazil,  located  at  the  beautiful  Capital  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  The 
benefits  to  be  derived  from  membership  of  that  institution  are  obvious  and  hardly 
need  any  comments  on  my  part. 

It  will  give  me  much  pleasure  to  furnish  further  information  to  interested 
parties  in  regard  to  our  Chamber.  I  am  likewise  at  the  disposal  of  the  members  of 
this  conference  for  whatever  information  they  may  require  in  regard  to  great, 
fascinating  Brazil;  agricultural,  industrial  and  commercial. 


BRAZIL 

THE  LAND  OF  OPPORTUNITY 


125 


BY  J.  DE   SlQUEIRA   COUTINHO,   C.    E.,    ScD.,   OF   PAN   AMERICAN   UNION    STAFF. 

To  properly  discuss  the  opportunities  of  the  Republic  of  Brazil,  with  its 
great  natural  wealth  and  excellent  and  varied  climates,  free  today  from  so-called 
tropical  diseases,  and  containing  vast  areas  of  exceedingly  fertile  lands,  easily 
reached  by  vessels  from  both  the  Old  and  the  New  World,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
write  a  book  of  no  mean  proportions,  instead  of  a  brief  paper,  as  this  must  neces- 
sarily be,  for  presentation  to  the  consideration  of  a  commercial  conference. 

At  the  present  time  the  United  States  enjoys  a  large  part  of  Brazilian  trade, 
inasmuch  as  nearly  40  per  cent  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  that  country  is  carried 
on  with  the  United  States.  Tlhere  are  two  ways  of  augmenting  this  trade:  First, 
by  cooperating  with  Brazilians  in  the  exploitation  of  the  national  resources  of  the 
Republic,  increasing  thereby  the  wealth  of  the  nation  and  enabling  the  ability  of 
her  people  to  consume  merchandise  to  grow  in  direct  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
her  national  exports.  With  an  increase  of  United  States  enterprise  in  Brazil  and 
the  employment  of  North  American  capital  and  methods,  as  well  as  Brazilian  labor 
and  natural  resources,  all  new  trade  arising  therefrom  will  be  diverted  to  the 
United  States,  and  because  of  the  new  and  improved  facilities  which  will  be  offered, 
a  considerable  part  of  the  old  trade  with  other  countries  will  probably  be  directed 
to  the  United  States  without  the  exertion  of  any  special  effort  to  obtain  it.  Second, 
by  competing  with  other  nations  engaged  in  trade  with  Brazil,  and  by  offering 
importers  and  others  better  advantages  and  greater  facilities  in  order  to  secure 
their  patronage.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  it  will  be  necessary,  therefore,  for  United 
States  exporters  to  prepare  themselves  for  special  competition  in  this  new  and 
promising  field. 

In  order  to  obtain  a  clear  and  concise  idea  of  the  possibilities  of  Brazil  and 
the  vast  field  offered  for  United  States  enterprise,  let  us  analyze  the  imports  of 
that  country,  as  compared  with  other  Latin  American  countries,  during  the  years 
1900,  1910,  1913,  1916  and  1917. 

BRAZIL. 

Year.  Imports.  Exports.      Import  per  capita. 

1900 $161,250,000  $212,620,000  $9.50 

1910 180,000,000  235,000,000  9.00 

1913 ,. .  326,500,000  318,000,000  13.00 

1916. . . . , 196,195,000  274,400,000  7.50 

1917 ,. .  216,317,000  305,260,000  9.00 

URUGUAY. 

1900 $23,978,206  $29,442,205  $22.00 

1910 40,814,161  40,935,638  38,00 

1913 k .       50,352,901  44,926.873  40,00 

1916 ,• 35,280,801  73,290,671  24.00 

1917 37,212,231  92,516,274  26.00 

ARGENTINA. 

1900 $101,348.068  $139,460,000  $22.40 

1910 , 335,178,656  358,268,000  55.00 

1913 408,711,966  468,999,410  55.00 

1916 , 210,887,042  527,045,463  26.50 

1917 178,933,037  533,664,948  21.00 

CUBA. 

1900 $70,079,214  $51,342,336  $44.30 

1910 103,466,000  114,039,000  50.00 

1913 , 135,810,000  165,208,000  56.00 

1916 | 201,024.000  336,801,000  78.00 

1917 , 261,377,000  357,040,000  104.00 

In  Cuba,  where  the  greater  part  of  the  foreign  commerce  is  with  the  United 
States,  North  American  investments  and  enterprise  made  possible  the  rise  in  imports 
per  capita  from  $44.30  in  1900  to  $104.00  in  1917.  If  United  States  investments  and 
enterprise  were  carried  to  Brazil  on  a  large  scale,  in  addition  to  handsome  profits 


126  SECOND  PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

to  American  capital,  it  would  not  be  at  all  surprising  to  see  in  a  couple  of  years 
the  imports  of  that  country  per  capita  rise  from  $9.00  to  $30-00,  or  more  than  three 
times  what  they  now  are.  This  means  that  Brazil  could  import  from  the  United 
States  merchandise  aggregating  a  value  of  over  half  a  billion  dollars,  or  as  much  as 
all  the  other  republics  of  Latin  America  combined  and  more  than  double  that  of 
the  other  South  American  countries. 

It  is  my  object  to  call  your  attention  to  this  particular  fact,  and  I  shall  be 
very  glad  to  assist  anyone  in  his  studies,  through  the  Pan  American  Union,  in 
realizing  the  tremendous  opportunities  Brazil  offers  to  the  efforts  and  capital  of 
responsible  people. 

Brazil,  as  is  true  of  many  other  countries  of  South  America,  is  in  urgent 
need  of  better  transportation  facilities,  and  I  call  your  attention  to  the  extraordinary 
river  system  of  that  Republic,  where  over  100,000  miles  of  fluvial  waterways  can 
be  utilized  for  transportation  purposes.  As  soon  as  a  regular  service  of  river  boats 
is  established  on  Brazilian  streams  new  activities  will  spring  up  along  their  banks, 
where  now  but  little  or  no  cultivation  exists  for  the  reason  that  settlers  have  no 
facilities  for  exporting  their  products.  As  a  complement  to  river  navigation  it  is 
most  important  that  a  system  of  railroads  be  constructed. 

The  Brazilian  Government  has  been  most  liberal  in  granting  concessions  for 
railroads,  and  railroads  are  excellent  investments  in  Brazil.  If  Brazil  were  properly 
served  by  rail  and  river  transportation  facilities  it  could  today,  with  its  thirty 
million  inhabitants,  undoubtedly  feed  half  the  world. 

The  problem  of  transportation  is  a  fundamental  and  diffidult  one.  Neverthe- 
less, Brazil  will  have  the  railroads  she  may  need  for  its  development,  together  with 
increased  facilities  for  fluvial  traffic.  The  burning  question  of  the  moment  is  to 
know  who  will  undertake  the  task,  whether  it  will  be  United  States  capitalists  or 
capitalists  of  some  other  country.  If  United  States  interests  are  going  to  take  the 
leading  part  in  this  work,  undoubtedly  the  bulk  of  the  new  trade  arising  therefrom 
will  go  to  the  United  States.  Otherwise  the  share  of  our  country  in  this  prospective 
commerce  will  be  more  limited. 

A  detailed  investigation  of  several  Brazilian  problems,  which  I  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  study  as  a  professional  man  prior  to  the  great  war,  gave  me  a  much  more 
vivid  insi,ght  into  the  potentialities  and  possibilities  of  Brazil  than  that  which  the 
figures  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  conveyed  to  my  mind.  I  am  sorry  that  lack  of 
space  prevents  me  from  stating  in  detail  a  mass  of  available  information  which 
would  better  illustrate  this  subject. 

Referring  especially  to  the  trade  possibilities  of  the  Republic  of  Brazil  there 
are  several  points  which  North  American  business  interests  should  always  keep  in 
mind.  The  principal  ones  of  these  may  be  mentioned  as  follows : 

1.  That  Brazil  is  doing  its  best  to  increase  its  commerce  with  the  United 
States,  and  that  a  great  number  of  articles  of  North  American  manufacture  enjoy 
special  reduction  concessions  in  the  import  tariff  and  that  these  advantages  have 
been  exclusively  conferred  upon  American  products,  thereby  giving  them  a_  special 
point  of  advantage  in  comparison  with  similar  merchandise  offered  by  their  com- 
petitors. 

2.  American  manufactured  products  are  generally  of  good  quality,  and  when 
they  are  in  accord  with  instructions  given  by  customers  they  are  well  accepted  in 
Brazil. 

3.  United  States  exporters  should  not  fail  to  bear  in  mind  that  in  order  to 
handle  an  extensive  trade  with  Brazil  they  must  use  as  a  medium  of  communica- 
tion the  Portuguese  language  and  give  weights  and  measures  in  the  metric  system. 
Furthermore,  they  should  be  careful  in  preparing  consular  documents  covering  ex- 
ports to   Brazil   and   should   dispense  with  the  unpop/ular  custom   of   forwarding 
shipping  documents  attached  to  draft,  sending  same  instead  direct  to  the  consignee. 

4.  United  States  exporters  should  endeavor  to  get  better  acquainted  with 
their  Brazilian  customers,  as  well  as  their  customs,  commercial  traditions,  ways  and 
busines's  ethics  resulting  from  the  ethnic  evolution  of  the  people  who  have  been 
living  in  that  country  for  centuries,  and  who  are  not  disposed  to  change  their  ways 
to  conform  to  the  interests  of  any  other  nation.    The  exporter  should  always  try  to 
meet  the  point  of  view  of  the  customer  and  follow  instructions  concerning  the 
minutest  details  of  export  orders. 

5.  United    States    exporters    and    manufacturers    should    occasionally    visit 
Brazil  personally  and  should  always  send  to  that  country  gentlemanly  and  proper 
equipped  salesmen.    A  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  producing  and  consuming 


127 

markets  will  be  of  the  greatest  assistance  in  building  up  permanent  and  growing 
trade  relations  between  the  two  countries. 

After  a  firm  is  equipped  with  a  competent  personnel  for  trading  with  Brazil, 
in  addition  to  catalogues  and  circulars  in  the  Portuguese  language,  it  should  be 
willing  to  offer  good  terms  and  to  do  its  best  to  capture  Brazilian  business.  Even 
after  all  this  is  accomplished  there  are  still  a  number  of  questions  to  be  considered. 

One  of  these  is  the  quality  of  the  goods  preferred  by  Brazilian  markets. 
Generally  speaking,  Brazilian  customers  prefer  merchandise  of  a  high  grade, 
inasmuch  as  the  Brazilian  Government  collects  high  tariff  duties.  The  difference 
in  price  between  high  and  low  grade  merchandise  which  at  the  factory  amounts 
to,  say  25  per  cent,  would  be  reduced  on  high  grade  goods,  after  coming  into  the 
possession  of  the  retail  dealer,  to  approximately  10  per  cent  or  less  on  what  he 
woluld  have  to  pay  on  low  grade  merchandise,  because  both  qualities  of  goods  are 
subject  to  the  payment  of  the  same  customs  duties,  freight  charges,  etc. 

Another  point  to  which  the  attention  of  United  States  exporters  should  be 
called  is  the  way  in  which  consular  invoices  are  to  be  filled  out  to  prevent  the  im- 
porter in  Brazil  from  being  liable  to  the  payment  of  heavy  fines.  If  the  exporter 
makes  false  declarations  as  to  the  cost  of  the  merchandise,  freight  and  other  ex- 
penses to  Brazil,  the  importer  will  be  fined  in  an  amount  equal  to  that  of  the  invoice 
and  the  value  fixed  on  the  goods  by  the  customs  authorities.  If  the  false  declaration 
refers  to  the  class,  kind  or  weight,  the  importer  is  subject  to  fine.  If  the  consignee 
in  Brazil  fails  to  produce  the  consular  invoice  he  will  be  required  to  pay  double 
diuties. 

Anyone  contemplating  going  as  a  salesman  to  Brazil,  or  in  doing  business 
there,  should  have,  in  addition  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Portuguese  language,  a  sincere 
desire  to  identify  himself  with  the  country  and  to  fraternize  and  associate  with 
those  with  whom  he  has  to  do  business. 

The  customs  and  ways  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  different  from 
those  of  any  other  country,  while  Brazilian  customs  are  entirely  Latin  and  similar 
to  those  of  European  countries.  In  my  travels  in  Brazil  I  found  that  the  European 
salesmen  easily  identified  themselves  with  Brazilians,  and  that  those  from  the 
United  States  did  not  so  readily  adapt  themselves  to  the  new  conditions,  inasmuch 
as  they  seemed  to  conform  with  difficulty  to  the  customs  of  the  country.  As  soon 
as  one  tries  to  identify  himself  with  Latin  ideals  of  life,  he  will  find  that  it  is  a 
delight  to  travel  in  Brazil.  Brazilians  are  exceedingly  courteous  and  they  find  their 
methods  are  more  efficient  at  home  than  the  same  method  of  procedure  would  be 
if  practiced  in  the  United  States.  The  same  thing  happens  to  North  Americans 
when  they  go  to  Brazil,  where,  in  their  judgment,  things  seem  to  move  slowly.  I, 
myself,  found  things  as  easily  managed  in  Brazil  as  in  the  United  States.  In  both 
countries  the  efficiency  is  very  great,  although  the  methods  are  different. 

The  principal  ports  of  Brazil  are  served  by  excellent  steamers  of  the  Lloyd 
Brasileiro  and  Companhia  Costeira.  There  are  weekly  sailings  from  most  of  the 
ports,  and  between  the  several  ports  one  may  find  even  a  daily  service.  In  the 
south  of  Brazil  railroads,  which  are  .generally  good,  may  be  used.  Traveling  on 
Brazilian  ships  is  very  comfortable.  The  service  is  generally  excellent.  The  officers 
are  kind,  the  stewards  attentive,  and  the  meals,  served  Brazilian  style,  are  elab- 
erate  and  good.  The  bar  is  good  and  is  generally  too  liberally  patronized  by  Amer- 
ican and  British  travelers.  Any  intelligent  salesman  can  get  a  great  deal  of  useful 
information  from  the  captain  and  officers  of  Brazilian  vessels  who  are  glad  to 
avoid  frivolous  talk  and  to  discuss  useful  problems. 

In  the  cities  American  travelers  will  always  find  great  assistance  in  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  American  consulates  and  in  the  proper  bureaus  of  Govern- 
ment departments.  In  all  the  large  towns,  such  as  Manaos,  Belem  (Para),  Per- 
nambuco,  Bahia,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Bello  Horizonte,  Santos,  Sao  Paulo,  and  Porto 
Alegre,  the  traveler  will  find  excellent  hotels  at  moderate  rates.  Everywhere  the 
American  plan  is  in  vogue,  and  the  prices  vary  from  $3  to  $5  per  day.  The  con- 
veniences in  these  hotels  are  the  same  as  those  obtaining  in  Europe,  and  the  meals 
are  good  but  somewhat  elaborate. 

Automobiles  give  excellent  service  and  the  charges  are  very  reasonable.  All 
important  towns,  and  many  of  the  smaller  ones,  have  a  good  electric  car  service. 
Telephones  are  available  everywhere  and  no  charge  is  made  for  their  use. 

The  average  expense  for  traveling  in  Brazil,  including  the  best  hotels  and 
first  class  accommodations  on  the  best  boats  and  railroads  should  not  exceed  $10 
a  day  for  a  person  of  moderate  habits. 


128  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

Entertainments  in  Brazil  are  of  a  different  kind  from  those  in  the  United 
States.  Receptions  and  dances  are  not  so  frequent,  nor  are  big  dinner  parties  so 
often  indulged  in.  There  is  much  more  home  life  than  in  the  United  States. 
Theatres,  movies  and  concerts  are  found  everywhere,  and  entrance  charges  are 
very  reasonable.  A  couple  of  hours  spent  in  the  late  afternoon  or  evening  in  coffee 
houses  are  of  frequent  occurrence.  This  observation  also  applies  to  rooms  of 
literary  clubs. 

Life  in  Brazil  is  very  democratic  and  great  respect  is  shown  to  the  intellectual 
classes  who  are  exceptionally  well  informed  on  modern  world  problems.  Anyone 
who  has  had  experience  in  visiting  foreign  countries  will  find,  I  am  sure,  that 
traveling  in  Brazil  is  not  only  comfortable  and  enjoyable,  but  is  also  profitable 
and  educative  not  only  to  the  business  man  but  likewise  to  the  tdurist. 


CHILE  129 

CHILE 

TRADE  AND  INDUSTRIAL  DEVELOPMENT 

BY  SENOR  ERNESTO  MONTENEGRO,  REPRESENTATIVE  OF  "EL  MERCURIC/'  OF 

SANTIAGO  AND  VALPARAISO. 
(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

It  seems  to  me  that  there  are  in  the  movements  for  a  closer  relationship 
between  the  Americas,  two  forces  coming  to  meet  half-way.  This  two  interests 
are  different  in  origin,  but  they  should  be  blended  in  a  common  purpose,  if  we 
want  a  permanent  result.  The  United  States  wants  a  share  of  the  Latin  American 
trade,  which  should  have  proportional  relation  to  its  present  productive  capacity ; 
and  the  Latin  American  countries  wish  to  find  an  helpful  hand  to  develop  their 
resources. 

Both  aspirations  are,  no  doubt,  perfectly  right,  but  they  will  come  to  a 
conflict  unless  the  part  of  selfishness  embodied  in  them  is  taken  away,  to  leave 
only  what  can  further  the  ideal  of  continental  solidarity,  without  making  the  other 
party  feel  as  if  she  has  not  received  her  share  of  the  common  wealth. 

It  is  generally  known  that  the  South  American  countries  rank  among  the 
richest  in  the  world — they  are  in  fact  the  reserve  of  the  future.  Shall  they  keep 
their  fortune  intact  for  other  generations  to  exploit  it  for  their  own  exclusive 
benefit,  or  shall  those  riches  of  nature  be  open  to  the  world  until  they  make  up  for 
the  present  famine?  The  answer  is  obvious,  and  the  Latin  American  countries  are 
now  willing  as  before  to  contribute  with  their  wealth  to  the  restoration  of  a 
general  state  of  prosperity. 

Take  Chile,  for  instance.  My  countrymen  of  two  generations  back,  dis- 
covered and  began  the  exploitation  of  the  world's  best  fertilizer,  the  nitrate,  and 
the  same  race  of  hardy  people  keeps  flowing  out  today  that  same  stream  of  nitrate 
that  goes  to  give  new  life  to  the  European  soil  and  to  the  soil  of  these  States.  We 
are  glad  of  being  in  a  position  to  contribute  to  the  welfare  of  the  world ;  and 
what  do  we  ask  in  exchange? 

We  want  our  natural  resources  developed  to  the  utmost,  so  as  to  benefit 
the  largest  portion  of  the  human  race;  but,  at  the  same  time,  we  are  perfectly 
conscious  of  our  duty  to  our  own  people,  who  cannot  be  denied  the  right  to  benefit 
from  their  own  inheritance.  We  welcome  the  tradesmen  of  foreign  countries,  but 
naturally  we  earnestly  deserve  to  pursue  the  purpose:  that  every  manufacturer 
that  can  be  established  in  our  soil  shall  find  there  its  home,  so  as  to  increase  the 
comfort  and  happiness  of  our  people.  Can  anyone  blame  us  for  that? 

No  intelligent  man,  I  think.  For,  in  ultimate  result,  it  is  a  well  acknowledged 
economic  fact  that  trade  between  nations  must  be  founded  upon  the  prosperity  of 
the  buyer  as  well  as  that  of  the  seller,  and  since  you  cannot  draw  constantly  from 
a  pocket  without  replenishing  it  every  once  in  a  while,  neither  can  you  exploit  a 
country  without  creating  on  the  spot  some  sort  of  normal,  steady  wealth. 

If  you  want  me  to  speak  frankly  to  the  last,  I  think  that  is  the  reason  why 
I  am  not  afraid  of  the  Japanese  succeeding  in  large  business  in  our  country.  Their 
ways  are  too  restricted,  they  live  too  much  for  themselves  wherever  they  go,  and 
their  fortune,  their  family  and  all  will  go  back  some  day  to  their  native  land, 
without  leaving  a  single  general  benefit  there  where  they  made  their  money.  We 
believe  in  other  kind  of  commercial  intercourse,  and  we  have  welcomed  every 
foreigner  who  has  been  willing  to  live  with  us  in  equal  footing,  learning  our  lan- 
guage, respecting  our  laws  and  contributing  to  our  common  duties.  We  believe 
that  this  is  the  only  fair  commercial  intercourse,  and  the  prosperity  and  satisfac- 
tion of  thousands  of  foreign  merchants  throughout  prove  that  they  found  their 
reward  for  their  righteousness. 

Now,  here  comes  the  United  States,  with  boundless  resources  and  sharp- 
looking  armies  of  tradesmen.  They  shall  win  their  trade  conquest,  I  am  confi- 
dent, if  the  rearguard  is  one  of  capital  and  industry  ready  to  promote  riches  in 
our  country  for  their  business  men  to  harvest  their  portion  of  the  general  pros- 
perity. 

As  I  look  into  the  future,  I  see  the  swarm  of  your  merchant  fleet  steaming 
heavily  toward  the  southern  ports,  and  up  on  the  deks,  the  mechanic,  the  engi- 
neer, the  chemist,  the  professor,  and  the  captain  of  industry,  everyone  carried 
toward  South  America  by  a  purpose  as  beneficial  to  his  mother  country  as  to  the 


GUATEMALA 

FOREIGN*  COMMERCE  1917 

TOTAL*  *  16,8(^,000. 


SBA1K 
$  30,000. 


UNITED  STATE 
*T,6OO,000. 


UN1TEI3 
KINGDOM 


CHILE  131 

new  republic  of  the  south.  As  far  as  Chile  goes,  I  can  assure  you  they  will  be 
heartily  welcomed,  and  they  will  find  there  the  metals,  the  woods,  the  leather  and 
the  wool,  the  coal  and  the  waterfalls,  to  build  up  centers  ^of  permanent  prosperity, 
which  in  their  turn  will  increase  the  demand  for  American  products.  Our  city 
services,  our  roads  and  railoads,  our  foundries  and  factories,  are  already  -benefiting 
by  the  help  of  American  implements  and  methods.  Let  the  progressive  men  of 
both  races  exchange  freely;  let  the  ideas,  good  will  and  appreciation  interchange 
among  them ;  let  our  public  men  have  the  opportunity  for  studying  at  close  view 
the  neighbor  countries ;  let  your  press  extend  the  courtesy  of  its  comment  to  every 
important  subject  or  person  dear  to  Latin  American  nations,  and  the  prejudices 
and  misunderstandings  of  the  past  will  find  no  ground  for  the  future  harvest  of 
conflict. 


CHILEAN  FINANCES 

BY  SENOR  DON  AUGUSTO  VILLANUEVA,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  BANCO  NACIONAL  DE  CHILE, 
MEMBER  OF  THE  CHILEAN  SPECIAL  MISSION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

Gentlemen : — A  Committee  of  the  Pan  American  Union  has  honored  me 
by  requesting  that  I  read  a  paper  on  financial  matters  before  the  Second  Pan 
American  Commercial  Conference  that  is  held  here  today,  and  although  I  feel 
that  a  difficult  task  is  imposed  upon  me  as  I  cannot  pretend  to  produce  anything 
that  may  be  new  to  this  distinguished  auidence,  I  beg,  nevertheless,  to  explain 
briefly,  as  a  slight  contribution  to  the  study  of  the  serious  problems  involved  in 
the  monetary  circulation,  what  the  experience  of  Chile  has  been  in  regard  to  our 
purpose  of  diminishing  or  atenuating,  partially  at  least,  the  very  serious  incon- 
veniences pertaining  to  inconvertible  paper  currency,  which  in  Chile  have  been 
of  such  a  nature  as  to  substantially  disturb  the  normal  development  of  business 
for  many  years. 

Before  1878  the  monetary  circulation  in  my  country  was  based  on  the  bi- 
metalic  system,  but,  since  1873,  the  depreciation  of  silver  together  with  internal 
commercial  difficulties  determined  the  flight  of  gold,  considerably  impairing  the 
metalic  banking  reserves.  According  to  the  principles  of  bi-metalism,  silver,  under 
the  circumstances,  might  have  substituted  gold  for  the  legal  payment  of  obliga- 
tions, but  the  imperfect  conditions  of  silver  for  the  daily  transactions  induced 
people  to  use  in  preference  bank  notes,  which  under  the  legislation  of  that  time 
were  issued  with  almost  absolute  liberty,  and  which  were  much  more  easily 
handled  than  the  cumbersome  and  heavy  silver  coins.  In  this  manner  the  prac- 
tical elimination  of  all  metalic  currency  was  produced  followed  by  a  banking 
crisis  which  determined,  in  favor  of  the  banks  a  temporary  concession  of  the 
inconvertibility  of  their  notes. 

The  law  in  accordance  with  which  the  inconvertibility  was  authorized  con- 
tained the  necessary  provisions  for  the  repayment  of  the  notes  in  specie  within 
a  reasonable  term,  but  only  a  few  months  had  passed  when  the  country  was 
unexpectedly  drawn  into  a  war  with  two  neighboring  republics,  a  conflict  which 
she  had  not  provoked  and  for  which  she  was  not  prepared. 

Under  the  urgent  necessity  of  obtaining  immediate  resources  for  the  pros- 
ecution of  this  war,  the  Government  felt  the  necessity  not  only  to  decree  the 
postponement  of  the  resumption  of  the  specie  payments  of  the  outstanding  bank 
notes  but  even  to  make  a  new  issue  of  fiscal  notes,  which,  at  first  were  emitted 
only  in  small  amounts,  but  which,  as  it  is  the  regular  course  in  these  matters, 
went  gradually  increasing  while  their  market  value  decreased. 

The  only  Civil  War  in  the  history  of  Chile  since  her  independence,  broke 
out  in  1891  depriving  the  Government  in  Santiago,  from  the  very  first  moment 
of  the  struggle,  of  its  principal  sources  of  income  which  had  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  opposing  party  while  at  the  same  time  it  was  compelled  to 
increase  enormously  its  military  expenditures.  New  issues  of  notes  were  un- 
avoidable, and  although  the  credit  of  Chile  in  Europe  remained  unimpaired, 
thanks  to  the  patriotic  effort  of  both  contending  parties  who  without  previous 
arrangements  between  themselves  did  all  that  was  necessary  to  maintain  the 
prompt  service  of  our  foreign  debt  during  the  war,  and  notwithstanding  that 


132  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

a  metalic  reserve  had  already  been  accumulated  for  the  payment  of  the  notes, 
these  suffered  violent  fluctuations  in  their  value  and  subsequently  our  currency 
depreciated  as  never  before. 

As  soon  as  our  internal  conflict  came  to  an  end  the  new  Government  pro- 
ceeded promptly  to  effect  the  metalic  conversion  which  was  considered  a  national 
ideal  in  spite  of  the  enormous  resistance  of  inflationists  who  opposed  it  in  Chile 
as  previously  they  had  opposed  it  in  the  United  States  and  who  will  resist  it 
wherever  great  interests  have  been  created  in  favor  of  the  depreciation  of  money 
and  consequently  of  the  debts  that  have  been  contracted  with  it. 

As  a  compromise  between  the  different  prevailing  tendencies  in  Congress, 
the  conversion  and  payment  of  the  notes  was  finally  brought  about  in  1895  at 
the  rate  of.  18  d.  per  peso,  which  was  at  that  time  the  approximate  gold  value 
of  the  original  silver  peso  in  which  the  State  was  obliged  to  redeem  its  issue. 

The  metalic  system  thus  reestablished  on  the  gold  basis,  only  lasted  three 
years,  and  during  that  time  was  assailed  constantly  by  inflationists,  who,  in 
1898,  finally  succeeded  in  overthrowing,  taking  advantage  of  and  even  insti- 
gating the  panic  in  the  mark  which  arose  from  an  impending  rupture  of  the 
friendly  relations  between  Chile  and  the  Argentine  Republic.  This  conflict  was 
soon  favorably  solved  but  the  evil  caused  by  the  country  reverting  again  to  the 
?vstem  of  inconvertible  paper  currency,  had  already  been  accomplished,  greatly 
emphasizing  its  characteristic  defects,  amongst  which  the  main  ones  are  it  per- 
petually oscillating  value  and  its  lack  of  elasticity. 

The  amount  of  inconvertible  paper  currency  issued  in  a  country  is  ordi- 
narily decided  upon,  in  accordance  with  the  more  or  less  arbitrary  or  capricious 
judgment  prevailing  in  the  Government  or  Congress  that  authorize  such  issues, 
to  appreciate  the  amounts  actually  required,  but  such  judgment  is  rarely  formed 
on  the  basis  of  reliable  information  as  to  the  exact  requirements  of  the  moment, 
and  even  if  such  were  not  the  case,  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  actual  needs 
of  circulation,  because  there  is  no  standard  measure  for  such  requirements  which 
vary  day  by  day  so  that  today's  surplus  may  be  tomorrow's  deficit. 

When  there  is  an  excess  of  the  circulating  medium  it  naturally  tends  to 
inflate  credit  and  stimulate  the  consumption  of  foreign  products,  which  is  par- 
ticularly the  case  in  countries  like  Chile  which  depend  largely  on  imports  from 
abroad  which  increase  the  payments  due  to  European  or  American  markets  with 
the  subsequent  depression  in  exchange.  On  the  contrary,  if  on  account  of  the 
reduced  buying  power  of  money  or  through  other  accidental  circumstances  of 
industrial,  agricultural  or  simply  commercial  character  this  currency  is  more  ex- 
tensively distributed  throughout  the  country  at  the  expense  of  the  banking  re- 
serves or  even  if  by  some  unjustified  fear  the  bank's  deposits  be  withdrawn  in 
abnormal  quantities,  the  result  of  such  contractions  of  the  circulating  medium 
is  subject  to  cause  serious  disturbances  in  the  business  of  the  country  which  all 
Governments  must  try  to  prevent.  Now  the  easiest  remedy  has  always  been  to 
resort  to  the  launching  of  new  issues  which  come  forth  with  the  same  dangerous 
results  as  the  previous  ones.  Thus  the  lack  of  elasticity  of  paper  currency  and 
its  inability  to  adapt  itself  automatically  to  the  real  necessities  of  the  market 
becomes  the  principal  element  or  factor  of  the  increasing  depreciation  of  the 
currency.  This  factor  is  such  aTi  important  one  that  even  in  countries  where  the 
circulation  is  on  a  sound  metallic  basis  as  was  the  case  in  1907  in  the  U.  S.  A., 
disturbances  have  taken  place,  which  were  only  radically  suppressed  after  long 
and  conscientious  study  and  by  the  establishment  of  the  Federal  Reserve  Bank. 

In  Chile,  where  the  unlimited  circulation  of  inconvertible  paper  currency 
has  prevailed  for  many  years,  where  the  establishment  of  a  bank  on  the  order  of 
that  of  the  Federal  Reserve,  has  been  impaired  by  the  fear  that  if  a  State  Bank 
should  cede  to  certain  conditions  of  the  country,  it  might  degenerate  into1  an  influ- 
ential institution  governed  by  political  tendencies  or  by  politicians  who  are  not 
always  above  reproach,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  fiscal  issues  of  1898,  which 
amounted  to  only  50,000,000  pesos,  without  any  apparent  scarcity  had  risen  in  1912 
to  150,000,000,  it  became  necessary  to  find  some  other  solution  and  the  Government 
and  Congress  finally  authorized  the  establishment  of  an  organization  intended  to 
regulate  the  circulating  medium,  such  as  several  years  before  had  been  proposed 
by  the  Banco  de  Chile. 

The  characteristic  conditions  of  that  institution,  known  by  the  name  of 
"Caja  de  Emision"  (Bureau  of  Issue),  are: 


CHILE  133 

1st.  The  ability  to  increase  or  diminish  the  amount  of  circulation  accord- 
ing to  the  countries'  actual  requirements,  as  estimated  by  the  only  ones  who  are 
in  a  position  to  know  them — the  banks,  which  are  the  intermediary  of  all  business. 

2nd.  The  amounts  emitted  by  the  Caja  are  to  be  fully  guaranteed  by  their 
equivalent  value  in  metallic  gold  but  subject  to  being  withdrawn  by  the  banks 
which  have  issued  them. 

3rd.  That  these  issues  should  be  costly  in  order  that  banks  may  not  abuse 
by  converting  into  sources  of  profit,  since  they  are.  intended  only  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  elasticity  and  must  be  withdrawn  as  soon  as  the  particular  circum- 
stances which  caused  their  issue,  have  disappeared.  At  the  same  time  they 
must  not  be  so  expensive  as  to  be  prohibitive 

With  these  ideas  in  view,  the  Caja  de  Emision  issues  fiscal  notes  and  de- 
livers them  to  such  banks  of  the  country  as  require  them,  provided  their  re- 
quirements are  not  in  excess  of  their  paid-up  capital  and  that  a  deposit  is  made 
with  the  Caja  itself  in  Chile  or  with  London  or  New  York  Banks  designated 
by  the  Government,  of  gold  coins  at  a  rate  not  exceeding  18  d.  per  peso  nor 
less  than  12  d.,  but  always  at  a  higher  rate  than  the  actual  market  value  of  the 
currency,  and  a  security  or  guaranty  is  given  to  cover  the  surplus  value  of  the 
currency  in  case  of  a  higher  exchange. 

As  these  transactions  should  leave  no  margin  of  profit  and  as  the  banks 
know  that  their  stability  depends  on  the  regular  operations  of  the  Caja  de  Emision, 
the  development  of  this  institution  has  been  eminently  successful,  and  it  is  only 
during  the  last  few  months  of  the  Great  War,  when  banks  were  not  allowed  to 
dispose  of  the  gold  they  held  in  London  and  New  York,  that  it  became  necessary 
for  this  institution  to  temporarily  relax  somewhat  the  rigidity  of  its  regulations. 

The  advantages  obtained  by  the  country  through  this  Bureau  have  been 
remarkable  and  several  crises  have  been  successfully  avoided  from  their  very  birth 
which,  before  1912  would  only  have  been  saved  by  an  additional  issue  of  incon- 
vertible paper  currency.  Thus,  for  example,  in  August,  1914,  the  panic  caused  by 
the  war  compelled  the  bankers  to  launch  an  extraordinary  issue  of  65,000,000 
pesos,  and  in  October,  1915,  this  amount  was  already  reduced  to  10,000,000  with- 
out causing  any  abnormal  result.  This  system  allows  the  development  of  busi- 
iness  with  a  reduced  amount  of  currency;  and  the  banks  work  to  the  general 
advantage  with  a  maximum  of  their  resources.  It  does  not  seem  excessive 
that  a  country  like  Chile,  with  a  population  of  over  4,000,000  and  whose  foreign 
trade  has  reached  in  imports  and  exports  400,000,000  American  dollars,  .with  an 
even  larger  domestic  trade,  its  circulating  medium  should  be  less  than  $10  per 
capita.  The  Chilean  banks,  with  500  million  pesos  of  deposits,  work  safely  with 
only  75  millions  cash,  because  they  rely  on  their  gold  reserve,  which  allows 
them  to  increase  their  working  reserves  when  necessary. 

Unfortunately  it  is  not  sufficient  that  the  circulating  medium  has  the 
necessary  elasticity  to  make  it  sound,  as  it  is  essential  that  it  should  also  have 
a  practically  fixed  value  such  as  that  of  metalic  gold,  and  in  order  to  attain 
this  end,  there  is  no  other  way  than  to  make  it  convertible  in  gold.  The  Caja 
de  Emision  (the  Bureau  of  Issue)  at  present  does  not  fulfill  this  condition, 
but  it  prepares  the  country  to  reassume  with  more  confidence  the  converti- 
bility under  the  plan  which  so  warmly  and  scientifically  was  supported  by  the 
late  well-known  economist,  Mr.  Connant ;  that  is,  on  the  basis  of  the  gold  ex- 
change standard,  which  is  chiefly  applicable  to  such  countries  as  Chile,  which 
far-distant  from  the  great  markets  of  the  world  and  where,  consequently,  the 
mechanism  of  the  rate  of  discount  does  not  work  as  promptly  or  efficiently  as 
is  essential  in  order  to  regulate  the  monetary  inflow  and  outflow  to  a  country 
whose  metallic  reserves  have  lost  their  normal  level. 

The  gold  exchange  standard,  while  maintaining  directly  the  international 
value  of  the  currency,  also  maintains  indirectly  its  internal  value.  It  saves  the 
use  of  currency  and  discourages  the  sterile  hoarding  of  gold  by  individuals;  it 
concentrates  that  existing  in  banking  institutions,  where  it  obtains  its  real 
regulating  value  and  saves  unnecessary  expenses  of  remittance  for  the  payment 
of  international  balances,  which  is  one  of  the  main  objects  keenly  studied  by  the 
High  Pan  American  International  Committee.  The  Chilean  Caja  de  Emision  is 
only  a  partial  application,  it  is  true,  but  nevertheless  it  is  a  convenient  one,  of 
these  principles,  and  it  is  for  these  reasons  that  I  have  ventured  •  to  explain 
its  mechanism  to  this  distinguished  gathering. 


134  SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

NOTES  ON  CHILEAN  HARBORS  AND  TRANSPORTATION  FACILITIES 

BY  SENOR  ENRIQUE  L.  BUNSTER,  DELEGATE  FROM  CHILE. 

The  organization  and  development  of  her  port  and  harbor  facilities  stands 
out  preeminently  as  one  of  the  most  important  among  the  many  problems  that 
Chile  has  to  face  in  her  desire  to  take  that  place  in  the  work  of  reconstruction 
which  is  now  going  on  all  over  the  world  to  which  her  enormous  natural  resources, 
her  magnificent  climate,  and  the  character  and  spirit  of  her  people  give  her  an 
undoubted  right. 

Owing  to  circumstances  which  prevailed  while  the  greater  part  of  that  Con- 
tinent was  still  in  the  hands  of  Spain  and  in  the  early  days  of  the  several  coun- 
tries into  which  it  was  divided  at  the  beginning  of  the  XIX  Century,  the  proximity 
to  populated  districts  was  often  considered  of  more  importance  when  a  port  was 
to  be  established  on  any  part  of  the  South  American  Coast  than  the  numerous 
other  factors  which  today  are  considered  indispensable  in  a  Modern  port. 

Lately,  created  interests  also  have  had  a  great  influence  in  the  selection  of 
harbour  sites.  As  a  direct  consequence  of  these  circumstances  we  find  that  many 
South  American  ports  are  situated  on.  what  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the 
open  roadstead,  instead  of  occupying  the  naturally  protected  bays  and  harbours 
which  are  found  on  the  coast. 

Speaking  particularly  about  Chile,  we  find  there  another  circumstance  which 
makes  the  complexity  of  this  problem  greater  still;  we  refer  to  the  physical  for- 
mation of  the  South  Pacific  Coast.  All  along  the  Chilean  Seaboard  the  ocean  is 
very  deep  at  a  relatively  short  distance  from  the  shore  and  the  sea  bottom  is 
often  of  a  treacherous  nature,  all  of  which  tends  to  make  any  kind  of  construction 
work  both  a  difficult  and  an  expensive  task.  In  the  southern  part  of  the  country 
the  largest  vessels  can  steam  through  the  canals  of  the  Shiloe  Archipelago  at  less 
than  a  stones  throw  from  the  beach,  and  in  many  places  the  luxuriant  vegetation 
which  covers  the  steep  banks  of  the  Chilean  Fjords  often  gets  entangled  with  the 
rigging  of  the  ships  as  they  pass  by. 

Notwithstanding  these  difficulties  the  Chilean  Government  has  recognized  the 
importance  which  the  solution  of,'  this  problem  has  for,  the  welfare  of  the  country, 
and  is  spending  at  the  present  moment  several  millions  of  dollars  in  the  improve- 
ment of  the  three  principal  ports  of  that  country,  and  has  completed  the  surveys 
and  estimates  for  the  harbour  works  of  twelve  or  thirteen  others. 

Work  was  begun  some  time  ago  in  the  bays  of  Valparaiso  and  San  Antonio, 
and  the  contract  for  the  improvements  in  Antofagasta,  the  principal  nitrate  ship- 
ping port  on  the  coast,  has  recently  been  signed  and  work  is  to  begin  there  shortly. 

Among  the  other  ports  where  harbour  improvements  will  be  undertaken  in 
the  near  future  we  may  mention  Arica,  Quinteros,  Constitucion,  and  Lebu  as  the 
most  important,  the  first  named  being  especially  interesting  as  it  is  the  starting  point 
of  the  Arica  (Chile) -La  Paz  (Bolivia)  international  railroad,  and  the  last  one 
because  it  will  open  up  one  of  the  most  extensive  coal  fields  in  Chile,  and  will  one 
day  be  the  Pacific  terminus  of  a  very  important  transcontinental  and  international 
railroad:  Lebu  (Chile) -Bahia  Blanca  (Argentine  Republic). 

Apart  from  the  improvements  in  the  harbours  themselves  the  Chilean  Gov- 
ernment is  at  present  studying  also  the  practicability  and  prospective  location  of 
one  or  two  completely  equipped  floating  dry  docks  capable  of  handling  vessels 
up  to  10,000  tons.  A  law  sanctioning  this  project  has  recently  been  passed  by  the 
Chilean  Senate. 

Although  the  improvements  of  the  Chilean  ports  has  occupied  the  most 
prominent  position  in  the  program  of  prospective  public  works  which  that  Govern- 
ment has  lately  developed,  it  may  be  well  to  mention  also  that  surveys  and  esti- 
mates are  being  prepared  with  reference  to  the  navigability  of  some  of  the  Chilean 
rivers.  The  results  obtained  so  far  allow  us  to  believe  that  this  is  very  feasible 
and  that  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  to  establish  fluvial  navigation  in  that  country. 
This  would  constitute  a  big  step  towards  cheapening  the  transportation  costs  on 
produce  and  raw  materials  from  the  interior  to  the  coast. 

The  completion  of  the  Chilean  Central  Railway  System,  with  the  moderniza- 
tion of  the  present  equipment,  the  electrification  of  the  first  or  Santiago- Valparaiso 
R.  R.  Section,  and  the  increase  of  the  double  track  mileage,  has  also  been  studied, 
and  the  transformation  scheme,  which  is  to  cover  a  period  of  nine  years,  is  to  be 
started  almost  immediately. 


CHILE  135 

COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION  IN  CHILE 

BY  SENOR  FELIX  NIETO  DEL  Rio,  CHILEAN  INFORMATION  SERVICE,  NEW  YORK 

In  Chile,  as  in  all  Latin  American  countries,  commerce,  until  recently,  did  not 
constitute  a  profession.  It  was  rather  an  occupation  learned  in  the  traditional  prac- 
tice of  small  businesses.  During  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  century  business 
was  in  the  hands  of  individuals  who  did  not  belong  to  the  aristocracy,  and  who  had 
come  to  Chile  seeking  their  fortune,  when  the  work  of  conquest  allowed  sufficient 
peace  and  tranquillity  for  the  pursuit  of  commercial  activities.  In  those  times  direct 
exchange  of  commodities  was  the  rule,  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  money. 

As  the  aristocracy  devoted  itself  preferably  to  arriculture,  which  led  to 
dominion  and  wealth,  those  who  in  the  centuries  referred  to  and  in  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  made  fortunes  in  business,  founded  families  which  hold 
today  a  most  influential  social  standing.  Many  of  those  fortunes  were  built  up 
from  the  trade  in  drygoods,  household  utensils,  and  all  articles  of  consumption. 
These  in  time  allied  themselves  with  agriculture,  dispossessing  little  by  little  the 
nobility  from  their  lands,  or  mixing  with  it  through  intermarriage.  It  may  be 
said  that  the  dominant  element  in  Chile  today  is  composed  of  the  descendents  of 
those  who  were  originally  tradesmen — and  sometimes  even  smugglers — and  not 
from  the  genuine  descendants  of  the  conquistadores  or  land  owners. 

But  even  as  recently  as  twenty  years  ago,  it  was  still  considered  improper 
for  the^young  men  of  well-to-do  families  to  devote  themselves  to  trade,  which  had 
been  relegated  to  foreign  hands.  Then  began  the  sub-division  of  her  agricultural 
estates,  1he  mania  for  holding  Government  positions,  the  abu:>e  of  the  liberal  pro- 
fessions, the  exploitation  of  mines,  and  above  all,  the  affluence  of  English,  French 
and  German  merchants. 

The  Chilean  native,  claiming  any  sort  of  pedigree,  looked  upon  the  commer- 
cial professional  with  disdain  and  characterized  it  with  names  of  contempt,  such  as, 
"despachero"  or  "tendero."  The  clerks  of  the  large  commercial  houses,  and  the 
storekeepers  were  generally  foreigners  and  they  are  yet.  English,  French,  Spanish, 
Italians  and  a  few  North  Americans,  are  in  the  wholesale  houses,  and  Spanish 
or  Italians  in  the  retail  business. 

Only  what  is  called  commercial  brokerage,  that  is  to  say,  the  commission 
business,  the  role  of  middle-man  in  certain  transactions,  was  taken  up  by  Chileans 
on  account  of  the  facilities  afforded  by  speculation  for  making  money  quickly,  a 
tendency  which  is  very  common  in  our  Latin  American  race,  which  in  itself  is 
little  persevering  by  nature  and  fond  of  quick  success. 

The  general  development  of  the  country  has  been  remarkable  within  the 
last  few  years,  and  the  tenacious  campaign  undertaken  by  some  intelligent  men 
finally  succeeded  in  awakening  in  Chile  an  interest  for  the  commercial  profession, 
and  eliminating  the  nonsensical  prejudice  that  there  was  against  it  among  the 
well-to-do  classes.  The  Government  realizing  the  vital^  importance  of  preparing 
men  specially  for  trade,  organized  educational  commercial  institutions  which  are 
doing  a  great  deal  of  good  for  the  country,  even  though  they  have  not  as  yet 
reached  the  highest  degree  of  perfection.  These  institutions,  both  private  and 
official,  together  with  the  industrial  institutions,  have  swept  away  from  Chile  the 
antiquated  ideas  as  to  the  manner  of  enriching  the  country,  and  thanks  to  them  the 
rapid  denationalization  of  industries,  which  was  becoming  aggravated,  ceased  to 
be  a  serious  problem.  The  young  men  of  today,  who  deviated  from  the  ancestral 
routine,  are  in  Chile  a  live  force  whose  influence  is  beginning  to  be  felt  in  every 
walk  of  life,  especially  in  the  activities  which  we  call  practical. 

The  Press  has  carried  on  formidable  campaigns,  not  against  the  literary  or 
purely  cultural  education,  but  against  its  inconsiderate  abuse  which  gives  as  an 
immediate  result  a  plague  of  "intellectual  proletariat,"  that  mass  of  bachelor  of 
arts,  of  science,  engineers,  lawyers,  physicians,  etc.,  which  in  Chile,  as  in  France, 
has  sapped  the  energy  of  youth.  The  aim  has  been  to  inject  the  new  element 
into  the  new  life  of  modern  activities  and  to  prevent  those  new  elements  from 
being  wasted  in  unproductive  professions,  and  in  Government  positions  without 
future. 

What  might  be  called  the  re-education  of  the  youth  is  the  work  of  the  com- 
mercial and  industrial  institute  in  Chile. 

In  1917,  the  Government  provided  for  this  kind  of  education,  about  1,000,000 
pesos  (gold)  in  a  general  budget  for  public  instruction  of  22,000,000  pesos  gold. 


136  SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Here  I  shall  confine  myself  to  giving  a  few  data  about  some  of  the  institutions, 

both  industrial  and  commercial. 

There   are   in   Chile   the   following   establishments   of    industrial    instruction, 

with  the  number  of  students  for  each  in  1917: 

Agricultural   Institute    183 

Mining  School  177 

Arts  and  Crafts  School 450 

Manual  Arts  School  for  Girls 4,826 

Practical  Agricultural  School 305 

Manual  Training  School   1,428 

There  is  besides  in  Valparaiso,  a  new  industrial  university  in  regard  to  which 
I  do  not  have  any  data. 

In  Santiago  and  other  cities  of  the  country,  there  are  several  industrial 
schools  supported  by  private  funds,  for  instance,  the  work  shops  of  San  Vincente 
de  Paul  for  practical  and  free  instruction  which  is  given  to  over  three  hundred  poor 
children. 

Though  Chile  is  a  mining  country  we  lack  a  number  of  schools  of  that  in- 
dustry. The  only  one  in  Chile  is  the  School  of  Mining  in  Santiago.  The  course 
on  nitrate  industry  is  given  in  the  University  of  Chile  and  is  for  post-graduates, 
and  has  a  wide  reputation. 

The  Catholic  University  maintains  a  very  important  and  practical  school  of 
agriculture  with  experimental  farms  equipped  with  all  modern  improvements. 
This  private  university  has  also  under  advisement  the  establishment  of  a  mining 
school  and  a  school  of  industrial  research. 

In  the  Physical  Institute,  which  is  an  excellent  modern  establishment, 
courses  are  given  in  the  applied  arts,  and  modern  trades.  The  Sociedad  de 
Fomento  Fabril  (Association  for  the  promotion  of  manufacturers)  supports  sev- 
eral schools  of  this  kind,  one  of  the  most  important  of  which  is  the  School  of 
Ornamental  Design.  These  institutions  of  industrial  instruction  are  effecting  a 
real  transformation  in  the  efficiency  of  the  new  generation,  and  from  year  to  year 
the  Government  and  private  individuals  are  paying  greater  attention  to  this  kind 
of  study. 

Commercial  education  and  instruction  is  given  in  the  Government  commer- 
cial institutions.  In  1917,  they  had  a  total  registration  of  3,002  students.  The 
principal  commercial  institutions  are  located  at  Santiago,  Valparaiso,  Concepcion, 
Chilian,  Talca,  Antofagasta,  Temuco  and  Valdivia,  and  equipped  with  all  modern 
facilities  and  occupy  buildings  specially  constructed  for  the  purpose.  The  founders 
and  directors  have,  as  a  rule,  studied  in  the  United  States  or  in  Europe,  bringing 
to  Chile  the  latest  improvements  and  methods  for  commercial  instruction. 

In  almost  all  cases,  the  methods  followed  are  those  of  the  United  States 
because  when  this  kind  of  instruction  developed  in  Chile,  commerce  with  the 
United  States  was  just  beginning  to  increase.  Besides,  every  year  there  are  sent 
from  Chile  to  the  United  States  a  great  number  of  graduates  from  these  commer- 
cial institutes  to  perfect  their  knowledge,  either  in  actual  business  practice,  or  in 
special  schools.  Special  emphasis  is  given  to  the  study  of  English,  a  very  general 
language  in  the  commercial  world  of  Chile. 

The  most  characteristic  tendency  in  these  commercial  institutions  of  learning 
is  that  of  inculcating  in  the  students  the  high  conception  of  what  commerce  is, 
of  its  lofty  importance  in  the  strengthening  of  individual  and  national  relations,  and 
of  its  fundamental  significance  for  the  progress  of  the  country.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  teaching  of  business  ethics  is  a  novelty  in  our  countries.  In  Chile  a  special 
effort  is  made  to  imbue  the  students  with  the  conviction  that  commerce  must, 
above  all,  be  moral,  that  is  to  say,  based  upon  the  priciples  of  honesty.  The  aim 
is  to  obliterate  that  theory  formulated  by  the  philosopher  who  said  that,  "Com- 
merce is  theft." 

The  Chilean  commercial  institutions  give  free  instruction  without  distinction 
of  social  classes.  Their  progress  is  remarkable.  In  nine  years  they  have  more 
than  doubled  their  enrollment. 

The  profession  of  commerce  is  today  in  Chile  a  new  career  for  our  young 
men.  The  large  foreign  business  houses  employ  almost  exclusively  Chilean  clerks. 
Every  graduate  of  a  commercial  institute  may  secure  an  important  position  with 
such  houses,  or  with  the  banks  and,  of  course,  with  Chilean  firms. 

Inasmuch  as  the  State  has  not  the  exclusive  rights  to  commercial  diplomas, 
there  are  several  private  commercial  institutions  which  grant  the  degree  of  public 


CHILE  137 

accountant  and  manager,  etc.  There  are  already  a  great  number  of  commercial 
school  graduates  who  occupy  high  positions  in  importing  and  exporting  firms, 
some  of  them  being  at  the  head  of  well-known  houses. 

It  is  a  triumph  for  our  country  to  have  at  last  succeeded  in  generalizing 
the  idea  that  the  professions  of  commerce  and  industry  are  as  noble  as  the  liberal 
professions.  It  is  a  triumph,  because  in  the  countries  conquered  by  Spain  there 
remained  throughout  three  centuries  that  fatal  and  antiquated  prejudice  against 
the  dignity  of  these  careers.  This  would  be  hard  to  understand,  for  the  modern 
man  of  the  United  States,  where,  as  in  no  other  country,  the  dignity  of  labor  is 
held  on  such  a  high  plane. 

And  it  should  be  acknowledged  that  the  new  spirit  of  Chile  is  due,  in  a 
large  measure,  to  English  and  North  American  influences  exerted  over  a  race 
which  possesses  certain  acquired  qualities  of  push  and  assimilation. 


138  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

COLOMBIA 

COLOMBIA  TRADE  WITH  THE  UNITED  STATES  DURING  THE  WAR 

BY  SENOR  FRANCISCO  ESCOBAR,  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  COLOMBIA  IN  NEW  YORK. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

There  seem  to  be  two  different  currents  of  opinion  in  the  United  States 
respecting  the  Spanish  American  trade.  One  is  composed  of  those  who  believe 
that  this  country  has  conquered  the  field  permanently.  The  other  is  formed  by 
the  doubting  Thomases  in  commercial  matters.  The  most  prominent  amongst 
the  latter  in  Chile,  amongst  those  which  I  have  read,  is  A.  A.  Preciado,  Director 
of  the  United  States  Government  Committee  on  Public  Information. 

In  an  article  written  specially  for  The  Sun  and  published  in  a  recent  issue, 
Mr.  Preciado  brings  to  bear  on  this  question  some  forceful  arguments  to  prove 
that  Latin  America  is  to  be  soon  a  scene  of  trade  '  war.  And  I  agree  with  him 
fully.  Accepting  that  premise,  it  behooves  the  manufacturers,  exporters  and 
general  business  men  of  the  United  States  in  general  to  see  that  the  ground 
gained  in  the  last  four  years  in  their  commercial  relations  with  Spanish  America 
be  held  firmly,  nay,  enlarged  further. 

Mr.  Barrett  has  shown  with  official  figures  how  wonderful  was  the  in- 
crease in  the  volume  of  business  done  with  Latin  America  during  the  late  war. 
He  has  shown  that  the  value  of  the  exports  to  Latin  America  increased  1.57 
per  cent,  from  1913-14  to  1917-18,  or  from  $280,000,000.00  to  $719,000,000.00. 
Also  that  the  imports  from  those  countries  increased  1.19  per  cent.,  or  from 
$468,000,000.00  in  1913-14  to  $1,024,000,000.00  in  1917-18.  Individualizing  his  fig- 
ures, he  went  on  to  show  that  the  increment  of  trade  between  the  United  States 
and  the  two  largest  Republics  (commercially  speaking)  .was:,  Chile,  376  per 
cent. ;  Argentine,  240  per  cent. ;  Cuba,,  150  per  cent. ;  Mexico,  88  per  cent. ;  Brazil, 
37  per  cent. 

In  view  of  such  wonderful  results,  some  of  you  might  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  your  commercial  position  with  Spanish  America  was  perfectly  se- 
cure and  that  no  renewal  and  further  endeavors  are  necessary  to  hold  that 
trade  position. 

Says  Mr.  Barrett:  "It  is  of  importance  that  there  should  be  a  clearer 
understanding  generally  both  in  the  United  States  and  in  Latin  America  about 
the  status  of  Pan  American  commerce  just  before  the  war  and  of  its  develop- 
ment during  the  war.  There  should  not  be  misleading  ideas  continually  ex- 
pressed based  on  convictions  of  many  years  ago.  The  facts  should  be  faced  as 
they  are." 

There  are  so  many  factors  in  the  problem  of  trade  increase  during  the 
war  that  it  is  most  difficult  to  arrive  at  a  definite  conclusion  as  to  ^  causes.  With 
your  permission,  I  am  going  to  analyze  this  increment  of  trade  with  the  United 
States  as  it  applies  to  Colombia,  the  country  which  I  represent  commercially. 
For  this  purpose  I  shall  take  the  figures  for '1913,  the  year  previous  to  the  dec- 
laration of  .war,  and  for  1916,  the  year  before  the  United  States  entered  as  a 
belligerent.  And  since  what  really  interests  most  of  you  is  how  much  you  sell 
to  Colombia,  I  shall  only  take  the  imports. 

The  United  States  sold  to  Colombia   in  1913 : $7,612,000 

The  United   States  sold  to  Colombia  in  1916 16,500,000 


Increase   115  per  cent $8,888,000 

The  adjoining  table  shows  that  Colombia  imported  in  1913 : 

From    Germany    .* $4,012,100 

From    France    .'. 3,808,600 

From    Italy    : 176,100 

From    Belgium 499,000 

Or  a  total  of $8,495,000 

We   see  that   the   increment   of   value   in   the   Colombian   imports   from   the 
United  States   from  1913  to  1916  was  $8,870,500,  and  as  it.  so  happened  that  the 


COLOMBIA 


139 


imports  from  the  four  countries  named  above  were  practically  wiped  out,  it 
seems  reasonable  to  conclude  that  what  really  took  place  was  a  substitution,  or, 
i.  e.,  that  the  gain  of  the  United  States  was  the  actual  loss  of  those  four  coun- 
tries, due  to  war  conditions.  ' 

What  took  place  in  other  countries  of  Spanish  America,  I.  do  not  know  and 
I  would  like  to  know.  If  a  similar  analysis  could  be  applied  as  the  one  I  have 
applied  to  Colombia  imports,  perhaps  then  the  "facts  .to  be  faced"  would  show 
themselves  in  their  true  proportions  and  perspective. 

My  own  opinion  is  that  the  Pan  American  trade  has  been  going  in  the 
right  direction  as  far  as  the  United  States  is  concerned;  but  that  in  order  to 
hold  what  real  gain  there  may  result  after  discarding  all  factors  which  were  not 
the  result  of  your  own  systematic  endeavors  to  gain  and  hold  that  trade,  you 
must  continue  to  prepare,  and  to  work  for  the  expansion  of  Pan  American  trade. 
You  have  the  capital,  the  energy  and  the  capacity  of  production ;  but  you  lack  many 
other  things  which  are  required  for  the  expansion  of  trade  and  the  foment  of 
friendly  and  lasting  relations.  There  are  commercial  ways  with  Spanish  America 
but  all  ways  must  converge  into  a  wide  road;  into  a  policy  of  mutual  help,  for- 
bearance and  trust. 

COLOMBIA  IMPORTS. 


Origin 
United    States    . 

Year  1913 
.     ..      $7  629  500 

Year  1916 
$16,500,000 
7,500,000 
700,000 
600,000 

Increase 
$8,870,500 
1,662,600 
700,000 

Decrease 

United   Kingdom 

5  837  400 

Spain    

France 

4  408  600 

$3,808,600 
4,012,100 
176,100 

Germany    

4,012,100 

Italy    

726  100 

550.000 
250,000 
150,000 

The   Netherlands 

250,000 
150,000 

Dutch  West  Indies  ., 

Belgium    

499000 

499,000 
2,012,943 

Other    Countries 

5  423  080 

3,410,137 

Totals 

<$28  535  780 

$29,660,137 

$11,633,100 

$10,508,743 

Difference    

$28,535,780 

$10,508,743 

$  8,870,500 
..  10.508748 

.  $1,124,357 

$1,124,357 

Increase   of   Imports 
Decrease  of  Imoorts 

from   United    States 

from  all  other  Countries.... 

OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  TRADE  AND  INVESTMENT 

BY  JOSE  M.  CORONADO,  EXPERT  ON  SOUTH  AMERICA,  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

From  observations  I  had  an  opportunity  to  make  during  a  trip  to  Colombia 
toward  the  middle  of  1918,  as  Special  Delegate  from  the  Pan  American  Union  to 
the  presidential  inauguration  in  that  Republic,  and  through  investigations  I  con- 
ducted at  that  time  of  the  advantages  the  co.untry  offers  for  agricultural,  commer- 
cial and  industrial  development,  I  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  no  South 
American  nation  has  greater  possibilities  of  production,  offers  a  wider  field  for 
colonization,  or  possesses  a  greater  number  of  natural  resources  than  Colombia, 
while  owing  to  its  proximity  to  the  United  States  none  presents  more  promising 
opportunities  'to  capitalists,  manufacturers  and  business  men  in  the  northern  re- 
public. To  demonstrate  the  validity  of  my  assertion  I  will  give  a  brief  sketch  of 
several  of  these  fields  of  activity  in  what  I  consider  the  order  of  their  importance- 

Colombia  is  a  country  endowed  with  practically  all  the  elements  that  would 
make  it  one  of  the  leading  producing  nations  of  the  world,  enjoying  the  best 
geographical  location  in  the  southern  continent,  with  ports  on  both  oceans,  large 
navigable  rivers,  valuable  deposits  of  precious  stones  and  metals,  great  water-falls, 
and  fertile  land  in  various  sections  of  the  country,  among  other  advantages.  But 
it  must  be  recognized  as  the  one  essential  element  for  extracting  the  wealth  of  the 
country  is  lacking — capital — without  which  efficient  methods  of  communication  and 


HAITI 

FOREIGN*  COMMERCE  1917 

TOTAL*  23, 000,000. 


UWTED  STATES 

*  r.soo.ooo. 


COUNTRIES 

ta.ooo.ooo. 


COLOMBIA  141 

transportation  are  impossible  and  hence  without  which  the  agricultural  and  mineral 
must  lie  untouched.  It  is  axiomatic  that  so  long  as  the  centers  of  activity  are 
separated  by  great  distances  without  adequate  railways,  automobile  highways  and 
steamship  routes,  it  never  can  prosper,  and  the  world  may  never  make  use  of  its 
products.  So  the  first  step  to  be  undertaken  toward  the  development  of  Colombia 
is  the  building  of  railways,  automobile  highways  and  the  establishment  of  aerial 
routes.  The  National  Government,  as  well  as  that  of  some  of  the  Departments, 
which  are  aware  of  this  necessity,  have  lately  appropriated  a  sum  of  money  for  the 
prolongation  of  certain  railways  and  the  construction  of  important  roads.  So  herein 
lies  a  great  opportunity  for  American  contractors  and  engineers. 

There  is  as  yet  no  continuous  railroad  system  within  the  Republic,  because 
the  peculiar  geographical  features  of  the  country  have  rendered  the  construction  of 
extended  railroad  lines  a  very  expensive  and  difficult  undertaking,  there  are,  how- 
ever, many  short  lines  at  present  engaged  chiefly  in  local  traffic,  which,  when  their 
plans  are  fully  carried  out,  will  connect  the  coast  on  both  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
sides  with  the  centers  of  production.  The  length  of  railways  now  in  operation  in 
the  Republic  is  1,200  kilometers  (745.6  miles). 

Colombia  has  a  fine  system  of  waterways,  the  most  important  of  which  is  the 
Magdalena,  navigable  by  vessels  of  considerable  draft  for  a  distance  of  over  600 
miles  (966  kilometers)  and  by  smaller  craft  300  miles  (483  kilometers)  farther. 
The  Atrato  is  navigable  for  200  miles  (322  kilometers)  inland  and  the  Sinu  for 
110  miles  (177  kilometers).  The  Cauca,  the  Zulia,  the  Cesar,  the  Nechi,  the  Lebrija, 
the  Sogamoso,  and  some  of  the  smaller  tributaries  are  also  navigable  for  various 
distances. 

Financiers  and  business  men  have  also  unsurpassed  opportunities  for  business 
in  Colombia.  The  establishment  of  banks,  above  all  agricultural  and  hypotheek 
banks,  which  would  facilitate  agriculturists  and  manufacturers  to  develop  their  in- 
dustries is  a  great  need  of  the  co'untry.  Banking  has  been  very  successful  in  recent 
years  in  Colombia,  and  already  a  number  of  reliable  institutions  are  well  established 
in  the  country;  indeed,  it  may  be  stated  that  there  is  no  city  of  importance  in  Co- 
lombia which  lacks  a  bank.  But  the  field  is  unlimited.  It  would  be  well  to  call  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  the  country  offers  all  possible  guarantees,  having  passed  tri- 
umphantly through  all  the  crises  inevitably  attendant  upon  a  nation  after  the 
proclamation  of  its  independence,  and  peace  is  now  definitely  and  firmly  estab- 
lished throughout  the  land.  The  administrations  of  late  years  have  been  efficient 
and  thoroughly  successful  in  forming  a  stable  political  organization  as  a  foundation? 
for  economic  and  financial  development. 

Commercial  opportunities  are  tremendous.  The  present  exports  of  Colombia 
comprise  only  such  as  because  of  their  high  value  in  foreign  markets  may  be 
profitably  transported  and  such  as  may  be  shipped  easily,  being  produced  near  the 
points  of  embarkation.  Those  include  the  following,  which  may  be  largely  in- 
creased: Animal  products:  Livestock,  meats,  grease,  bone,  hides,  horsehair,  leather, 
shells,  plumes  and  deerskins ;  mineral  products :  Emeralds,  gold,  silver,  platinum, 
asphalt  and  oil;  vegetable  products:  Cotton,  coffee,  rubber,  mahogany,  vegetable 
wool,  quinine,  ipecac,  tobacco,  resin,  corn,  henequen,  and  woods  of  all  kinds ; 
manufactured  articles:  Sugar,  twine,  cigars  and  cigarettes,  cheeses,  copper  and 
straw  hats.  The  total  value  of  the  foreign  commerce  in  1917  amounted  to 
$63,865,156,  of  which  $23,333,826  formed  the  value  of  imports  and  $40,531,330  that 
of  exportations,  leaving  a  balance  of  $17,197,504  in  favor  of  Colombia.  As  will  be 
readily  noted,  these  figures  are  entirely  too  small  for  a  country  of  more  than 
400,000  square  miles  in  extent  and  with  a  population  of  6,000,000. 

Industry  also  offers  a  wide  field,  for,  though  Colombia  is  a  country  of  vast 
potentialities  and  possibilities  for  all  branches  of  industry,  it  has  been  up  to  the 
present  time  far  from  being  an  industrial  nation.  To  be  sure,  there  are  some  fac- 
tories for  dry  goods,  cigars  and  cigarettes,  soaps  and  candles,  beers  and  carbonated 
waters,  etc.,  but  none  of  them  are  conducted  as  strenuously  as  they  might  be.  In 
the  first  place,  the  prime  materials  have  to  be  imported  in  some  cases;  secondly, 
their  output  is  not  sufficient  to  meet  the  internal  demand ;  and  finally,  they  have  not 
awakened  notable  enthusiasm  from  the  capitalists  in  the  country,  few  of  whom 
have  backed  them. 

However  profitable  all  other  branches  may  be  in  Colombia,  yet  agriculture 
after  all  offers  the  most  lucrative  field  for  investment  of  capital  and  energy,  since 
fruits  of  all  the  zones  may  be  raised  within  its  boundaries. 


142  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

The  coast  and  hot  regions  of  the  Republic  produce  corn,  sugar  cane,  tsea- 
island  cotton,  rubber,  cacao,  bananas,  fibers,  tropical  fruits  and  vegetables,  while 
the  mountains  and  uplands  yield  coffee,  apples,  peaches,  berries,  potatoes,  wheat, 
barley  and  in  fact  all  of  the  products  of  the  Temperate  Zone. 

On  the  Magdalena,  "an  adequate  labor  supply  is  obtainable  for  large  planta- 
tions of  bananas  as  well  as  of  cacao  and  rubber.  The  valleys  of  the  Atrato  and 
Leon  have  long  been  recognized  as  having  proper  characteristics  for  the  cultivation 
of  these  products.  With  a  sufficient  population  the  Santa  Marta  district  couid 
within  a  few  years  increase  its  importance  tenfold.  On  the  Sinu  River  there  is  also 
much  good  banana  land,  as  well  as  an  area  suited  to  the  cultivation  of  oranges, 
pineapples,  alligator  pears,  and  many  other  tropical  products.  This  is  the  great 
cattle  belt.  It  is  also  the  source  of  the  cedar  and  mahogany  exported  from  Colombia, 

The  coffee  crop  of  the  Republic  yields  annually  about  1,250,000  bags  (bag 
contains  60  kilos  or  132  pounds)  produced  by  160,000,000  coffee  plants.  Next  to 
Brazil",  it  exports  more  coffee  than  any  other  country  and  the  industry  in  Colombia 
represents  an  investment  of  $37,500,000,  making  it  probably  the  most  important  in 
the  country.  During  1916  the  coffee  exports  were  valued  at  nearly  half  of  the 
total  exports. 

The  United  States  consumes  the  bulk  of  Colombian  coffee  and  took  150,591,- 
659  pounds  out  of  the  160,134,831  pounds  exported  that  year.  The  principal  coffee 
districts  are  the  Department  of  Cundinamarca,  which  produces  the  renowned  Bogota 
brand;  the  Departments  of  Antioquia,  Caldas  and  Tolima;  the  Ocana,  Cucuta  and 
Bucaramanga  districts  in  the  Department  of  Santander;  and  the  smaller  valleys  of 
the  Cordilleras. 

The  gathering  of  ivory  nuts,  the  fruit  of  the  tagua  palm,  from  which  the 
higher  grades  of  buttons  are  manufactured,  is  one  of  the  growing  industries  of 
the  country.  The  exports  of  this  product  during  1916  were  valued  at  $452,292. 

Next  agriculture  should  be  classed  stock-raising,  in  which  Colombia  offers 
unrivalled  advantages,  because  all  its  territory,  especially  that  of  the  Departments 
on  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  combine  conditions  particularly  desirable  for  the 
development  of  this  industry  on  a  large  scale,  possessing  as  they  do  a  healthful 
and  equible  climate,  with  abundant  water  and  excellent  pasture-lands  that  favor 
the  raising  and  fattening  of  all  kinds  of  live-stock  on  the  alfalfa  and  other  crops 
that  may  be  grown  on  the  fertile  soil,  and  furthermore,  the  country  lies  midway 
between^the  United  States  and  Europe  and  other  South  American  nations  below 
the  tropics,  so  that  the  time  and  expense  of  shipment  is  much  less  to  Colombia  than 
to  such  other  countries,  while  Colombian  products  are  the  first  to  reach  foreign 
markets  and  may  be  sold  at  profits  in  competition  with  those  from  other  countries. 
It  is  estimated  that  there  are  approximately  7,000,000  head  of  cattle  in  the  country, 
while  alongside  great  rivers  more  than  200,000,000  could  easily  be  pastured.  So 
it  is  certain  that  with  proper  care  and  with  the  establishment  of  modern  packing 
houses  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  Colombia  can  be  exporting  1,000,000  head  of 
beef  a  year,  to  the  profit  of  the  entire  world. 

Colombia  possesses  limitless  mines  of  practically  all  known  minerals,  but  the 
majority  are  not  worked  because  of  the  lack  of  roads  over  which  to  send  forth  the 
ore,  and  in  those  being  worked  primitive  and  wasteful  methods  are  employed. 
However,  in  the  Departments  of  Antioquia  and  Caldas,  the  greatest  gold-producing 
sections  of  the  country,  mining  is  being  conducted  extensively.  The  most  valuable 
emerald  and  platinum  deposits  in  the  world  are  found  in  Colombia,  and  gold  is 
scattered  throughout,  as  well  as  silver,  copper,  oil,  asphalt  and  coal,  all  of  which 
might  be  exploited  with  profit.  The  coal  deposits  are  estimated  at  13,500  square 
kilometers  in  extent,  or  27,000,000,000  of  metric  tons,  of  the  same  high  grade  as 
that  already  produced  in  the  mines  exploited  on  a  small  scale  already.  The  oil 
is  considered  next  in  rank  to  that  of  Mexico,  the  United  States  and  Roumania, 
though  ft  has  been  neglected  heretofore.  Hence  it  will  be  seen  that  in  mining  also 
Colombia  offers  a  unique  field. 

In  concluding  I  will  quote  from  Dr.  H.  H.  Rusby,  the  distinguished  American 
scientist  and  President  of  the  College  of  Pharmacy  of  New  York,  who  stated  re- 
cently in  an  article  concerning  his  scientific  expeditions  to  Colombia  that  in  his 
opinion  the  development  of  the  country  depends  upon  the  United  States,  since  owing 
to  its  proximity  it  will  be  natural  for  Colombia  to  produce  what  are  for  it  prime 
necessities,  and  hence  it  would  be  unpardonable  for  American  citizens  to  neglect 
the  opportunity  therein  offered  for  investment  of  capital  with  proper  securities,  and 
furthermore  that  there  is  no  country  of  America  that  presents  greater  possibilities 


COLOMBIA  143 

for  the  construction  of  railroads  and  development  of  industries  that  use  electric 
power.  He  cites  undesirable  features  found  in  Colombia  also,  such  as  the  ignorance 
of  certain  classes  of  its  people  and  their  lack  of  volition  to  undertake  large  en- 
terprises, but  states  that  the  general  character  of  the  working  class  is  pleasing, 
being  composed  largely  of  sane,  strong,  frugal,  conscientious  people,  scrupulous  in 
complying  with  what  they  consider  their  duty,  in  contrast  to  natives  of  some  of  the 
South  American  countries,  and  Dr.  Rusby  was  especially  struck  by  the  remarkable 
memory  some  of  them  exhibited. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  my  outline  of  Colombia  as  a  field  for  the  investment  of 
foreign  capital.  Faulty  as  it  may  be,  it  is  my  hope  that  it  may  in  some  measure 
contribute  (if  to  a  small  degree)  to  the  development  of  closer  commercial  bonds, 
between  my  country  and  the  United  States. 


144  SECOND    PAN   AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

COSTA  RICA 

COSTA  RICAN  TRADE  AND  FINANCES 

BY  JOHN  MEIGGS  KEITH,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE  OF  SAN  JOSE, 

COSTA  RICA. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

Mr.  Chairman;  Gentlemen : 

In  area  and  population  Costa  Rica  is  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  Spanish 
American  republics,  and  at  the  same  time  it  is  one  of  the  most  progressive.  In 
its  development  it  has  not  had  to  face  many  of  the  great  ethnic  problems  that  its 
sister  republics  have  had  to  contend  with,  as  they  are  a  homogeneous  people,  a 
large  part  of  its  population  descending  from  the  old  Spanish  conquistador es.  The 
stock  that  brought  western  civilization  to  America  and  accomplished  one  of  the 
most  amazing  feats  of  colonization  recorded  in  history.  Innumerable  savage  tribes 
scattered  over  a  vast  continent,  which  had  only  a  rudimentary  and  crude  agriculture, 
no  knowledge  of  iron  or  steel,  no  work  or  milch  animals — all  fundamental  elements 
of  progress  in  the  economy  of  human  labor.  The  conquistadorcs  united  these  tribes 
under  a  common  language,  religion  and  jurisprudence,  giving  them  the  arts,  agri- 
culture and  traditions  of  the  mother  country. 

Of  the  constructive  period  of  Spanish  America,  covering  more  than  three 
centuries,  English  historians  until  very  recent  years  have  written  little  that  has  not 
the  bias  of  race  prejudice.  Las  Casas'  muckraking  of  Spanish  adventurers  has 
had  wide  circulation,  critics  forgetting  that  these  adventurers  were  but  prototypes 
of  others  that  crossed  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  three  centuries  later  and  were  dealt 
with  by  the  vigilantes  of  California. 

Costa  Rica,  after  acquiring  its  independence,  and  in  spite  of  its  poverty, 
sought  to  bring  itself  into  closer  contact  with  the  outside  world  and  establish  a 
firm  foundation  for  its  interior  development.  In  1871  it  commenced  the  construc- 
tion of  an  interoceanic  railway,  now  completed.  It  had  already  established  the 
telegraph,  also  an  admirable  system  of  land  registration,  so  good  that  litigation 
over  a  title  is  a  very  rare  occurrence.  It  has  built  school .  houses  in  almost  every 
town  and  village  of  the  country.  Its  public  buildings  are  a  credit  to  the  Republic. 
Costa  Rica  was  amongst  the  first  of  the  Spanish  American  countries  to  realize  the 
importance  of  sanitation,  and  commenced  the  sanitation  of  its  principal  port  in 
1893.  Large  sums  of  money  have  also  been  expended  in  the  sanitation  of  its 
towns  and  villages.  This  enthusiasm  for  the  material  expression  of  progress  has 
been  very  costly,  and  accounts  for  the  heavy  burden  of  debt  that  the  country 
carries. 

Costa  Rica,  like  many  of  its  sister  republics,  has  attempted  to  finance  a 
democratic  form  of  government  by  an  undemocratic  fiscal  system.  It  derives  its 
principal  revenue  by  indirect  taxation  through  the  custom  house  and  liquor 
monopoly,  the  incidence  of  which  falls  on  the  people  least  able  to  pay. 

The  outbreak  of  the  war  marked  the  collapse  of  its  fiscal  system  by  the 
reduction  of  its  custom  house  receipts.  The  customs  and  liquor  revenues  were 
pledged  to  the  English  and  French  bondholders,  and  the  country,  strongly  pro-ally 
in  sentiment,  loyally  maintained  the  service  of  its  foreign  loans  at  the  sacrifice  of 
its  domestic  obligations,  and  thereby  did  its  bit. 

Fiscal  reform  became  an  imperative  necessity,  but  there  has  been  great 
divergence  of  opinion  as  to  ways  and  means.  Inflation  of  the  currency  was  resorted 
to,  which  aggravated  the  situation  by  depreciating  the  value  of  the  currency  and 
decreasing  the  buying  power  of  the  people.  The  custom  house  receipts  were 
reduced  75  per  cent. 

New  sources  of  revenue  were  created  by  direct  taxation,  which  undoubtedly 
have  laid  the  foundation  for  a  sound  fiscal  system  in  the  future,  but  the  imme- 
diate effect  of  this  reform  is  nullified  by  the  political  unrest  that  it  has  engendered, 
and  which  has  induced  excessive  military  expenditures. 

Of  the  judiciary  of  the  country  I  can  only  speak  in  eulogy.  Its  laws  relating 
to  instruments  of  credit,  banking,  patents  and  trademarks,  common  carriers,  bank- 
ruptcy, etc.,  are  modern  and  very  nearly  fulfill  the  recommendations  of  the 
Financial  Conference  of  1915. 

Costa  Rica  because  of  its  geographical  position  in  the  tropical  belt  presents 
many  of  the  problems  common  to  that  region  where  a  large  part  of  Spanish 


COSTA    RICA  145 

America  is  situated.  It  is  a  common  error  in  the  North  to  consider  the  tropics 
as  the  most  fertile  portion  of  the  earth,  and  attribute  its  lack  of  material  develop- 
ment to  the  indolence  of  its  inhabitants. 

Such  is  not  the  case.  In  the  tropics  the  human  race  has  its  greatest  struggle 
for  existence.  Human  labor  and  wealth  are  not  cumulative  to  the  same  degree  as 
in  the  temperate  regions.  The  destructive  forces  of  nature  continually  impinge 
on  the  constructive  effort  of  man. 

The  farmer  must  work  for  12  months  in  the  year  as  against  4  in  the  North, 
and  the  gross  return  of  a  year's  labor  is  less  in  volume  and  price.  Torrential 
rains  preclude  the  use  of  labor-saving  machinery  to  a  great  extent. 

It  was  not  an  accident  that  placed  the  metropolis  of  the  United  States  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  River  instead  of  on  the  Mississippi,  nor  the  situation  of 
the  capital  of  Brazil  23  degrees  south  of  the  Equator  instead  of  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Amazon. 

The  development  of  the  tropics  has  been  handicapped  by  the  low  price  levels 
of  its  products.  There  can,  therefore,  be  no  great  commercial  expansion  on  a  firm 
footing  until  there  is  an  increase  in  the  price  levels  and  volume  of  its  products, 
to  permit  higher  wages  and  a  higher  standard  of  living  for  its  working  classes, 
thus  creating  a  greater  purchasing  power.  They  cannot  buy  in  excess  of  the 
value  of  their  products. 

The  problems  of  the  future  are  largely  social  as  well  as  economic,  and 
demand  a  large  expenditure  for  sanitation,  improved  facilities  for  transportation, 
public  education,  etc.  Costa  Rica  has  strained  its  credit  to  the  utmost  to  create 
these  fundamental  conditions  of  progress,  and  is  proud  of  what  it  has  accomplished, 
but  it  has  not  materially  increased  the  price  value  of  its  products,  although  it  has 
increased  the  volume  of  its  exports. 

Mr.  Bryan  in  the  Financial  Conference  of  1915  suggested  the  United  States 
lending  its  credit  to  Spanish  America  to  finance  its  betterments. 

To  many  this  suggestion  seems  preposterous,  but  we  should  not  forget  that 
the  six  billion  dollars  of  gold  and  silver  produced  by  Spanish  American  mines 
made  in  four  centuries  the  creation  of  the  credit  system  possible  to  which  the 
world  owes  its  material  development  of  today. 

The  casual  observer  is  too  inclined  to  judge  tropical  America  by  the  lack 
of  material  progress,  losing  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  Spanish  American  civilization 
rests  on  human  rather  than  material  values. 

Its  social  organism  is  the  great  stabilizing  force  behind  the  constructive 
efforts  of  four  centuries  that  has  withstood  the  vicissitudes  of  the  climate  and 
the  destructive  forces  of  nature.  The  colonies  were  far  removed  from  the  mother 
country,  with  uncertain  means  of  communication,  largely  dependent  upon  their 
own  resources,  under  political  regimes  good,  bad  and  indifferent.  Fewi  people 
have  democratic  principles  so  firmly  rooted  in  their  social  organization  and  strive 
more  earnestly  to  express  these  principles  in  their  political  institutions,  although 
their  governments  at  times  appear  to  be  a  negation  of  these  principles,  according 
to  our  standards. 

In  spite  of  almost  unsurmountable  ethnic  difficulties  in  the  way  of  their 
realization,  regardless  of  repeated  failures  and  disillusion,  they  cling  tenaciously 
to  the  highest  expression  of  democratic  principle,  with  the  same  faith  that  its 
church  upholds  its  ethical  principles  in  spite  of  the  weakness  of  human  nature. 

Democracy  has  given  us  power  and  prosperity.  In  Spanish  America  it  has 
often  brought  strife  and  discouragement,  but  they  have  kept  the  faith.  Is  it  to  be 
wondered  at  that  they  demand  self-determination?  Their  sympathy  with  the 
cause  to  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy  has  been  manifest. 

I  will  not  dwell  on  the  antithesis  of  the  mentality  of  the  Latin  American 
and  the  Anglo-Saxon.  The  heroic  sacrifice  of  France  in  defence  of  the  democratic 
cause  in  the  late  war  demonstrates  that  the  Latin  countries  and  ourselves  are 
united  in  the  common  cause  of  human  liberty.  It  took  France  nearly  three  quar- 
ters of  a  century  after  the  Revolution  to  realize  the  democratic  aspirations  of  its 
social  organism  in  its  political  institutions.  Spanish  America  has  still  greater 
problems  than  France  to  solve  to  realize  its  aspirations.  How  great  the  debt  of 
gratitude  we  owe  to  the  late  King  Edward  of  England,  who  saw  in  the  soul  of 
France  the  same  democratic  aspirations  as  those  treasured  by  the  English  race, 
although  differently  expressed,  and  made  the  Entente  possible,  which  has  saved  the 
world  for  democracy.  If  we  Americans  could  see  into  the  soul  of  the  Spanish 
American  people,  we  would  find  the  same  ideals  and  aspirations  in  the  common 
cause  of  democracy  which  should  unite  us  in  mutual  confidence  and  respect. 


146  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

CUBA 

CUBA'S  PLACE  IN  PAN  AMERICAN  TRADE 

BY  SENOR  PORFIRIO  A.  BONET,  COMMERCIAL  ATTACHE  TO  THE  LEGATION  OF  CUBA. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

Report  of  the  Cuban  Legation  read  by  the  Commercial  Attache  at  the  Pan 
American  Commercial  Congress  on  June  3,  1919. 

The  report  published  by  the  Secretary  of  Finance  of  the  Republic  of  Cuba 
on  March  1,  1919,  gives  as  the  total  of  the  exportation  of  Cuba  during  the  year 
1918  the  sum  of  $413,325,251,  and  as  the  total  of  the  importations  the  sum  of 
$297,622,215.  These  figures  show  a  total  foreign  trade  of  $710,947,466. 

Though  the  importations  and  exportations  of  bullion  are  included  in  these 
figures,  the  importation  did  not  exceed  $2,989,120,  nor  the  exportations  reach 
a  higher  amount  than  $6,441,749.  These  figures,  as  compared  with  those  of  1917, 
after  deduction  of  bullion,  shows  an  excess  in  value  of  importations  for  1918 
over  importations  of  1917,  of  $38,547,788,  and  an  increase  in  the  exportations  of 
$50,855,402;  with  this  noteworthy  circumstance,  that  in  the  columns  of  expor- 
tations, not  only  value  but  volume  increased,  while  in  importations  the  prices 
increased  more  than  the  volume. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  anojnalous  situation  created  by  the  recent 
war  in  all  the  spheres  of  commerce,  the  irregularities  of  mercantile  relations 
and  the  difficulties  of  transportation  this  as  an  exceptionally  brilliant  showing 
and  establishes  a  new  record  in  the  continuously  ascending  scale  of  Cuba's  for- 
eign trade. 

The  commercial  relations 'of  the  Republic  of  Cuba  with  the  United  States 
have  also  reached,  during  this  past  year,  the  high-tide  mark,  and  it  does  not 
seem,  judging  by  every  indication,  that  the  situation  will  change  in  the  near  fu- 
ture, but  rather  'that  the  volume  and  price  of  our  commerce  with  the  United 
States  will  continue  to  increase,  due  allowance  being  made  for  commerce  with 
Europe  when  normal  relations  with  the  belligerent  countries  are  completely  re- 
established. 

The  proximity  of  Cuba  to  the  United  States  has  so  simplified  and  facili- 
tated every  aspect  of  business  between  the  two  countries  that  many  of  '  the  prob- 
lems confronting  the  other  Latin  American  countries  are  found  to  be  absent 
when  review  is  made  of  the  necessities  of  Cuba 'at  the  present  moment. 

Our  banking  relations  with  this  country,  that  have  reached  a  high  degree 
of  perfection,  though  they  are  still  susceptible  of  certain  modifications  that  will 
surely  make  credit  more  expansive  and  at  the  same  time  offer 'profitable  invest- 
ment to  American  capital,  are  almost  equal  to  those  of  any  great  State  in  the 
Union.  There  has  never  been  a  day  '  in  the  history  of  Cuba  at  which  a  larger 
amount  of  money  has  been  in  circulation  than  at  the  present  moment.  The  credit 
institutions  of  Cuba  will  surely  be  reorganized  and  modernized  within  a  short  time 
and  a  convention  with  the  United  States  on  the  circulation  of  the  American  cur- 
rency in  Cuba  now  used  as  legal  tender  on  a  par  basis  with  Cuban  gold  would 
seem  to  be  a  general  convenience.  It  is  believed  that  such  a  convention  might 
well  establish  the  route  to  be  followed  with  the  other  Pan  .American 'countries 
in  order  to  attain  as  soon  as  practicable  the  monetary  unity' of  this  hemisphere. 

In  the  meantime  those  who  are  called 'upon  to  study  the  problems  of  com- 
mercial relations  of  Cuba  and  the  United  States  would  do  well  to  examine  these 
suggestions  for  at  the  present  time  there  already  exists  a  monetary  union  'be- 
tween Cuba  and  the  United  States  that  would  only  necessitate  diplomatic  sanc- 
tions for  certain  particulars,  rather  of  form  than  of  'substance,  in  order  to  be 
similarized  to  the  Latin  union,  the  Scandinavian  union  and  other  monetary  con- 
ventions existing  at  present  or  that  have  existed  before  now. 

We  have  said  that  insufficiency  of  transportation  during  the  war  and  this 
is  certainlv  a  well  known  fact  hindered  trade  to  a  great  extent  between  Cuba 
and  the  United  States.  It  still  continues  to  be  one  of  the  difficulties  that  are 
encountered  for  a  more  ample  and  free  development  of 'our  commercial  relations. 

We  have  noticed  that  the  republics  of  South  and  Central  America  are 
extremely  interested  in  the  establishment  of  new  steamship  lines  that  would  per~ 
feet  'the  system  of  communications  between  those  countries  and  the  United 


CUBA  147 

States.  It  would  seem  that  certain  of  the  ports  of  Cuba  might  be  utilized  for 
exchanges  between  North  and  South  America  and  the  countries  of  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Pacific,  on  account  of  'their  exceptional  situation  and  their  many  facili- 
ties already  greatly  developed.  This  is  a  point  we  strongly  recommend  to  those 
who  study  at  present  such  assistance  to  maritime  communications.  The  Gov- 
ernment of  Cuba  has  always  looked  with  special  favor  on  every  reasonable 
project  intended  to  further  these  views. 

Considerable  economy  in  prices  of  articles  exported  to  Cuba  from  the 
United  States  might  be  derived,  in  many  cases,  from  a  more  practical  and  in- 
telligent routing  of  merchandise.  We  would  also  subscribe  to  suggestions  generally 
made  by  Pan  American  commerce  to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  with 
regard  to  credit,  packing  and  marking.  These  suggestions  have  been  made, 
mostly,  as  a  result  of  pre-war  experience  in  trade  with  the  United  States  as 
compared  to  trade  with  Europe  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they 
will  be  taken  into  consideration  more  seriously  than  ever,  in  view  of  European 
competition  that  will  soon  endeavor  to  reestablish  its  previous  supremacy  in  the 
New  World  markets. 

From  the  enormous  development  of  the  relations  of  the  United  States 
with  Europe  and  especially  the  necessities  of  European  countries  and  the  vast 
credits  extended  to  European  nations  by  the  United  States  during  the  last  war, 
it  is  to  be  surmized  that  this  country  will  give  special 'attention. to  its  commerce 
with  the  European  continent.  However,  the  moment  is  also  very  favorable  for 
the  United  States  to  assure  the  advantages  already  gained  in  Latin  America 
where  the  field  is  at  present  open  and  so  large  as  to  admit  of  its  retaining  and 
consolidating  its  present  situation  without  aspiring  to  establish  in  any  way  a 
monopoly.  On  the  other  hand,  we  would  invite  our  Latin  American  sister  Re- 
publics to  realize  that  the  utility  derived  by  Cuba  from  commerce  with  the  United 
States  has  been  as  important  as  the  political  advantages  that  have  resulted  for 
her  from  the  friendship  of  this  great  country. 

At  the 'present  moment  we  have  no  special  suggestions  for  this  conference 
other  than  those  expressed  in  this  memorandum,  but  stand  ready  to  cooperate  in 
every  way  to  a  general  plan  that  may  be  evolved  from  its  labors  for  the  bring- 
ing together  of  the  various  commercial  interests  of  Latin  America.  We  are  in- 
deed at  the  beginning,  so  to  say,  of  a  new  era  in  which  each  of  our  countries 
should  keep  in  mind  the  interest  of  the  others  and  prepare  to  work 'out  their 
problems  in,  absolute  harmony.  There  is  such  a  variety  of  resources  in  all  the 
Pan  American  States  that  the  various  'nations,  commercial  policy  should  not 
come  into  conflict  at  any  time.  On  the  contrary  they  should  tend  to  strengthen 
the  concept  of  the  Pan  American  spirit  as  it  was  expressed  by  Mr.  MacAdoo 
during  the  First  Financial  Conference  and  by  His  Excellency  the  Secretary  of 
State,  Mr.  Lansing,  at  the  Second  Pan  American  Scientific  Congress. 

The  Pan  American  Union  publishes  from  time  to  time  official  statistics 
regarding  Latin  America.  The  members  of  the  Commercial  Conference  are 
referred  to  those  publications  for  general  knowledge  of  the  actual  situation  in  each 
one  of  the  Republics,  economically  and  commercially  considered,  as  well  as  for 
data  regarding  geographical,  climatological  and  other  conditions.  It  is  interesting 
to  bring  to  your  notice  certain  facts  about  Cuba  that  might  otherwise  be  over- 
looked. They  may  serve  as  a  key  to  the  points  advanced  in  the  above  paragraphs. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  area  of  Cuba  that  comprises  44,164  sq.  m. 
(114,385  sq.  kilometres)  and  her  population  that  in  1914  was  2,467,883.  though  it 
is  expected  that  the  census  about  to  be  taken  will  show  a  population  of  very  near 
three  million  inhabitants,  the  island's  foreign  trade  and  the  volume  of  her  products 
can  be  justly  called  wonderful. 

Comparative  statement  of  the  total  value  of  the  exportation*  of  Cuba,  in 
dollars  of  the  national  currency,  from  January  1st  to  December  31st,  including 
bullion,  in  tlve  years  1917-1918. 

1918.  1917. 

United   States    $293,997,619  $257,446,699 

Other  American  countries 9,428,079  8,445,260 

Germany 

Spain     6,775,875  13,546,199 

France     5,656,957  11,616,630 

United  Kingdom   95,817,266  73,563,756 

Other   European    countries    495,154  1,339,460 

All  the  other  countries   1,154,301  887,506 

Total...  $413,325,251  $366,845,510 


148 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Statement  of  the  value  in  dollars  of  the  importations  during  the  same  years 
1917-1918. 


United    States    

Other  American  countries 

Germany    

Spain     

France    

United  Kingdom    

Other  European  countries 
All  the  other  countries  .  . . 


Total. 


1918. 

$222,262,276 

20,357,023 

2 

10,392,529 

7,044,221 

9,154,567 

2,362,336 

26,149,261 

$297,622,215 


1917. 

$206,353,087 

17,920,136 

730 

15,651,998 

6,289,418 

15,377,328 

3,425,608 

7,554,750 

$272,573,055 


The  principal  exports  of  Cuba  are  sugar,  tobacco,  fruits  and  minerals.  The 
sugar  crop  of  1917-1918  produced  3,473,184  tons  of  sugar,  the  value  of  which  was 
estimated  at  $342,094,099  including  the  value  of  174,642,257  gallons  of  mollasses. 
This  great  result  was  obtained  by  198  Sugar  Centrals. 

The  sugar  crop  of  1918-1919  is  just  about  finished  and  is  calculated  to  pro- 
duce around  four  million  tons  of  sugar.  Both  of  these  great  crops  were  sold 
to  the  United  States  and  the  allied  governments  in  the  late  war  and  constituted  a 
great  asset  on  the  side  of  the  Allies. 

Examining  the  official  reports  of  the  Department  of  Finance  we  can  acquire 
an  idea  of  the  things  that  Cuba  sells  and  those  that  she  buys.  We  have  given 
above  the  total  foreign  commerce  of  Cuba  for  the  year  ending  December  31st, 
1918.  We  now  compare  that  result  with  the  preceding  ten  years  of  foreign  trade 
as  published  by  the  Pan  American  Union.  In  these  statistics  are  found  the 
articles  imported  and  exported  by  Cuba. 


TEN-YEAR  TABLE  OF  FOREIGN  TRADE. 


Fiscal  Year. 
1907-1908.. 
1908-1909. . 
1909-1910. . 
1910-1911.. 
1911-1912. . 
1912-1913.. 
1913-1914.. 
1914-1915.. 
1915-1916.. 
1916-1917.. 


Imports. 
$98,829,000 

86,791,000 
103,446,000 
108,098,000 
120,229,000 
135,810,000 
134,008,000 
128,132,000 
201,024,000 
261,377,000 


Exports. 
$112,122,000 
117,564,000 
114,039,000 
129,199,000 
146,788,000 
165,208,000 
170,797,000 
219,447,000 
336,801,000 
357,040,000 


Total. 

$210,951,000 
204,355,000 
277,485,000 
237,297,000 
267,017,000 
301,018,000 
304,805,000 
347,579,000 
537,825,000 
618,417,000 


The  imports  by  countries  for  the  last  five  fiscal  years  were : 


United   States          

1912-1913. 
.      $71,753,872 

United   Kingdom    

17,411,522 

Spain    

10,602,302 

France 

8,237,276 

British   India 

2,360,438 

Uruguay    

2,224,436 

Porto   Rico    

3,403,716 
1,498,964 

Mexico               .... 

938,180 

China     

130,943 

Italy    

624,560 

Argentina   .                 * 

1,657,796 

Japan    

170,854 

Netherlands    
Switzerland 

768,316 
385  386 

Chile      

Denmark    

234,478 

Norway 

859  400 

Germany     

9,515  104 

Other   countries    

3,033,047 

1913-1914. 

$71,420,042 

15,618,673 

10,884,058 

8,257,297 

2,896,929 

1,714,298 

2,987,510 

1,664,902 

1,353,899 

118,423 

770,019 

1.457,633 

141,789 

992,353 

480,082 

1,938 

204,802 

1,419,925' 

8,275,766 

3,347,800 


1914-1915. 

$78,971,636 

15,003,714 

10,459,426 

4,240,171 

3,023,206 

1,588,847 

2,427,750 

1,309,457 

1,710,763 

151,616 

717,161 

888,244 

97,238 

1,779,861 

143,844 

123,018 

253,516 

2,186,724 

2,218,556 

837,342 


1915-1916. 

1916-1917. 

$149,590,768 

$194,822,851 

16,714,838 

19,352,765 

12,399,319 

16,151,692 

5,358,342 

6,227,217 

3,410,185 

4,578,116 

2,661,578 

4,239,010 

2,427,344 

3,168,664 

1,316,667 

3,630,870 

1,297,097 

2,573,712 

426,662 

1,232,787 

735,783 

738,061 

766,610 

694,553 

269,426 

647,067 

862,866 

526,191 

222,991 

461,063 

16,412 

394,600 

256,791 

380,525 

1,296,031 

356,631 

64,367 

3,170 

929,593 

197,689 

Total $135,810,590   $134,008,138   $128,132,090   $201,023,670   $261,377,234 


CUBA 


149 


The  imports  by  classes  for  the  last  five  fiscal  years  were : 


Earth,   stones  and  manu- 
factures of: 

Stones  and  earths 

Mineral   oils,   bitumens, 
etc 

Glass  and  crystal  ware 

Earthenware    and    por- 
celain    

Metals  and  manufactures 

of: 

Gold,    silver    and    plati- 
num     

Iron   and   steel 

Copper   and   alloys 

All  other   metals    

Chemicals,    drugs,    paints 

and    perfumeries : 

Primary   products    .... 

Paints,    etc.,    varnishes 
and  inks 

Chemical  products  .... 

Oils,   soaps,   etc 

Fibers   and   manufactures 

of: 

Cotton    

Vegetables,   fibers    .... 

Wool,   hair,   etc 

Silk 

Papers    and    manufac- 
tures of: 

Papers  and  cardboard. 

Books  and  prints 

Wood     and     other     vege- 
table   substances: 

Wood      and      manufac- 
tures   of    

All    other    

Animal  and  animal  prod- 
ucts : 

Animals    

Hides,       skins       and 
feathers    

Manufactures  of  leather 
Instruments,    machinery 

and   apparatus: 

Musical    instruments, 
watches   and   clocks.. 

Machinery    

Apparatus    

Foods  and  drinks : 

Meats     

Fish    

Breadstuffs    

Fruits     

Vegetables    

Beverages  and   oils 

Dairy   products    

All    other    

Miscellaneous  

Articles  free  of  duty... 


1912-1913. 


$1,616,725 


1,346,830 
1,796,902 


939,163 


237,890 
6,814,244 
1,102,349 

376,618 


632,113 

874,359 
4,246,634 
2,334,144 


12,647,332 

4,739,402 

1,220,257 

524,291 


764,799 
449,945 


3.674,558 
289,224 


416,261 


703,961 
5,806,433 


321,926 

11,436,434 

3,587,936 

12,629,886 
1,833,800 

16,440,564 
768,201 
5,512,761 
3,459,419 
2,908,422 
5,765,486 
3.581,979 

13.009,332 


1913-1914. 


$1,801,636 


1,521,616 
1,577,972 


1,099,527 


351,867 
7,460,425 
1,108,818 

394,450 


496,440 

868,261 
4,159,059 
2,302,883 


10,478,932 

5,382,098 

1,216,528 

595,314 


1,949,875 
485,192 


3,344,998 
227,756 


379,258 


816,904 
5,109,520 


371,653 

11,061,667 

3,986,826 

12,636,236 
2,289,553 

16,175,070 
800,265 
5,176,203 
3,997,262 
3,313,834 
5,231,975 
4,886,361 

10,951,949 


1914-1915. 


$1,384,209 


1,447,779 
1,021,971 


765,079 


209,581 

5,346,326 

734,498 

244,529 


532,481 

764,173 
5,119,590 
2,506,789 


9,715,869 

6,263,707 

822,476 

544,923 


1,601,458 
216,589 


3,025,151 
217,996 


282,156 

756,818 
5,532,295 


227,383 
8,538,012 
3,295,803 

11,110,964 
2,510,331 

17,954,196 
776,586 
6,060,034 
4,245,695 
3,241,295 
4,424,075 
3,767,855 

12,823,419 


1915-1916. 


$2,008,162 


2,380,552 
1,644,871 


902,967 


377,763 

8,488,552 

952,404 

349,651 


576,817 

1,056,377 
6,834,837 
3,264,819 


12,819,237 

6,377,227 

1,399,093 

876,548 


2,573,381 
275,308 


5,037,296 
377,355 


404,445 


1,113,848 
7,072,899 


338,235 

19,543,575 

6,779,467 

13,975,932 
3,119,831 

21,999,946 
1,206,362 
8,773,508 
5,096,082 
3,710,983 
4,899,725 
5,215,982 

39,199,633 


1916-1917. 


$2,034,159 

3,109,421 
2,064,183 

1,258,902 


576,999 

15,233,541 

1,742,475 

424,960 


730,180 

1,340,802 
8,667,812 
4,347,095 


17,821,931 

9,126,791 

2,270,238 

936,173 


3,929,005 
329,386 


5,107,768 
568,587 


693,888 


1,267,958 
8,256,171 


430,004 
29,974,076 
11,960,479 

20,823,774 
3,283,455 

25,845,427 
1,451,324 

11.460,918 
6,410,684 
4,060,992 
6,293,348 
7,419,671 

40,124,657 


Total $135,801,590   $134,008,138   $128,132,090   $201,023,670   $261,377,234 

Cuba  produces  or  can  produce  in  large  quantities  many  farm  products  that 
the  United  States  consumes.  At  the  same  time  Cuba  consumes  all  kinds  of 
American  manufactured  goods  except  those  exclusively  used  in  cold  climates. 

Demographic  reports  show  that  the  death  rate  in  Cuba  is  lower  than  in  any 
other  country  in  the  world.  A.  Hyatt  Verrill,  in  his  book  on  Cuba  says  that: 
"Although  Cuba  is  best  known  and  is  most  to  be  recommended  as  a  winter  resort 
yet  in  midsummer  it  has  its  attractions,  and  many  visitors  find  Cuba  far  more 
admirable  in  summer  than  in  winter.  At  this  season  it  is  hot  in  the  large  coast 
towns,  it  is  true,  but  in  the  interior  it  is  pleasant,  and  nowhere  in  the  island 
does  the  temperature  score  into  the  nineties  as  it  does  in  New  York  and  our 
northern  towns.  Moreover  in  the  summer,  tropical  fruits  are  at  their  best, 
flowers  deck  the  country  with  a  riot  of  color  and  the  miles  of  Poinciana  trees 
form  masses  of  living  flame,  a  gorgeous  scene  never  dreamed  of  by  those  who 
have  seen  the  tropics  only  in  the  winter  season." 


HONDURAS 

P0REIGK  COMMERCE  1917 

TOTAIr  *14-,3£3,000. 


FRAKCE 


OTHER. 

OOUKTRJES 

f  60,000 


UNITED  STATES 
*7,G79,000. 


CUBA 


151 


Very  efficient  railroad  service  obtains  throughout  the  island.  The  extent  of 
the  railroads  is  about  2600  miles.  The  first  Cuban  railroad  was  put  in  opera- 
tion in  1837,  twelve  years  in  advance  of  Spain,  the  mother  country.  Many  fine 
roads  have  been  built  throughout  the  island  and  a  plan  for  a  general  highway 
system  is  now  being  studied  by  Cuba's  best  engineers. 

As  a  country  for  immigration,  Cuba  has  already  been  appreciated  by  many 
Americans  who  have  established  themselves  there  and  are  doing  good  business. 
But  the  majority  of  immigrants  still  continues  to  come  from  Europe.  The  island's 
population  is  now  about  50  persons  to  the  square  mile.  But  the  country  can 
easily  support  sixteen  million  people  without  ceasing  to  be  an  agricultural  country. 

The  latest  statistics  on  immigration  are  the  following: 

1917.  1918. 

Spain     .                             34,795  14,292 

Hayti    10,135.  10,640 

Jamaica    7,889  9,184 

North  Americans   1,013  771 

Porto  Ricans    895  395 

England  and  Smaller  Antilles   567  255 

Mexico     526  244 

South    Americans    233  31« 

Central  America    197  249 

China     3  237 

France  and   French   Antilles    173  118 

Hollanders    (Curacao)     26  100 

Sundry  from  the  Antilles   195  37 

The  financial  condition  of  the  Government  of  Cuba  is  excellent  and  the 
bonds  of  the  Republic  are  always  very  highly  quoted  in  New  York  and  in 
London. 

One  of  the  great  advantages  for  American  bankers  and  merchants  and 
people  doing  business  with  Cuba  consists  in  the  fact  that  they  can  easily  control 
their  own  interests,  Havana  being  but  52  hours  from  New  York,  via  Key  West, 
and  less  than  three  days  by  sea.  These  circumstances  have  favored  business  to  a 
large  extent  and  encouraged  tourists  to  visit  the  country.  Telegraphic  service 
and  a  perfect  telephone  system  allow  of  reaching  almost  any  point  of  Cuba  from 
Havana,  and  cables  for  the  United  States,  Europe  and  South  America  can  be 
sent  even  from  the  interior. 

There  is  a  feature  that  should  not  be  left  unmentioned.  Cuba  is  an  es- 
sentially progressive  country  and  takes  and  buys,  none  but  the  best  and  up-to-date 
articles  of  all  kinds.  From  the  giant  machinery  of  the  stupendous  sugar  factories 
to  the  electric  cars,  self-communicating  telephones,  and  the  lighting  system  and 
port  facilities,  Cuba  has  the  best  that  money  can  buy,  and  in  doing  business  with 
her  these  circumstances  should  be  kept  in  mind. 


152  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC 

TRADE  OF  THE  DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC 

BY  SENOR  MANUEL  DE  J.  CAMACHO,  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  THE  DOMINICAN 
REPUBLIC  IN  NEW  YORK 

On  account  of  the  limited  time  at  my  disposal  I  must  confine  myself  to  giving 
you  a  brief  sketch  of  the  commerce  of  the  Dominican  Republic  which  I  have  the 
honor  to  represent. 

My  greatest  desire  has  been  to  see  realized  the  lofty  and  useful  labor  of  the 
Pan  American  Union  for  strengthening  the  commercial  relations  among  the  coun- 
tries of  the  American  Continent,  and  it  is  a  source  of  pleasure  to  me  that  this 
great  ideal  should  be  approaching  its  attainment  more  and  more  every  day.  In 
so  far  as  my  country  is  concerned,  I  state  with  pride  that  today,  more  than  ever, 
it  perceives  the  changes  which  for  some  time  past  the  commercial  relations  between 
the  United  States  and  the  Dominican  Republic  have  undergone.  The  volume  of 
business  now  being  done  between  the  two  countries  indicates  that  commercial 
cordiality  has  united  in  a  close  embrace  the  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  this 
country  and  the  Dominican  importers,  and  this  feeling  of  commercial  sincerity 
exists  today  without  doubt,  because  the  American  exporter  and  manufacturer  has 
come  to  realize  exactly  the  great  volume  of  business  which  the  different  Spanish 
American  countries  offer,  and  on  the  other  hand,  because  they  have  felt  the  need 
of  correcting  the  estimation  in  which  American  products  were  held  in  many 
Latin  American  countries. 

Now  the  American  exporter  and  manufacturer  offers  liberal  terms  to  the 
importers  of  Latin  America;  and  it  is  also  true  that  in  the  Dominican  Republic, 
as  well  as  the  majority  of  the  countries  which  make  up  the  American  Continent, 
they  have  come  to  recognize  the  worth  of  American  merchandise.  This,  coupled 
with  the  sincere  desire  for  mutual  cooperation,  certainly  furnishes  an  excellent 
basis  for  the  betterment  of  commercial  relations  of  Pan  America.  Many  European 
countries  used  to  offer  very  liberal  and  long  terms  to  Dominican  importers,  while 
in  this  country  they  required  cash  payment,  or,  at  the  most  they  granted  a  very 
short  term  which  offered  no  advantages.  This  state  of  affairs,  however,  has 
almost  disappeared,  and  today  exporters  and  manufacturers  offer  terms  of  sixty, 
ninety  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  days,  and  even  five  months  for  some  mer- 
chandise. The  former  condition  obtained  several  years  ago,  because  there  was  no 
knowledge  in  this  country  as  to  the  responsibility  or  honesty  of  Latin  American 
merchants,  and  on  account  of  the  lack  of  that  cordiality  which  prevails  now. 

To  show  the  volume  of  business  at  present  carried  on  by  the  United  States 
and  the  Dominican  Republic,  it  is  sufficient  to  point  out  that  four  or  five  years  ago 
the  Dominican  ports  were  visited  only  by  three  or  four  steamers  monthly,  of  not 
more  than  3,000  tons,  from  New  York  with  cargo  and  a  few  passengers. 

At  present  this  number  is  three  or  four  times  larger,  and  instead  of  the 
former  three  or  four  monthly  steamers,  there  come  to  the  Dominican  Republic 
eleven,  twelve,  thirteen,  and  even  fifteen  steamers  every  month,  not  counting 
those  which  come  by  way  of  Porto  Rico.  These  steamers  return  to  the  United 
States  loaded  with  sugar,  cocoa,  coffee  and  other  Dominican  products.  This  detail 
only  reinforces  what  I  have  already  stated  with  regard  to  the  commercial  cordiality 
existing  between  the  United  States  and  the  Dominican  Republic,  but  in  spite  of 
this  cordiality  there  are  yet  some  problems  which  the  Dominican  merchant  would 
like  to  see  solved,  and  one  of  them  is  the  need  in  the  Republic  for  finding  admit- 
tance for  its  tobacco  into  the  United  States,  that  is  to  say,  that  the  Dominican 
product  should  not  pay  the  high  duties  that  are  imposed  upon  it  for  importation 
into  this  country. 

In  certain  regions  of  the  Dominican  Republic1  they  cultivate  and  produce 
tobacco  as  good  as  the  best  from  Vuelta,  Abajo,  Cuba.  This  is  shown  by  the  fkct 
that  several  tobacco  dealers  in  Cuba  import  Dominican  tobacco,  because  they  know 
its  superior  quality.  It  should  not  be  doubted,  however,  that  in  the  same  way 
that  the  commercial  relations  between  the  Dominican  Republic  and  the  United 
States  have  been  made  closer  in  such  a  cordial  manner,  the  day  will  come  also 
when  the  Dominican  tobacco  grower  will  be  able  to  export  his  product  to  the 
United  States  without  having  to  pay  any  higher  duties  than  those  who  buy  the 
tobacco  from  Cuba  or  other  countries.  Dominican  tobacco  has  been  sold  for  a 


DOMINICAN    REPUBLIC  153 

long  time  in  Europe,  but,  as  is  natural,  on  account  of  the  proximity  and  conveni- 
ence, the  Dominican  tobacco  grower  would  rather  have  the  United  States  as  the 
main  market  for  his  product. 

1  The  investment  of  American  capital  in  the  Dominican  Republic  has  also 
contributed  to  the  trade  relations  between  the  two  countries.  According  to  the 
opinion  of  experts  the  best  sugar  mill  in  Latin  America  is  operated  under  La 
Romana,  which  is  the  property  of  a  powerful  American  company.  There  are  very 
many  enterprises  like  this  in  the  country,  under  operation  or  in  project. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  work  of  the  Pan  American  Union  has  been 
more  than  efficient,  and  therefore  worthy  of  praise, .because  that  institution  has 
carried  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  American  Continent  the  ego  of  the  senti- 
ment of  the  trade  of  the  United  States  and  has  made  the  North  American  public 
familiar  with  the  Latin  American  standpoint. 

It  is  my  opinion,  like  that  of  many  others,  that  if  American  commerce  con- 
tinues to  be  carried  on  in  the  manner  that  it  is  has  been  conducted  lately,  there 
will  be  no  other  market  in  the  whole  world  for  Latin  American  products  than  the 
United  States. 


COMMERCE  AND  INDUSTRY 

BY  COLONEL  G.  C.  THORPE,  UNITED  STATES  MARINE  CORPS. 

During  my  two  years'  military  service  in  the  Dominican  Republic,  beginning 
February,  1917,  I  had  occasion  to  visit  most  parts  of  the  southern  half  of  the  coun- 
try and  became  quite  familiar  with  conditions  in  most  of  that  section,  comprising 
Seibo,  Macoris,  Santo  Domingo,  Azua  and  Barahona  Provinces. 

Of  these  provinces,  Macoris  is  the  most  cultivated.  Sugar  cane  is  the 
specialty  there.  Some  of  the  sugar  cane  plantations  of  Macoris  spread  out  into 
Seibo  Province.  In  addition,  a  cane  plantation  entirely  in  Seibo  Province,  with 
headquarters  at  La  Romana,  is  in  the  course  of  development  with  the  objective 
of  being  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world.  In  Barahona  Province  (in  western 
Santo  Domingo),  a  company  has  been  experimenting  to  ascertain  if  a  very  large 
section  can  be  irrigated  for  cane.  At  present,  the  Dominican  Republic  produces 
about  125,000  tons  of  sugar  per  annum,  .and  this  output  can  be  increased  many 
fold  so  far  as  fertile  acreage  is  concerned.  The  sugar  companies  realized  immense 
profits  during  the  European  war. 

Seibo  Province  also  produces  a  quantity  of  first  class  cacao.  This  product 
is  the  small  farmers'  crop  and  really  is  the  first  industry  of  the  country  as  to  quan- 
tity or  value  of  the  crop.  Nearly  all  the  provinces  produce  cacao. 

There  are  considerable  stretches  of  grazing  land  in  Seibo  and  Azua  Provinces 
where  cattle  raising  realizes  large  profits. 

Azua  and  Barahona  Provinces  produce  a  remarkably  fine  quality  of  fibre 
suitable  for  hat-making,  fabrics,  baskets,  rope,  etc.  In  Bani,  about  60  miles  west 
of  the  capital,  one  can  buy  a  very  good  fibre  hat  for  a  dollar.  An  American  Com- 
pany recently  began  building  a  factory  at  Azua  town  for  preparing  the  fibre.  It 
would  seem  that  economy  in  transportation  would  have  dictated  placing  the  factory 
in  the  interior,  nearer  the  center  of  the  fibre  fields,  so  that  the  long  haul  would 
have  been  for  the  finished  product  instead  of  for  the  plant.  Probably  transporta- 
tion considerations  were  sacrificed  to  the  fear  of  lack  of  protection. 

Barahona  produces  a  fine  grade  of  coffee.  I  understand  that  His  Holiness 
the  Pope  obtains  coffee  for  his  own  use  from  those  fields. 

In  many  parts  of  the  country  there  are  quantities  of  hard  woods,  especially 
mahogany  and  lignum>-vitae. 

An  excellent  tobacco  grows  in  some  of  the  northern  provinces  and  many 
people  prefer  a  5  cent  Dominican  cigar  to  any  10-cent  Havana. 

The  fruits  of  Santo  Domingo  are  varied  and  excellent.  The  allegator-pear 
is  unsurpassed;  the  La  Vega  pineapple  is  heavy  with  sweet  juice;  oranges  are 
delicious;  there  are  many  varieties  of  banana  and  plantin;  the  cocoanut  tree  bears 
bountifully;  one  finds  guava  trees  everywhere  bearing  loads  of  fruit;  besides  the 
guanabana,  Spanish  apple,  grape  fruit,  and  limes  there  are  many  other  small 
fruits  that  are  unknown  delicacies  elsewhere. 

Cotton  is  a  successful  crop  around  Monte  Cristy.  An  American  experiment- 
ing there  told  me  that  he^was  raising  the  long  fibre  cotton  worth  about  $1.20  per 
pound.  Cotton  would  grow  in  many  parts. 


154  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

Indian  corn  also  grows  well.  We  used  the  local  corn  as  forage  for  our 
animals  during  campaigning  in  the  provinces. 

All  kinds  of  garden  vegetables,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Irish 
potato,  grow  splendidly  and  the  fruit  thereof  is  large  and  luscious.  A  tomato 
vine  will  bear  several  bushels  of  tomatoes  that  one  can  eat  with  relish  like  an 
apple.  But  foreign  seeds  should  be  planted  each  crop.  It  does  not  produce  good 
results  to  plant  seeds  that  are  grown  there,  as  the  second  crop,  then,  is  small  fruit. 

Almost  anything  can  be  grown  to  advantage  in  Dominican  soil.  In  Seibo 
Province  I  have  seen  loam  15  feet  deep.  Land  is  cheap.  The  climate  is  the  best 
tropical  climate  in  the  world.. 

The  other  side  of  the  picture  is : 

(a)  Good   land  titles  are  hard  to  get.     The  land   laws   are  involved  and 
boundaries  are  uncertain.    Until  the  Government  has  a  survey  of  the  country  and 
establishes  a  court  to  clear  and  fix  titles,  buying  land  is  full  of  hazard,  especially 
for  the  purchaser  who  fails  to  sit  on  his  purchase. 

(b)  The  transportation  problem  is  a  difficulty  which  threatens  the  profits 
of  almost  any  enterprise.     In  the  south  there  are  no  railways  except  those  owned 
by  sugar  estates  and  these  are  used  exclusively  by  the  owners;  they  are  not  public 
carriers.     Although  the  lightest  automobiles  travel  over  some  of  the  trails  in  dry 
seasons,  there  are  few  roads  that  would  accommodate  trucks  or  any  form  of  heavy 
hauling  except  packing. 

(c)  The  labor  problem  is  also  full  of  difficulties.     The  native  laborer  is 
not  a  real  worker.    He  finds  little  necessity  to  work  where  a  few  hours'  labor  will 
suffice  to  construct  a  comfortable  shack  to  shelter  him  and  his  family  and  from 
which  home  he  has  only  to  stroll  out  a  few  yards  to  pick  plantins  for  necessary 
nutriment.     For  25  cents  he  can  buj;  a  hen  and  a  neighbor  will  give  him  a  pig. 
Nature  does  the  rest.    Pigs,  fowl  of  the  chicken,  duck,  guinea,  and  turkey  families 
raise  themselves  without  care  or  artificial  feeding.     In  many  parts  fruits  are  so 
common  that  one  cannot  buy  them  in  the  shops  of  the  villages  because  everyone 
(at  least  every  native)  has  them  for  the  picking.    The  native  customarily  cares  for 
a  small  patch  of  ground   (called  cunuco)    where  he  plants  a  few  plantin  plants, 
maybe  a  little  corn  for  his  animals,  and  then  a  few  cacao  or  tobacco  plants,  depend- 
ing upon  the  locality.     From  the  produce  of  the  latter  he  realizes  enough  cash  to 
buy  the  few  manufactured  articles  he  may  fancy.    Or,  if  he  objects  to  .agriculture 
on  his  own  responsibility,  he  may  take  employment  on  a  sugar  plantation,  in  which 
case  he  may  work  two  or  three  days  and  then  lay  off  many  days.    This  unreliability 
of  native  labor  forces  the  large  estates  to  import  laborers  from  the  British  islands 
or  St.  Thomas.     These  importations  offend  the  natives  who  claim  that  the  reason 
they  will  not  work  for  the  estates  is  that  the  latter  will  not  pay  a  living  wage  and 
do  not  house  or  treat  them  properly.     (The  Dominican  cane  cutter  receives  about 
one-third  the  wage  that  is  paid  in  Cuba.)     The  importation  of  labor  is  one  great 
source  of  complaint  that  the  native  countryman  raises  against  the  present  regime; 
it  is  the  excuse  of  the  irresponsible  for  insurrection  and  banditry.     He  holds  the 
Government  accountable  for  all  his  ills.    Although  there  is  probably  little  American 
capital  invested  in  the  large  estates,  the  native  ordinarily  classes  all  foreign  holdings 
as  American.    And  so  there  is  consciousness   (or  sub-consciousness)  of  grievance 
against  the  American. 

To  meet  these  difficulties: 

(1)  There  should  be,  as  above  stated,  a   Government  survey  and  a  land 
court  to  determine  titles.    And  in  connection  with  that  reform  should  go  another, 
vi*.,  a  land  tax.    There  is  now  no  national  land  tax,  which  accounts  for  the  uncer- 
tainty of  land  titles.     Revenue  is  raised   from   import  taxes   and  licenses.     This 
form  of  taxation  hits  the  poor  people  very  hard  indeed,  while  the  land  owner  does 
not  have  to  use  his  land  as  he  would  if  it  were  taxed.     The  native  pays  a  large 
import  tax  on  every  manufactured  article  he  uses.     Even  on  refined  sugar.     Sugar 
is  exported,  refined,  and  comes  back  'for  use  with  an  import  tax.     Although  the 
country  abounds  in  fine  woods  for  furniture,  there  are  no  furniture  factories,  and 
the  poor  native  pays  a  high  tariff  on  what  poor  furnishings  he  has. 

(2)  Of  course  the  Government  should  push  road-building.     Roads  would 
stimulate  commerce  and  eliminate  lawlessness.    The  transportation  cost  is  so  heavy 
upon  whatever  the  native  countryman  can  produce  that  he  is  discouraged  from 
producing  more  than  is  absolutely  necessary  to  get  a  few  dollars.    But  if  he  could 
get  the  products  of  his  industry  to  the  market  by  a  reasonable  transportation  charge 
his   ambition   would   grow   apace    in   industry   instead   of   in   lawlessness — for   the 


.   -,-•  DOMINICAN    REPUBLIC  155 

human  being  will  have  some  activity.  Early  in  1917  I  visited  Bani  upon  invitation 
of  the  inhabitants  who  wanted  a  Government  road  from  the  capital.  They  exhibited 
their  coffee  industry  and  I  wondered  how  they  could  have  the  heart  to  do  the  little 
that  they  did  in  that  line  when  I  realized  that  every  sack  of  coffee  had  to  be  carried 
6C  miles  on  a  pack  animal  before  it  came  to  a  shipping  port.  They  also  showed  me 
the  splendid  hats  they  could  make  for  a  dollar,  which  would  be  a  real  industry 
there  if  they  had  transportation.  About  90  per  cent  of  the  inhabitants  in  that  sec- 
tion were  white,  and  so  their  adverse  circumstances  did  not  make  of  them  in- 
surgents, but  I  could  see  men  apathetic  who  might  have  been  hustlers. 

(3)  The  labor  problem  would  be  cured  by  a  combination  of  good  roads 
and  a  wise  colonization.  If  little  colonies  of  good  Americans  were  scattered  over 
the  country  to  develop  the  latent  productivity  and  possible  industries  with  the 
motto,  "Fair  play  and  a  good  share  of  profits  to  native  co-operators,"  the  native 
would  learn  to  work  well  for  good  employers,  and  both  the  native  and  colonist 
would  have  large  returns. 

Present  conditions  in  the  Dominican  Republic  offer  good  openings  to: 

(1)  The  American  trader  who  would   establish  a  trading  post  in  any  of 
many  localities  to  sell  to  the  natives  within  a  great  radius  every  manufactured 
article  they  use,  and,  in  turn,  buy  from  them  their  whole  produce. 

(2)  In  some  localities  such  a  trading  post,  with  sufficient  capital,  could  also 
cut  and  Ship  timber  (hard  woods). 

(3)  Cane  growing  and  grinding. 
Coffee  raising. 

Cotton  raising. 

Cacao  buying  and  chocolate  factory. 

Cigar  making. 

8)  Fishing.  The  natives  are  no  fishermen  and  the  surrounding  waters 
are  full  of  all  kinds  of  good  fish.  There  is  a  local  market  for  much  more  fish  than 
is  provided  by  the  few  fishermen.  Samana  Bay  would  be  one  good  fishing  base, 
from  which  the  railroad  to  the  northern  towns  would  dispose  of  a  large  catch. 

(9)  Poultry.     All   classes   of  poultry  could   be   raised  at  almost  no  cost. 
Samana  Bay  towns  would  make  good  bases  for  such  an  enterprise,  as  from  there 
the  New  York  market  could  be  reached  in  five  days. 

(10)  The  cocoa-nut  industry,  yielding  cocoa-nut  oil,   fibre,  and  cocoa-nut 
meat  (copra). 

(11)  Dominican  limes,  oranges  and  grape  fruit,  to  say  nothing  of  the  alle- 
gator-pear,  should  make  a  good  export  trade. 

(12)  Dominican  pottery  has  possibilities. 

(13)  There  should  be  at  least  one  furniture  factory,  which  could  locally  sell 
a  large  output 

(14)  Nearly  every  Dominican  town  and  city  needs  an  ice  plant  and  an 
electric  plant.     The  most  important  cities,  such  as  the  capital  and  San  Pedro  de 
Macoris,  now  have  these  plants  but  they  are  so  inefficient  that  most  people  either 
use  lamps  burning  coal  oil  or  have  their  private  Delco  lighting  system.    Few  people 
have  been  educated  to  using  ice. 

In  short,  nearly  every  kind  of  commerce  and  industry  is  awaiting  develop- 
ment in  Santo  Domingo.  The  excellent  climate  and  beautiful  scenery  offer  a  good 
home  to  the  reasonable  investor  and  developer — not  to  the  hoggish  exploiter.  Do- 
minicans may  be  found  good  neighbors  under  proper  treatment. 


156  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

ECUADOR 

TRADE  FACTS  ABOUT  ECUADOR 

BY  SENOR  GUSTAVO  R.  DE  YCAZA,  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  ECUADOR  IN  NEW  YORK. 
(Read  in  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

Gentlemen:  I  am  most  pleased  and  honored,  as  the  delegate  from  Ecuador, 
to  address  my  hearty  congratulations  to  this  assembly  gathered  in  the  Capital  of  the 
United  States  under  the  auspices  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

The  western  hemisphere,  during  the  war  which  has  ravaged  Europe  most 
terribly,  has  suffered  the  least,  and  is,  doubtless,  the  one  that  has  increased  in 
wealth  most.  Some  one's  welfare  is  always  the  cause  of  the  harm  to  others ;  this 
seems'to  be  an  injustice  of  Nature  but  it  is  a  fact;  more  than  three  centuries  ago 
Montaigne  commented  upon  it  as  an  unquestionable  truth. 

The  growth  of  richness  in  America  offers  the  best  historic  opportunity  to 
maintain  it  and  even  to  further  enlarge  it  through  the  development  of  commerce. 

To  approach  by  means  of  a  vigorous  Pan  American  merchant  marine  the 
sources  of  production  and  the  markets  is  the  primary  condition  if  we  wish  to  de- 
velop business.  I  am  not  the  first  to  state  this,  and  many  others  will  express  the 
same  idea,  but  I  do  not  wish  to  overlook  what  we  might  call  the  desideratum  in  the 
matter :  the  means  of  transportation.  The  war  forced  this  powerful  country  to 
build  her  merchant  navy.  It  can  be  said  that  the  United  States  has  at  present  one 
of  the  largest  merchant  marines,  together  with  the  possibilities  most  promising  for 
the  expansion  of  the  Pan  American  commerce.  Referring  to  Ecuador,  I  believe  that 
my  endeavor  must  be  to  outline  in  a  few  words,  not  all  that  can  be  done  to  increase, 
or,  at  least,  improve  the  conditions  of  our  present  trade  with  the  United  States,  be- 
cause that  task  would  be  too  complicated  and,  after  all,  beyond  the  limits  of  this 
address,  not  all  that  can  be  done.  I  say,  but  at  least  a  little  of  what  must  not  be  done. 

On  this  line,  Ecuador  might  well  doubt  in  some  cases  the  reality  of  things 
which  are  known  to  exist,  for  instance — and  you  will  be  surprised  at  the  example — 
Ecuador  may  have  the  right  to  doubt  the  very  existence  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

I  think  this  is  an  excellent  opportunity  to  give  notice  of  a  fact  which  is  a 
very  strange  and  almost  unexplainable  occurrence.  The  transportation  of  merchan- 
dise from  the  United  States  to  Ecuador  is  carried  on  today  under  the  same  con- 
ditions as  it  was  before  the  canal  was  built,  when  the  railroad  was  the  only  means 
of  carrying  the  cargoes  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

Ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  American  goods  shipped  to  Ecuador  arrive  at 
Cristobal  where  they  are  landed  and  there  they  wait  for  weeks  and  whole  months 
for  the  boat  that  will  re-load  them  and  take  them  to  Ecuador.  This  means  a  heavy 
surcharge  in  freights,  and,  of  course,  is  very  detrimental  to  international  commerce. 
1  believe  that  to  denounce  this  situation  is  self-explanatory  and  sufficient 

Guayaquil,  the  principal  port  in  Ecuador,  is  closing  the  hospital  for  yellow 
fever,  for  the  simple  reason  that  in  more  than  three  months  not  a  single  patient 
has  entered  it.  The  pretext,  rather  than  the  reason,  for  which  the  ships,  would  not 
enter  Guayaquil  has  disappeared.  I  avail  myself  of  the  occasion  to  make  a  public 
acknowledgment  of  the  humanitarian  work  carried  out  by  the  Rockefeller  Founda- 
tion, which  has  cooperated  efficiently  with  the  sanitary  authorities  in  Ecuador  for 
the  extinction  of  that  disease. 

When  all  the  American  merchandise  exported  to  Ecuador  shall  be  shipped 
directly,  loading  in  New  York,  for  instance,  and  unloading  in  Guayaquil,  then 
Ecuador  will  learn,  practically,  that  the  Canal  of  Panama  exists  in  this  world  as 
the  wonderful  victory  of  American  enterprise  and  genius. 

The  Republic  of  Ecuador  begins  about  three  hundred  miles  south  of  the 
Panama  Canal  and  offers  to  the  initiative  and  forwardness  of  American  capital  in- 
exhaustible sources  of  wealth,  the  best  climates  on  earth,  with  most  varied  products; 
the  tropical  and  temperate  zones  within  a  comparatively  small  territorial  extension. 
Ecuador  produces  cocoa  and  wheat,  sugar  and  barley,  bananas  and  grapes,  that  is", 
the  products  of  all  the  zones  of  the  planet.  There  have  been  found  oil  fields  which 
render  to  a  single  prospector  four  thousand  gallons  a  day.  Then  there  are  many 
other  enterprises. 

Gold,  silver,  manganese  and  coal  mines  are  worked  in  very  small  proportion, 
or  not  at  all,  because  means  of  communication  are  lacking. 


ECUADOR  157 

There  are  great  opportunities  for  American  capital  that  would  be  willing  to 
go,  not  in  search  of  concessions,  but  to  take  its  place  under  the  rulings  of  our  liberal 
laws,  which  give  to  the  foreigner  the  same  civil  rights  as  the  nationals. 

It  is  not  my  wish  to  bring  in  this  few  lines  the  statistics  relating  to  our 
commerce,  nor  anything  that  may  be  drafted  in  figures,  but  I  shall  be  glad  to 
answer  any  questions  and  give  any  information  about  Ecuadorian  matters,  provided 
they  be  within  the  realm  of  my  knowledge  or  possibilities. 

In  conclusion,  I  beg  to  express  my  warm  desire  for  the  greatest  success  of  this 
Conference. 


158  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

GUATEMALA 

GUATEMALAN  TRADE  FACTS 

BY  SENOR  FRANCISCO  SANCHEZ  LATOUR,  CHARGE  D'  AFFAIRES  OF  GUATEMALA. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

The  diplomatic  and  commercial  relations  %  of  Guatemala  with  the  United 
States  could  not  be  better.  We  people  from  Guatemala  cherish  our  traditions  and 
our  great  and  loyal  friendship  for  our  Northern  sister,  the  United  States  of 
America  is  really  a  tradition  with  us.  My  country  has  always  endeavored  to  show 
what  its  sentiments  are  in  that  respect  and  has  availed  itself  of  every  opporunity 
to  second  the  United  States  in  its  efforts  for  the  welfare  of  all  and  each  one  of 
the  21  Republics  of  the  three  Americas  and  its  lofty  ideals  of  Pan  Americanism. 

The  commercial  situation  created  by  the  Great  War  is  unique  and  specially 
favorable  to  the  United  States.  In  the  three  years  before  the  war  1911-1912  and 
1913,  Latin  American  trade  with  this  country,  including  both  exports  and  im- 
ports, reached  the  sum  of  $2,361,088,613;  with  Great  Britain  $1,839,356,227  and 
with  Germany  $1,655,255,555.  During  the  three  years  of  1915,  1916  and  1917, 
that  trade  with  the  United  States  reached  the  sum  of  $4,203,192,961,  an  increase 
of  78  per  cent.;  with  Great  Britain  $1,701,816,871,  showing  a  decrease  of  7  per 
cent.,  and  with  Germany  it  disappeared  completely.  These  numbers  give  an  idea 
of  the  position  of  the  United  States  in  the  trade  of  the  three  Americas.  We  hope 
this  position  will  be  maintained.  As  to  Guatemala  I  will  give  a  few  details  as  to 
her  commerce  with  this  country:  in  1911  the  imports  from  the  United  States  were 
$3,356,455  and  in  1917  they  amounted  to  $5,386,277;  exports  to  the  United  States 
in  1911  were  $3,297,156  and  in  1917  they  reached  $10,057,330,  nearly  three  times 
as  much. 

In  the  details  that  I  am  putting  down  I  do  not  give  those  of  1918  because 
on  account  of  the  earthquake  that  destroyed  a  large  part  of  our  Capital  City  and 
the  entrance  of  Guatemala  into  the  war  with  the  object  of  seconding  and  upholding 
the  ideals  and  principles  of  the  United  States,  our  trade  naturally  diminished,  but 
now  a  large  part  of  what  was  destroyed  by  the  earthquake  has  been  rebuilt,  and 
so  that  all  the  reconstruction  may  be  carried  out  we  would  welcome  the  help  of 
American  capital  and  American  commerce,  the  latter  being  able  to  furnish  us 
with  a  majority  of  the  elements  we  need  such  as  lumber  for  house  building,  all 
kinds  of  roofing  material,  cement,  piping,  etc.,  in  fact  all  the  necessary  articles 
for  construction  purposes. 

But  coming  back  to  the  question  of  the  commerce  of  Guatemala  and  so  that 
the  balance  in  favor  of  the  United  States  may  be  seen  in  the  last  few  years  I  com- 
pare four  years  of  the  war  with  three  before  the  conflict: 

EXPORTS. 

Countries.                         1911             1912             1913             1914             1915  1916              1917 

United   States    $3,297,156  $3,863,829  $3,923,354  $4,874,379  $6,881,411  $8,688,573  $10,057,330 

Great    Britain    .'. 1,324,751     1,438,498     1,600,039     1,245,906     1,049,937          86,087       

Germany   5.851,817     6,975,006     7,653,557     5,413,580          50,237          91,658       

These  figures  speak  for  themselves  as  also  do  those  referring  to  imports: 

IMPORTS. 

Countries.                        1911             1912  1913             1914            1915            1916              1917 

United    States    $3,356,455  $4,532,361  $5,053,060  $4,879,200  $3,751,761  $5,228,325  $5,386,277 

Great  Britain    1,662,503     1,739,589     1,650,387     1,389,645        577,200     1,056,786     

Germany    1,990,822     2,250,862     2,043,329     1,842,739        146,053  5,169     

So  that  you  gentlemen  may  be  able  to  form  a  more  or  less  exact  idea  of 
the  articles  we  have  been  exporting  and  importing,  I  have  the  pleasure  to  pre- 
sent the  following  statistical  data  taken  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Finances  of  Guatemala  of  1917: 


GUATEMALA 


159 


ARTICLES  EXPORTED. 


Articles. 

Cattle    41,900 

Sugar    998,100 

Leather    (soft)    158,900 

Bananas     221,870,200 

Shoes    2,600 

Cocoa    5,200 

Coffee— 

In  shell 1,410,200 

Clean    89,259,600 

Coconuts    

Chicle    

Preserved  and  Canned 

Fruit   

Horns    

Beans    

Fibrous  Plants   


Pounds.           Value.  Articles.  Pounds.  Value. 

$2,340       Rubber    128,300  64,184 

449,945  Images  and  Sculpture   ...  1,100  596 

47,698        Wool    209,300  15,698 

990,790        Lumber    13,272,300  138,254 

393        Honey     106,300  14,693 

1,315        Panela    (dark  sugar) 9,800  294 

Hides    117,200  35,477 

74,735  Live  Plants  and  Orchids.  1,500  390 

5,355,577        Mineral  Products   521,900  46,071 

165,000                  66        Broom  Root    64,700  3,834 

189,300          59,694       Woolen   Cloth    10,000  10,016 

Hats     8,100  7,373 

57,500            3,810  Tobacco: 

1,700                 36           Prepared    12,900  3,748 

19,400               487            Crude    . .  2,600  599 

104,400  9,400 


Articles. 

Cotton  Goods 

Linen  Goods  and  Jute. . . 

Woolen  Goods  and  Cloth. 

Silk  Manufactures    

Iron  and  Steel  Manufac- 
tures   

Copper,  Lead  and  Tin 
Manufactures  

Wood  and  Iron  Manufac- 
tures   

Glass,  Chinaware  and 
Crockery  

Leather  and  Skins  . . 


ARTICLES  IMPORTED. 


Kilos.            Value.                 Articles.  Kilos. 

2,239,719  $2,294,425        Paper  and  Stationery 687,977 

675,714        232,737        Machinery: 

283,391        136,940            Agricultural     524,303 

9,572        112,118            Railway    1,324,499 

Petroleum,  Crude  and  Re- 

1,633,907        399,609           fined 28,887,462 

Foodstuffs 3,926,833 

287,124        107,958        Coal    509,895 

Drugs   and   Medicines 235,510 

343,253        177,482        Wheat    Flour    10,299,899 

Wines,    Liquors  and  Beer  408,282 

Lumber    494,821 


509,983 
34,901 


74,800 
206,952 


Value. 
$239,263 

157,289 
128,170 

252,826 

437,687 

5,322 

278,263 

1,008,051 

77,527 

10,632 


2.2046  pounds. 


As  can  be  seen  the  principal  article  exported  from  Guatemala  was  coffee, 
whose  value  was  $5,355,577.  After  it  came  bananas  valued  at  $990,790,  next  came 
sugar  for  $449,445.  Guatemala  coffee  has  a  splendid  reputation  in  Europe  ..and  is 
already  well  known  in  the  United  States.  Incidentally  I  may  mention  that  it  was 
awarded  the  first  prize  at  the  Pan  American  Exposition  in  San  Francisco,  California, 
in  1915.  Guatemala  also  received  grand  prizes  for  her  cocoa,  rubber  and  bananas. 

Besides  its  agricultural  products  Guatemala  has  gold,  silver,  copper,  iron, 
lead  and  zinc  and  antimony  mines,  which  are  known,  but  in  the  majority  they  are 
as  yet  undeveloped.  Guatemala  in  its  large  forests  has  hundreds  of  different  kinds 
of  precious  woods  for  cabinet  making  and  dyeing;  the  extraction  of  chicle  and 
dther  gums  is  being  developed  and  the  rubber  industry  is  also  being  adequately 
stimulated. 

As  to  imports  in  Guatemala,  cotton  goods  came  in  the  first  place,  as  far 
as  value  is  concerned,  next  came  flour  and  afterwards  iron  and  steel.  Before  the 
war  Great  Britain  sent  to  Guatemala  large  quantities  of  cotton  goods  and  Great 
Britain  and  Germany  large  quantities  of  machinery  and  tools  for  agriculture  and 
if  the  United  States  intend  to  hold  the  position  they  now  occupy  in  that  branch 
of  the  commerce  of  Guatemala  they  will  have  to  take  in  consideration  the  efforts 
that  those  countries  will  make  to  regain  the  trade  they  lost. 

Guatemala  signed  last  year  a  treaty  with  the  United  States  which  refers 
to  traveling  salesmen,  in  accordance  with  what  was  stipulated  at  the  Pan  Amer- 
ican Financial  Conference  which  took  place  in  Washington  in  May  of  1915,  which 
matter  was  taken  up  and  developed  by  the  High  Commission  on  Uniform  Legis- 
lation at  Buenos  Aires  in  1916.  Guatemala  was  the  second  country  to  sign  such 
a  treaty  with  the  United  States,  which  treaty  has  been  lately  approved  by  the 
National  Legislative  Assembly.  The  conditions  marked  out  in  that  treaty  are 
very  favorable  to  the  agents  of  American  corporations  and  industries  that  may 
desire  to  establish  commercial  relations  with  us  or  who  may  have  already  estab- 
lished them  and  the  Legation  here  will  be  only  too  glad  to  give  all  possible  in- 
formation referring  to  permits  and  rules  and  regulations. 


MEXICO 

F0REIGK  COMMERCE  1917 

TOTAIf  352,000,000. 


JAFAK 
PRAK-CE 


UNITED  STATES 
4 14-0,  OOO,OOO. 


CUBA 

PJ^AKCE 


GUATEMALA  163 

I  think  it  important  to  deal  with  two  points  referring  to  traveling  sales- 
men and  merchandise  sent  to  Guatemala.  The  first  one  is  to  try  and  please  as 
far  as  possible  the  taste  or  necessity  of  the  buyer,  not  insisting  on  selling  to  him 
this  or  that  simply  because  his  firm  has  it  on  hand  and  even  if  it  does  not  suit 
or  is  not 'pleasing  to  the  buyer.  So  as  to  be  able  to  take  that  in  consideration 
the  American  business  man  must  consider  the  climate,  customs,  tastes  and  other 
general  conditions  which  must  be  different  in  countries  of  another  race  and  other 
geographical  position. 

Another  matter  of  importance  is  the  question  of  packing  the  merchandise. 
Guatemala  has  already  constructed  railroad  lines  which  cross  the  important  pro- 
ducing zones,  but  on  account  of  the  mountainous  country,  said  merchandise  has 
to  |DC  carried  from  the  railway  stations  to  a  good  many  towns  and  nearly  all 
the  plantations  on  mule-back  or  in  carts  and  for  that  reason  it  is  very  urgent 
that  merchandise  be  packed  in  cases  of  a  size  and  weight  adequate  to  that  sys- 
tem of  traffic.  The  packing  must  also  be  done  carefully  and  in  a  solid  manner 
so  that  it  can  stand  the  trip.  These  are  matters  to  which  the  European  mer- 
chants always  paid  great  attention  to. 

A  third  question  is  the  matter  of  extension  of  credits,  but  as  Mr.  Alfonzo 
Arenales,  of  Guatemala,  refers  to  that  matter  in  an  article  he  has  written  for 
this  Conference  I  think  it  sufficient  to  say  that  I  agree  with  his  ideas.  Before 
ending  this  part  and  referring  to  the  matter  mentioned  I  wish  to  quote  one  of 
the  Consular  representatives  of  the  United  States  in  Guatemala,  whose  phrases 
are  published  in  a  Supplement  to  Commercial  Reports,  issued  by  the  Bureau  of 
Foreign  Commerce,  Department  of  Commerce,  Washington,  D.  C,  September  2, 
1919,  under  the  heading  of  "Advice  to  Exporters."  That  Consular  representative 
gave  this  advice  after  obtaining  practical  experience  and  remaining  in  the  country 
for  some  time,  becoming  acquainted  with  the  people,  their  customs  and  tastes 
and  taking  in  consideration  the  systems  adopted  by  some  of  the  American  ex- 
porters, traveling  salesmen,  etc.  He  said  in  referring  to  the  fact  that  American 
merchants  could  hold  the  position  which  they  occupy  today  in  the  commerce  of 
Guatemala : 

"This  can  be  done  if  merchants  in  the  United  States  will  remember  that  the 
seller  of  merchandise  is  in  receipt  of  a  favor  and  does  not  place  the  buyer  under 
obligations  in  selling.  If  he  will  do  this  he  will  remember  a  variety  of  different 
points,  which  may  be  tabulated  thus:  (1)  Make  it  easy  for  the  buyer,  by  means 
of  sample^  information  and  language;  (2)  fill  orders  as  ordered;  (3)  learn  the 
geography  of  the  country;  (4)  remember  that  a  satisfied  buyer  means  more 
orders. 

"Men  are  often  sent  out  to  obtain  business  in  Central  America  who  seem 
to  have  the  vaguest  conception  of  the  goods  they  handle,  cost  of  shipment,  etc., 
and  they  place  the  blame  on  the  foreigners  for  their  failures  instead  of  putting 
it  where  it  belongs.  Very  often  an  American  house  will  have  an  expert  at  a 
large  salary  to  take  care  of  the  business  in  different  parts  of  the  United  States, 
but  will  place  a  $15  clerk  in  charge  of  its  new  export  department.  It  may  seem 
a  small  mistake  to  send  goods  ordered  by  San  Jose  de  Costa  Rica  to  San  Jose 
de  Guatemala,  but  the  result  is  worse  than  if  an  order  intended  for  John  Smith, 
Albany,  Oregon,  was  sent  to  John  Smith,  Albany,  N.  Y.  "Knowledge  is  power" 
and  especially  is  this  true  in  handling  foreign  trade." 

So  as  to  he  able  to  inform  those  who  may  desire  to  visit  Guatemala  I 
can  state  that  the  climate  of  the  Capital  is  ideaL  In  1914  during  the  "warm" 
months,  from  May  to  July .  the  maximum  temperature  was  98,  89,  92  and  92 
degrees  F.  respectively,  and  in  October,  November  and  December  it  was  82,  78  and 
82  F.  The  minimum  in  December  was  41  degrees  F.,  and  in  January  and  Feb- 
ruary 47  and  49  degrees  F.  It  can  be  easily  deducted  that  the  temperature 
has  a  very  limited  margin  for  changes.  The  minima  were  not  as  low  as  either 
in  Florida  or  California  or  the  maxima  nearly  as  high  as  in  California. 

I  can  assure  any  one  who  takes  a  trip  to  Guatemala  that  he  will  never  re- 
pent it.  Communications  by  steamship  between  the  ports  of  New  Orleans  and 
New  York  and  Puerto  Barrios  and  Livingston,  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  are  very 
regular  and  there  is  always  at  least  one  ship  a  week.  On  the  Pacific  side  steam- 
ship service  is  made  between  San  Francisco,  California,  and  the  Guatemalan  ports 
of  Ococ,  Champerico  and  San  Jose.  From  both  coasts  one  can  reach  the  Capital 


162  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

comfortably  and  in  a  few  hours,  by  the  interoceanic  railroad  line  and  one  can 
enjoy  a  very  interesting  and  picturesque  trip. 

Guatemala  has  Consuls  General  in  New  York  City,  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia, New  Orleans,  Chicago,  San  Juan  in  Porto  Rico,  etc,;  Consuls  in  Mobile, 
Boston,  Providence,  R.  I.,  Seattle,  Baltimore,  St.  Louis,  Galveston,  Kansas  City, 
Louisville,  Philadelphia,  etc. ;  Vice  Consuls  in  Chicago,  Boston,  Pensacola,  San 
Diego,  California,  etc.,  and  they  are  all  ready,  having  received  special  instructions 
to  that  effect,  to  give  all  possible  information  and  data  to  American  business  men 
and  to  give  them  also  all  the  facilities  for  the  shipping  of  their  goods,  etc.,  etc. 

The  President  of  Guatemala  is  a  very  progressive  statesman,  he  is  a  great 
believer  in  commerce  for  maintaining  good  relations  with  other  countries  and 
he  has  a  special  predilection  for  Americans.  His  wise  and  just  administration 
is  paying  great  attention  to  the  commercial  relations  with  this  country  and*  he 
is  making  every  effort  to  develop  them  by  all  possible  means;  this  Government 
gives  all  facilities  within  its  reach  to  merchants  who  desire  to  do  business  with 
us.  The  hospitality  of  the  Government  and  the  people  of  Guatemala  is  proverbial, 
we  await  you  gentlemen,  you  will  be  received  with  the  greatest  cordiality  and 
good  will.  You  can  send  us  your  industrial  and  agricultural  products,  we  can 
reciprocate  by  sending  you  ours. 


NEW  ENTERPRISES  IN  GUATEMALA 

BY  SENOR  MARCIAL  PREM,  ADVISER  TO  SPECIAL  GUATEMALAN  MISSION. 

I  am  not  going  to  write  a  literary  article.  I  am  merely  going  to  give  you 
a  general  idea  of  certain  important  enterprises  that  might  be  carried  on  in  Guate- 
mala, which  would  be  of  great  benefit  to  that  country,  and  a  magnificent  invest- 
ment for  American  capital,  on  account  of  the  splendid  and  satisfactory1  profits 
which  will  be  derived  from  them. 

I  shall,  therefore,  say  nothing  about  the  commerce  proper  as  relating  to 
imports  and  exports  of  merchandise,  etc.  I  shall  confine  myself  to  suggesting 
in  a  few  words  some  of  the  transactions  that  can  be  carried  on  with  regard  to 
transportation,  communication,  electric  light  and  power  and  other  lines  without 
entering  into  minute  descriptions  of  that  beautiful  country,  its  geographic  situation, 
its  diversity  of  climates  and  the  wonderful  fertility  of  its  soil. 

There  are  in  Guatemala  great  facilities  for  developing  as  much  water  power 
as  may  be  needed,  and  for  transforming  it  into  electric  or  mechanical  power  for 
innumerable  as  well  as  profitable  industries  and  enterprises.  It  would  take  too 
long  to  enumerate  them  in  detail,  and  for  this  reason  I  confine  myself  to  calling 
your  attention  to  the  facilities  and  advisability  of  building  electric  railroads  or 
street-car  lines  for  the  transportation  of  merchandise  and  passengers,  and  whose 
plants  could  also  be  utilized  for  producing  electric  light  and  power  to  satisfy  the 
needs  of  the  different  towns,  and  agricultural  centres. 

One  of  the  electric  trolleys  or  railroad  lines  that  might  be  established  to 
great  advantage  would  undoubtedly  be  the  one  joining  the  town  of  San  Felipe 
with  the  city  of  Quezaltenango  for  which  the  Government  has  already  granted  a 
very  advantageous  and  ample  concession  which  the  concessionaire  would  be  ready 
to  sell  under  favorable  terms.  This  line  would  serve  the  richest  and  most  populous 
departments  in  the  Republic  which  are  known  under  the  general  name  of  "Los 
Altos."  These  departments  are:  Retalhuleu,  Mazatenango,  Quezaltenango,  Totoni- 
capan,  Solola,  San  Marcos,  Huehueyenango  y  Quiche. 

The  distance  between  San  Felipe  and  Quezaltenango  is  approximately  thirty- 
two  miles.  San  Felipe  is  at  "height  of  2,500  feet,  and  Quezaltenango,  at  7,500  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  so  there  is  an  ascent  of  5,000  feet  in  a  distance  of 
thirty-two  miles.  Not  far  from  the  coast  line  is  the  Samala  River  which  would 
furnish  the  necessary  water  power. 

In  order  to  realize  the  importance  that  this  line  would  have,  it  is  necessary 
to  have  an  idea  of  the  trade  traffic  in  the  "Los  Altos"  departments.  This  traffic 
consists  in  the  exports  which  are  made  directly  through  the  ports  of  Champerico 
and  Ocos  and  the  Mexican  frontier  via  Ayutla;  one-third  of  the  exports  that  enter 
into  Guatemala  through  Puerto  Barrios  destined  to  the  departments  referred  to, 
and  of  the  merchandise  which  is  brought  and  carried  directly  from  the  capital. 
All  of  this  comes  over  the  San  Felipe  road,  it  being  one  of  the  easiest  and  one 


GUATEMALA 


163 


of  the  most  rapid  routes.    The  total  movement  of  this  traffic  might  be  estimated 
as  follows:  Tons 

Imports   from  Champerico  and   Ocos 5,000 

Exports  from  Ayutla jt'™ 

Exports  from  Puerto  Barrios • •  ••••  <¥*** 

Regular  freight  from  the  coast  and  from  other  points  of  the 

Republic  to  Quezaltenango   ................_,..,, <  10,000 

Cattle  for  consumption  in  the    Los  Altos    departments jU.UUlr 

Freight  from  Quezaltenango  to  the  coast  and  other  points 5,000 

Total : 37,000 

Estimating  the  freight  rates  at  only  one  dollar  per  one  hundred  tons,  the 
total  income  would  be  $740,000  to  which  should  be  added  the  revenue  from  the 
passenger  traffic  which  might  be  estimated  at  $180,000.  Based  on  these  estimates, 
the  gross  earnings  of  the  line  would  not  be  less  than  $922,500  per  year^  and  it  is 
reasonable  to  assume  that  with  the  greater  facilities  for  transportation  to  be 
secured  with  the  line,  the  traffic  would  increase  considerably. 

Since  the  cost  of  building  the  line  would  not  exceed  in  any  case  $1,000,000, 
nor  would  the  maintenance  expenses  be  over  $200,000,  there  would  be  a  net  profit 
per  year  of  nearly  $700,000.  This  on  a  invested  capital  of  $1,000,000  would  repre- 
sent a  net  profit  of  from  60  to  70  per  cent  per  annum,  which  would  certainly  be 
most  satisfactory  especially  if  we  bear  in  mind  also  the  increase  in  value  which 
the  bonds  of  the  company  would  have  from  day  to  day. 

With  respect  to  electric  light  service  in  Quezaltenango,  I  can  give  the  fol- 
lowing information : 

For  street  lighting,  from  800  to  1,000  large  lights  might  be  provided  which 
would  be  paid  for  by  the  municipality,  and  more  than  1,000  small  lights  for  private 
houses.  This  would  be  a  sure  additional  source  of  income  in  the  business  that 
would  be  established  at  the  same  time  in  connection  with  the  proposed  electric 
line  of  which  I  am  speaking.  The  broadness  of  the  concession  referred  to  allows 
for  the  enlargement  of  the  electric  road,  light  and  power  to  the  many  neighbor- 
ing towns.  In  addition  to  this  important  line  many  other  minor,  though  almost 
equally  profitable  lines,  might  be  established  all  over  the  country. 

As  the  beautiful  city  of  Guatemala  was  almost  destroyed  by  the  earthquakes 
of  December  1917,  and  January,  1918,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  rebuild  it.  The 
new  constructions  should  be  made  according  to  the  modern  style  of  architecture, 
and  should  be  not  only  comfortable,  but  also  earthquake  proof.  The  planning  of 
the  city  should  be  an  improvement  over  the  old  one.  This,  naturally,  gives  origin 
to  many  good  and  safe  business  enterprises  in  which  American  activity  and  capital 
will  find  a  most  ample  and  profitable  field. 

For  the  Government  and  Municipality  buildings  to  be  constructed,  contracts 
would  have  to  be  entered  into  with  the  supreme  Government  and  Municipality. 
Both  would  provide  all  interest  guarantees.  The  buildings  would  have  to  be  con- 
structed on  partial-payment  plan  along  the  lines  followed  in  this  country  for  the 
sale  of  houses  on  the  instalment  plan. 

The  best  and  most  solid  basis  for  erecting  a  modern  city  is  undoubtedly  to 
equip  it  with  a  good  water  supply  system  and  with  water  in  quantities  sufficient 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  whole  population,  together  with  a  good  sewer  system. 

For  the  water  supply  there  is  a  marvelous  fall  nearby  with  magnificent, 
crystaline  pure  water  which  can  be  taken  from  its  own  sources  to  supply  the  city. 
In  the  driest  season  of  the  year  this  fall  carries  44,000  cubic  meters  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  It  would  be  necessary  to  raise  this  water  to  800  feet  so  that  it  may 
reach  the  city  easily.  For  this  there  must  be  established  a  plant  for  developing 
2,000  h.  p.  with  the  necessary  pumps  for  raising  the  water.  All  this  would  be 
comparatively  easy,  and  would  cost  more  or  less  $1,000,000.  Every  two  cubic 
metres  per  twenty-four  hours  could  be  sold  at  200  pesos  gold,  because  that  is  the 
price  they  now  charge  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  present  water  is  poor  and 
the  system  is  defective.  The  earnings  from  this  service  might  be  estimated 
at  $2,000,000  which  would  leave  a  good  profit.  In  addition  to  the  water  supply 
purposes  this  plant  could  be  used  to  generate  electric  light  and  power  at  a  price 
lower  than  the  present.  In  a  word,  the  business  would  be  perfectly  guaranteed 
and  the  invested  capital  would  not  run  any  risk. 


164  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

Other  enterprises  of  great  importance  might  also  be  undertaken.  There  are 
in  the  Republic  large  tracts  of  excellent  lands  for  the  cultivation  of  sugar,  cotton, 
bananas,  corn  and  other  cereals,  but  they  lack  water.  An  irrigation  system  either 
by  artesian  wells,  or  by  canals,  would  be  a  safe  and  very  profitable  business  for 
which  purpose  an  adequate  concession  can  be  obtained  from  the  Government. 

Another  enterprise  of  vital  importance  to  the  country,  because  it  would  pro- 
vide it  with  a  waterway  from  the  sea  to  very  nearly  the  capital  city,  would  be  the 
canalization  of  a  beautiful  river  which  would  be  a  comparatively  easy  undertaking 
because  the  bed  of  the  river  is  soft  and  there  are  no  rapids,  falls  or*  other  obstacles 
along  its  course. 

In  the  above  lines  I  have  only  tried  to  sketch  a  few  of  the  many  undertakings 
that  could  be  carried  out  in  Guatemala,  but  I  hope  that  they  will  suffice  to  give 
you  an  idea  of  the  wide  and  magnificent  field  that  American  capital  and  enter- 
prise can  find  there.  Guatemala  is  a  new  country  still  undeveloped  and  possessing 
the  conditions  for  large  investments  of  capital  with  the  best  and  safest  probabilities 
of  success.  The  Republic  has  the  additional  advantage  of  being  near  the  United 
States.  The  trip  is  short,  easy  and  economical.  One  can  reach  Guatemala  from 
Washington  in  seven  days,  thus:  Two  days  from  Washington  to  New  Orleans; 
three  or  four  days  from  New  Orleans  to  Puerto  Barrios,  and  one  day  from  Puerto 
Barrios  to  Guatemala  City.  I  believe  it  would  be  very  advisable  for  American 
capitalists  and  business  men  to  study  and  know  our  country.  They  would  find 
the  trip  interesting  and  picturesque,  and  the  climate  healthy,  the  people  affable 
and  accommodating,  and  the  Government,  presided  over  by  the  eminent  Dr. 
Manuel  Estrada  Cabrera,  progressive  and  ready  to  encourage  and  protect  every- 
thing that  means  improvement  and  welfare  for  Guatemala. 

If  any  person  or  corporation  may  think  that  it  is  possible  to  carry  out  in 
Guatemala  any  of  the  enterprises  above  pointed  out,  and  wishes  any  further 
information,  I  shall  be  glad  to  furnish  it  upon  application  addressed  to  me  at 
1533  Eye  Street,  Washington,  D.  C. 


TRADING  WITH  GUATEMALA 

BY  SENOR  ALFONSO  ARENALES,  OF  GUATEMALA 

The  success  attained  and  which  can  be  appreciated  more  every  day  in  the 
tendencies  of  this  Institution  must  be  the  motive  of  legitimate  pride  on  the  part 
of  the  supporters  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  The  close  relationship  of  the 
twenty-one  Republics  which  form  the  great  American  family,  is  due  largely  not 
only  to  the  nobleness  of  purpose  but  to  the  efforts  of  its  Governing  Board.  The 
meeting  of  the  Second  Commercial  Conference  is  a  propitious  occasion  to  praise 
its  merits,  but  how  could  this  be  done  better  than  by  reviewing  its  triumphs  ?^ 

At  no  other  time  has  the  meeting  of  this  Conference  been  so  much  desired 
as  it  is  today.  The  nations  of  the  whole  world  feel  the  commanding  necessity  of 
repairing  the  breaches  opened  by  the  war  in  their  commercial  interests.  The 
nations  of  America  in  particular,  see  in  the  hour  of  peace,  a  new  path  open  to 
their  very  ample  development,  and  it  is  only  natural  that,  without  loss  of  time 
and  with  praiseworthy  eagerness  to  recover  from  the  past  four  years  of  forced 
inaction,  they  sfiould  accept  with  unanimous  sympathy  and  true  enthusiasm,  the 
opportune  initiative  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

Guatemala,  perhaps  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  nations  represented  at  the 
Conference,  but  undoubtedly  one  of  those  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm  for  all 
that  which  means  development  and  progress,  sees  in  it  a  new  opportunity  to 
present  to  the  capitalists  and  industrial  men  of  the  United  States,  the  large  field 
of  its  natural  resources  and  productive  investments.  The  very  disaster  that  de- 
stroyed its  Capital  in  the  last  days  of  1917,  amplifies  the  radius  of  action  of  those 
resources,  enlarging  the  opportunities  with  a  sure  reciprocity  of  profit. 

There  is  a  high  significance  in  the  signing  of  the  Treaty  referring  to 
Traveling  Salesmen  and  Agents,  between  the  Governments  of  the  United  States  and 
Guatemala.  This  Treaty  involves  the  most  ample  guarantees  at  the  same  time 
as  the  greatest  advantages  to  all  those  who  desire  to  put  their  merchandise  on  the 
Guatemala  market.  But  necessarily  we  have  to  insist  in  recommending  to  the 
exporters  and  manufacturers  of  the  United  States,  that  if  it  is  desired  that  the 
treaty  may  have  the  good  results  expected  when  signed,  the  selection  of  their 


GUATEMALA  165 

traveling  salesmen  must  be  one  of  the  matters  to  which  particular  attention  be 
paid. 

And  again,  as  the  economical  conditions  tend  to  their  definite  settlement, 
we  believe  opportune  also  to  suggest  to  the  same  exporters  and  manufacturers  the 
idea  of  a  more  minute  study  in  reference  to  extension  and  expiration  of  time  for 
payments. 

The  system  which  up  to  now  has  been  followed  by  American  merchants  has 
been,  with  very  few  exceptions,  "payment  on  presentation  of  bills  of  lading,  drafts, 
invoices,  etc."  Such  conditions  on  many  occasions  have  a  burdensome  result  for 
our  business  men  and  without  any  advantage  to  the  exporters,  have  a  tendency 
to  limit  sales  and  orders,  reducing  them  to  the  strictly  indispensable.  And  it  is 
easy  to  understand  then  that  the  slightest  importance  of  an  order  or  sale  is  re- 
duced in  a  positive  manner  to  the  profit  in  the  transaction. 

One  must  consider,  so  as  to  better  understand  the  necessity  in  which  the 
exporters  find  themselves  to  seek  a  new  system  of  credits  for  the  consumers,  and 
the  justice  of  the  merchants  of  Guatemala  in  asking  for  a  modification  of  the 
system  of  today,  that  if  it  is  true  that  our  ways  of  communication  and  means  of 
transport  are  of  the  most  efficient,  many  a  time  the  nature  of  the  country  itself 
does  not  permit  the  immediate  receipt  of  the  merchandise,  cases  occurring  to  some 
merchants  in  which  they  have  to  cover  amount  of  their  obligations  before  having 
any  knowledge  of  the  merchandise  that  represents  them.  All  the  banks  estab- 
lished in  Guatemala,  and  specially  the  Bank  of  Guatemala,  have  a  perfect  system 
of  information  and  of  collecting,  which  is  naturally  a  great  advantage  for  the 
establishment  of  a  new  system  of  the  extension  of  credits  and  collection  of  pay- 
ments. 

The  Guatemalan  merchants  have  been  waiting  until  the  European  markets 
may  be  in  a  condition  to  supply  them  with  their  commodities;  but  it  is  a  well 
known  fact  that  those  markets  for  the  present  will  only  be  able  to  meet  their  own 
necessities.  To  satisfy  those  of  Guatemala,  the  variety  of  American  products  is 
large  enough  and  their  quality  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  We,  therefore,  believe 
that  the  moment  can  be  taken  advantage  of  without  great  efforts  to  supply  with 
positive  utilities  the  lack  of  European  commodities,  with  the  assurance  that  when 
American  manufactured  goods  are  well  known,  they  will  undoubtedly  obtain  the 
first  place. 

It  can  be  understood  that  European  imports  should  have  held  the  position 
of  preference  in  the  trade  of  Guatemala,  in  spite  of  the  distances  and  the  lack  of 
steamship  communications,  because  the  consigners,  who  were  better  acquainted 
with  the  conditions  and  necessities  of  the  country  to  which  the  merchandise  was 
bound,  offered  to  the  consumer  all  kinds  of  considerations  and  facilities  in  the 
carrying  out  of  their  business.  The  usual  terms  for  payment  required  by  the 
European  exporters  were  in  no  case  less  than  90  days,  which  terms  in  most  cases 
are  extended  to.  twice  that  time.  They  do  not  collect  interest  on  bills  accepted 
and  paid  when  due,  and  only  in  case  of  an  extension  of  time.  The  usual  interest 
in  such  cases  is  never  over  4  per  cent,  a  year. 

There  is  also  another  kind  of  credit  which  can  be  presented  to  the  con- 
sideration of  American  business  men.  A  credit  which  might  be  called  "agricul- 
tural credit."  Up  to  now  it  has  been  the  German  capital  which  has  increased  most 
in  this  kind  of  business  in  Guatemala,  but  the  circumstances  of  today  oblige  the 
Guatemala  agricultural  business  man  to  seek  new  bearings  and  get  away  from 
such  a  guardianship.  The  conditions  of  the  credits  obtained  can  be  easily  under- 
stood by  the  fact  that  with  an  astonishing  rapidity  many  of  the  most  valuable  plan- 
tations in  Guatemala  have  become  German  property,  thanks  to  the  cunning  dexterity 
with  which  the  Germans  worked  out  their  liquidations. 

It  would  not  be  possible  to  give  details  as  to  the  conditions  under  which 
such  credits  might  be  extended;  it  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate  the  conditions 
and  necessities  of  each  one  of  our  agricultural  business  men.  But,  it  would  be 
convenient  that  those  who  are  interested  should  guide  their  steps  towards  easier 
paths  so  as  to  unite  with  the  bonds  of  interest  two  nations  which  so  expontaneously 
have  united  with  the  bonds  of  friendship. 


166  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

HAITI 

HAITI— PAST  AND  PRESENT 

BY  MONS  M.  CHARLES  MORAVIA,  MINISTER  OF  HAITI. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Being  a  new  comer  amongst  my  colleagues  of  the 
Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  and  consequently  being  the  least 
known,  and  speaking  in  French  in  this  Conference  where  English  and  Spanish  are 
the  prevailing  languages,  I  appear  before  you  as  a  living  symbol  of  the" country  I 
have  the  honor  to  represent.  Haiti  offers  indeed  this  peculiarrity  that  it  is  the  only 
French  speaking  Republic  in  the  Americas.  This  fact,  surprising  to  those  who  do 
not  know  its  historical  reason,  is  one  of  the  causes  of  the  isolation  in  which 
the  Black  Republic  has  been  maintained.  It  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  Haiti 
is  so  ill-known,  one  that  makes  her  American  sister  Republics  look  down  upon 
her  as  if  she  were  a  stranger. 

Haiti  is  not  only  little  known,  but  she  has  always  been  systematically  dis- 
regarded, and  the  legends  which  have  been  forged  on  her  account  by  travelers 
with  a  superficial  mind  are  still  circulating,  while  truth,  the  simple  truth  is 
vainly  struggling  against  them.  And  if  it  is  true  that  Haitian  history  contains 
unfortunate  pages,  how  many  glorious  ones  have  been  written  in  the  Annals 
of  Humanity  by  this  little  people! — pages  so  wonderful  that  it  seems  as  if  it 
had  been  in  the  plans  of  Providence  to  make  the  smallest  country  accomplish  the 
greatest  things.  And,  indeed,  was  it  but  a  small  achievement  for  this  black 
people  to  conquer  their  independence  by  force  of  arms,  after  a  glorious  fight, 
as  early  as  1804,  when  practically  the  whole  of  America — with  the  exception  of 
the  United  States — was  made  up  of  Spanish  or  English  possessions?  Haiti 
was  the  second  country  in  this  hemisphere  to  proclaim  its  independence,  and 
this  fact  is  the  more  remarkable  when  we  consider  that  it  was  not  only  inde- 
pendence but  also  liberty  that  the  Haitians  conquered  when  they-  shook  off  the 
yoke  of  the  mother  country  at  the  time  France  was  at  the  zenith  of  her  power. 
One  year  after  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  one  year  after  Napoleon  had  dictated 
the  peace  of  Amiens  to  a  vassal  Europe,  the  Haitians,  thanks  to  their  cour- 
age alone,  defeated  a  French  army  composed  of  25,000  of  those  troops  which 
had  entered  the  gates  of  the  European  capitals  as  victors;  and  in  doing  so 
they  not  only  created  a  new  fatherland,  but  proclaimed  the  abolition  of  sla- 
very, nearly  three  quarters  of  a  century  before  the  great  Lincoln,  thus  crowning 
by  the  accomplished  fact  the  great  work  of  the  French  Revolution:  the  proc- 
lamation of  the  Rights  of  Man. 

You  will  forgive  my  pride,  but  I  must  tell  you  that  there  is  not  a  more 
glorious  page  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

But  this  is  not  all  that  the  Haitians  did  for  the  sacred  cause  of  Humanity: 
the  breath  of  God  was  on  them.  When  the  immortal  Bolivar,  vanquished  and 
a  fugitive,  after  the  failure  of  his  first  effort,  was  seeking  a  place  of  refuge  as 
well  as  help,  it  was  in  Haiti  that  he  found  both.  The  leader  of  the  second 
American  Republic,  the  chief  of  the  Black  people,  in  supplying  Simon  Bolivar 
with  men  and  money,  allowed  him  to  resume  the  struggle,  and  to  become  later 
on  the  glorious  liberator  of  the  United  States  of  Venezuela.  This  fact  is  but 
little  known,  although  it  has  not  been  forgotten  by  the  Venezuelans  who  have 
erected  in  a  public  place  of  Caracas,  among  their  national  heroes,  a  statue  of 
Alexandre  Petion,  President  of  Haiti. 

Thanks  doubtless  to  the  physical  smallness  of  Haiti,  the  example  set .  by 
this  country  in  freeing  herself  contributed  even  to  a  larger  extent  than  that  of 
the  United  States  to  the  liberation  of  the  Americas.  It  seems  to  me  that  this 
fact  gives  to  my  country  not  only  an  imperishable  title  of  glory  ^  but  also  an 
incontestable  right  to  the  fraternal  sympathies  of  every  countries  in  this  hem- 
isphere. 

I  know  that  I  shall  surprise  not  a  few  in  unveiling  history  in  this  manner, 
but  I  will  perhaps  surprise  you  even  more  in  telling  you  that  the  Haitians  were 
so  evidently  designed  by  Providence  to  participate  in  all  the  struggles  for  lib- 
erty and  to  cooperate  in  all  the  emancipations,  that  they  also  shed  their  generous 


HAITI  167 

blood  on  the  North  American  soil  for  the  independence  of  the  United   States. 

It  is  written  in  indelible  characters  in  history  that  Admiral  d'Estaing,  sent 
by  France  to  the  help  of  George  Washington,  completed  his  army  by  raising 
in  Haiti  a  corps  of  800  volunteers,  negroes  and  mulattoes,  who,  mixed  with  the 
French  soldiers,  took  part  in  1779  in  the  siege  of  Savannah. 

Let  me  cite  to  you  another  trait  of  Haitian  heroism.  In  1903,  only  16 
years  ago,  a  Haitian  despatch-boat  having  dared  to  exercise  the  right  of  visit 
on  board  of  a  German  merchant  vessel,  the  arrogant  William  II.  sent  at  once  the 
cruiser  "Panther"  with  orders  to  seize  the  little  boat,  which  was  then  anchored 
in  the  port  of  Gonaives.  Ordered  to  lower  his  flag,  the  Haitian  admiral — his 
name  was  Killick — being  unable  to  resist  as  his  ship  was  not  under  steam,  in- 
structed his  crew  to  disembark;  and  when  left  alone  on  board,  the  officer  blew 
up  his  vessel  and  went  down  to  his  death,  preferring  to  bury  himself  in  the  flag 
rather  than  to  lower  it  before  the  enemy.  Compare,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  this 
magnificent  deed  with  the  ignominious  surrender  of  the  German  fleet  in  No- 
vember last,  and  judge  for  yourselves. 

I  have  said  already  that  the  Haitians  seem  to  have  been  marked  by  Destiny 
to  participate  in  every  battle  fought  for  the  sacred  cause  of  liberty,  it  is  not 
then  surprising  to  see  now  the  Republic  of  Haiti  represented  at  the  Peace  Con- 
ference after  having  taken  her  place  amongst  the  nations  which  fought  German 
tyranny.  To  be  sure,  Haiti  being  only  a  small  country  has  not  materially  con- 
tributed to  victory,  but  you  must  know  that  even  before  their  government  had 
declared  war  on  the  German  Empire,  a  great  many  Haitians  had  spontaneously 
left  for  France  in  order  to  enlist  in  the  French  army;  and  such  was  the  conduct 
of  these  volunteers  on  the  firing  line,  such  was  the  bravery  and  their  heroic 
enthusiasm,  that  the  little  bicolored  flag  will  for  ever  have  a  place  in  the  Mem- 
orial which  is  being  erected  in  honor  of  the  defenders  of  Verdun. 

Doubtless,  you  are  wondering  why  I  am  dwelling  at  such  length  on  points 
of  history,  and  you  may  very  well  think  that  I  am  straying  from  the  subject 
which  I  have  been  invited  to  speak  upon.  However,  far  from  straying  from  the 
question,  I  am  getting  at  the  bottom  of  it.  If  we  want  indeed  to  see  closer  com- 
mercial relations  established  between  Haiti  and  the  other  Pan  American  coun- 
tries, the  first  thing  we  must  do  is  to  promote  a  better  understanding  and  a 
friendly  feeling  between  the  interested  nations,  and  to  destroy  legends  and  re- 
move prejudices;  in  other  words,  we  must  create  this  harmonious  spirit  which  is 
the  very  basis  of  business  relations. 

This  is  the  reason  why  I  have  not  come  to  you  with  statistics  which  can/ 
be  found  in  publications.  I  have  not  come  here  to  tell  you  that  the  Haitian  soil 
has  been  recognized  even  by  our  worst  detracters  as  one  of  the  most  fertile  in 
the  world,  and  that,  with  the  internal  peace  which  is  being  made  secure  thanks 
to  the  friendly  assistance  of  the  United  States,  my  country  is  assured  of  a  rapid 
agricultural  and  commercial  development;  all  things  that  you  know  or  can  easily 
learn. 

I  wanted  to  tell  you — a  fact  not  generally  known,  and  perhaps  maliciously 
kept  in  the  background — that  while  Haiti  may  have  her  defects,  and  although  the 
militarism,  which  helped  to  establish  our  nationality  and  was  maintained  through 
circumstances  which  would  require  too  much  of  your  time  to  be  explained  and 
justified,  kept  my  country  outside  the  path  of  material  progress,  the  Haitian 
people  are  far  from  being  what  the  unjust  and  injurious  legend  has  represented 
them  to  the  outside  world.  Whatever  the  Haitian  people  have  been  in  the  past 
and  whatever  they  are  now,  the  fact  that  they  have  accomplished  great  things 
and  have  set  an  example  to  all  the  people  of  this  continent,  the  fact  that  they 
have  shed  their  blood  on  many  sacred  battlefields,  and  have,  in  spite  of  adverse 
circumstances,  produced  many  remarkable  men  in  the  realm  of  arts  and  letters, 
all  these  facts  entitle  them  to  the  fraternal  consideration  of  the  other  Pan  Amer- 
ican people. 

Sympathy  creates  interest,  interest  is  an  incentive  to  study  and  study  en- 
ables men  to  discover  business  opportunities.  This  is  the  reason  why  I  am  pleading 
before  you  the  right  of  Haiti  to  the  sympathy  of  her  twenty  American  sister 
Republics. 

Our  material  progress  rests  largely  with  the  United  States.  What  we  need 
is  American  capital  and  American  enterprise.  We  need  rural  banks;  we  want 
you  to  learn  to  appreciate  the  products  of  our  soil  which,  before  the  war,  went 


168  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFERENCE 

principally  to  Europe.  In  conclusion  I  will  say  that  my  country,  before  which 
a  new  era  is  coming,  asks  nothing  else  than  a  fair  chance  to  develop  her  re- 
sources, her  unexploited  riches,  for  her  own  benefit  and  for  the  advantage  of 
the  great  market  to  the  North:  the  United  States. 

May  this  Conference  result  in  promoting  an  active  interest  in  Haitian 
affairs,  and  may  this  interest  lead  to  the  sympathetic  study  of  the  possibilities  of 
the  Black  Republic,  so  that  one  day  it  can  be  said  that  Pan  Americanism,  which 
stands  for  union  and  solidarity  of  the  people  of  this  hemisphere,  has  contributed 
to  their  complete  development. 

The  Republic  of  Haiti  occupies  the  western  part  of  the  island  of  the  same 
name,  the  eastern  part  being  the  territory  of  the  Dominican  Republic.  Its  area 
is  10,200  square  miles  and  its  population  is  more  than  two  millions.  The  language 
is  French. 

The  development  of  Haiti  has  been  paralysed  by  a  succession  of  ruinous 
revolutions  of  political  character,  due  to  the  ambitions  of  individuals  or  groups  to 
acquire  financial  benefits  accruing  to  or  controlled  by  the  office  of  the  President 
rather  than  to  any  uprising  of  the  people  as  a  whole.  For  in  spite  of  all  contrary 
appearances,  the  people  are  very  peaceful  and  have  always  been  rather  passive  in 
the  hands  of  the  professional  politicians  who  exploited  their  ignorance.  As  the 
general  conditions  were  growing  worse  and  worse,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  intervened,  and  in  September  1915  a  treaty  was  signed  between  the  two 
countries  establishing  a  United  States  financial  and  police  protectorate  for  a  period 
of  ten  years  with  provision  for  an  additional  ten  years.  This  treaty,  being  a 
guaranty  of  internal  peace,  good  order  and  sound  administration  of  the  public 
funds,  marks  the  opening  of  a  new  era  for  Haiti. 

Besides  the  numerous  revolutions  which  created  a  sense  of  instability,  there 
was  another  barrier  to  the  material  development  of  the  country:  it  was  the  article 
6  of  the  Constitution  preventing  a  foreigner  from  owning  Haitian  land.  This 
obstacle  was  removed  last  year  when  a  new  Constitution  was  voted  wherein  that 
article  has  been  amended  in  such  a  way  that  the  foreigner  may  acquire  Haitian 
land  provided  he  lives  or  maintains  an  establishment  in  Haiti. 

The  climate  of  the  country  is  essentially  tropical;  epidemics  are  very 
rare.  The  health  of  the  United  States  Marines,  some  of  whom  have  been  in 
Haiti  for  more  than  three  years  is  reported  as  unusually  good  in  spite  of  their 
living  under  hard  military  conditions.  As  to  the  soil,  it  is  one  of  the  most 
fertile  in  the  world. 

The  principal  products  exported  are  coffee,  cocoa,  cotton,  logwood,  lignum 
vitae,  fustic,  mahogany,  castor  beans,  cottonseed  oil,  corn,  honey,  beeswax,  hides, 
goatskins,  sisal,  sponges,  turtle  shell,  fertilizer. 

The  principal  articles  imported  are  building  materials,  bricks  and  tiles, 
cement,  steel,  lumber,  light  carriages,  chemicals  and  drugs,  dry  goods,  furniture, 
hardware,  jewelry,  machinery,  notions,  oils,  paints,  provisions,  preserved  food, 
salt  fish,  pork,  beef,  rice,  flour,  soap,  wearing  apparel,  stationery. 

Before  the  war,  most  of  the  exports  went  to  France,  England,  Germany, 
Holland  and  Italy,  as  most  of  the  imports  came  from  those  countries  also,  because 
those  markets  were  far  more  advantageous  than  the  American  market.  The  war 
caused  a  change  and  Haiti  had  to  buy  from  and  to  sell  to  the  United  States. 
It  is  presumable  that  after  the  restoration  of  normal  conditions  the  Haitian 
products  due  to  better  prices  obtained  in  Europe,  will  preferably  go  there ;  but 
the  United  ^States  may  retain  a  part  of  the  trade. 

In  order  to  prove  a  profitable  field  for  American  interests,  Haiti  must  be 
developed,  and  to  that  end,  needs  American  money  and  American  enterprise.  The 
Haitian  soil  which  is  wonderfully  fertile  can  produce  abundantly,  besides  its 
present  products,  bananas,  oranges,  lemons  and  pineapples  of  the  best  kinds  if 
modern  methods  of  culture  are  employed.  Agricultural  enterprises  would  provide 
employment  for  thousands  and  thousands  of  Haitians  and  at  the  same  time  serve 
as  an  example  to  the  natives  who  would  become  money  makers  themselves,  and 
consequently  spending  more  for  comfort  and  pleasure,  would  increase  by  a  great 
deal  the  volume  of  commerce.  The  United  States,  being  the  nearest  great 
country,  cannot  but  take  advantage  of  that  development.  The  example  of  Cuba  is 
conclusive. 

So  far  the  benefit  of  the  American-Haitian  treaty  is  felt  only  in  the  fact 
that  the  country  is  enjoying  internal  peace,  that  good  roads  have  been  built  and 


HAITI  169 

sanitary  conditions  improved ;  but  the  conditions  brought  about  by  the  world  war 
were  very  prejudicial  to  the  Haitian  commerce  and  the  country  suffered  heavily.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  now  that  normal  conditions  are  going  to  be  restored,  better 
results  will  be  observed  in  the  near  future. 

Two  American  enterprises  of  importance  have  been  established  in  Haiti 
during  the  three  past  years.  The  Haitian  American  Corporation,  25  Broad 
Street,  New  York,  has  built  at  an  expense  of  more  than  three  million  dollars  a 
Sugar  Centrale  which  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  West  Indies;  the  plant  is 
working  now  and  sugar  is  being  exported  to  the  United  States. 

The  United  West  Indies  Corporation,  50  Broad  Street,  New  York,  planted 
castor  beans  and  gathered  crops  from  five  thousand  acres,  the  article  being  in 
great  demand  during  the  war,  and  so  successful  was  the  enterprise  that  the 
Company  is  contemplating  a  great  extension  of  its  activities  in  Haiti.  They  ob- 
tained by  purchase  or  lease  the  total  of  approximately  400,000  acres  of  land  and 
are  planning  to  plant  tobacco  and  cotton,  to  establish  modern  cotton  gins  and 
cotton  seed  oil  mills,  and  are  considering  also  raising  cattle  and  establishing 
dairy  farms. 

The  following  synoptic  table  shows  the  export  of  the  principal  product  for 
a  period  of  ten  years: 

Coffee.  Cocoa.  Cotton.  Logwood. 

Pounds.  Pounds.  Pounds.  Pounds. 

1907-08 60,649,613  5,918,968  8,062,440  109,237,870 

1908-09 39,136,535  4,433,282  3,527,359  88,408,031 

1909-10 77,417,662  4,152,660  3,778,118  96,861,639 

1910-11 51,795,619  3,228,350  4,198,227  75,197,092 

1911-12 79,276,555  6,905,338  4,338,837  94,870,193 

1912-13 57,593,830          _      3,919,120  4,287,722  97,198,150 

1913-14 81,484,525  6,629,844  3,492,458  72,080,450 

1914-15 36,260,085  4,200,406  2,492,982  49,832,611 

1915-16 45,062,354  3,395,554  2,896,870  231,258,891 

1916-17 47,235,925  3,860,571  4,604,671  94,379,561 

The  revenues  of  the  Haitian  Government  from  custom  duties  and  other 
taxations  amount  annually  to  more  than  four  millions  of  dollars.  The  total  debt, 
interior  and  foreign,  is  about  thirty  three  millions. 

Various  claims  have  been  made  as  to  the  mineral  resources  of  Haiti. 
Lignite  has  been  found  in  three  different  points  of  the  Republic,  in  the  north  and 
in  the  south.  There  are  copper  mines  near  Gonaives,  and  oil  also  has  been 
found. 


NICARAGUA 

FOREIGN  COMMERCE  1917 

TOTAL  4  12,368,000. 


OTHER 

COUNTRIES 

*  81,000, 


ITAliY 
*  41,000 


HONDURAS  171 

HONDURAS 

DATA  ON  THE  FINANCES,  INDUSTRIES  AND  COMMERCE  OF  HONDURAS 

BY  SENOR  R.  CAMILO  DIAZ,  CHARGE  D'  AFFAIRES  OF  HONDURAS. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Messrs.  Delegates:  I  am  honored  and  pleased  to  submit  to 
you  the  following  data.  They  contain  first  hand  and  detailed  information  con- 
cerning the  geography,  finances,  industry  and  commerce  of  Honduras. 

Geography. — The  Republic  of  Honduras  has  an  area  of  44,275  square  miles 
with  a  population  of  800,000.  Its  boundaries  are:  to  the  north,  the  Caribbean  Sea; 
to  the  east,  Nicaragua;  to  the  south,  Nicaragua  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  to  the 
west,  Salvador  and  Guatemala.  Its  coast  on  the  Caribbean  has  a  length  of  600 
kilometers  with  many  bays  and  inlets.  The  length  of  the  coast  on  the  Pacific 
is  85  kilometers  and  is  formed  on  the  Gulf  of  Fonseca,  one  of  the  best  bays  on 
the  west  coast  of  America.  The  general  topography  of  the  country  is  mountainous, 
with  extensive  plains  and  tablelands.  The  climate  is  splendid.  In  the  plateaus 
the  temperature  varies  between  5°  and  15°  centigrade  and  in  the  valleys  and 
coasts  it  does  not  rise  over  30.°  The  fertility  of  the  soil  is  due  partly  to  abundant 
water  as  the  territory  of  the  country  is  crossed  by  many  rivers  some  of  which  are 
navigable.  The  Republic  of  Honduras  offers  a  wide  field  for  the  investment  of 
foreign  capital  in  the  development  of  banking,  commercial,  industrial,  agricultural 
and  mining  enterprises. 

Banks. — There  are  in  the  Republic  two  banks,  the  Bank  of  Honduras,  and 
the  Bank  of  the  Atlantida.  With  this  latter,  the  Bank  of  Commerce  was  recently 
merged.  These  two  banks  do  not  fill  either  the  domestic  or  foreign  needs  of  the 
country,  because  they  charge  an  enormous  rate  of  interest  on  loans  and  mortgages 
— 12  per  cent  per  annum — and  besides  they  have  no  branches  in  the  principal  com- 
mercial centers  of  the  world.  For  this  reason  the  Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas, 
and  the  American  Foreign  Banking  Corporation  of  New  York,  have  sent  com- 
missioners to  Honduras  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  branches  in  the  country. 

Currency  and  Exchange. — By  virtue  of  Government  decree,  the  standard  of 
value  of  the  Hondurean  silver  peso  has  been  fixed  at  fifty  cents  American  cur- 
rency, and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Hondurean  peso  was  recently  quoted  in  this 
country  at  seventy-five  (75)  cents,  United  States  currency,  the  Government  has 
prohibited  the  exportation  of  silver  coins.  By  reason  of  the  fluctuation  to  which 
silver  has  been  subjected  for  the  last  thirty  years,  the  Hondurean  Government  has 
now  under  consideration  the  establishment  of  the  g9ld  standard.  With  a  sub- 
sidiary silver  coin  of  the  same  alloy  used  for  the  United  States  silver  coins  it  is 
believed  that  this  measure  will  prevent  the  exportation  of  silver  coins  such  as  has 
taken  place  with  the  silver  coins  of  Honduras,  Guatemala  and  Salvador  which  left 
the  Republic  attracted  by  the  high  prices  offered  by  the  New  York  market. 

Commerce  and  Industry. — If  the  statistics  for  the  fiscal  year  1911-1912  be 
compared  with  those  of  1916-1917,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  trade  of  the  Republic 
has  almost  doubled  in  value;  in  1911-1912  it  amounted  to  $7,397,492  gold;  and  in 
1916-1917  to  $14,323,339  gold,  or  an  increase  of  $6,925,847.  During  the  last  few 
years  the  balance  of  trade  in  favor  of  the  Republic  has  been,  as  a  rule,  50  per  cent. 

Any  enterprising  individual  will  find  in  Honduras  a  magnificent  place  for 
profitable  investment  by  undertaking  industries  of  various  kinds.  Almost  all  of 
important  commercial  firms  in  the  country  are  European  and  American,  many  of 
them  having  branches  in  the  principal  trade  centres  of  the  Republic. 

During  the  last  eight  years  the  different  administrations  of  Honduras  have 
devoted  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  promotion  of  foreign  trade.  After  the 
Panama-Pacific  Exposition  closed,  I  was  commissioned  by  my  Government  to  dis- 
tribute the  exhibits  of  Hondurean  products,  which  were  presented  at  that  exposi- 
tion, among  the  Hondurean  Consulates  in  the  United  States  and  also  among 
several  institutions,  such  as  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  which,  after  the 
Pan  American  Union,  is  one  of  the  institutions  that  carries  on  the  most  extensive 
propaganda  on  behalf  of  the  commerce  of  the  Americas,  likewise  the  Government 
has  established  Bureaus  of  Information  in  the  consulates  in  New  York,  New 
Orleans,  San  Francisco,  Chicago  and  Mobile. 


172  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

Recently  the  Government  of  Honduras  sent  a  consular  mission  to  Buenos 
Aires,  and  the  Argentine  Government  in  turn  opened  a  consular  office  at  Teguci- 
galpa. Recently  there  have  been  entered  into  commercial  reciprocity  treaties  with 
the  neighboring  Republics  of  Salvador  and  Nicaragua.  Negotiations  are  now 
under  way  for  the  establishment  of  branch  agencies  in  Honduras  of  the  Mercan- 
tile Overseas  Corporation,  in  connection  with  the  Mercantile  Bank  of  the 
Americas.  Experience  has  shown  that  one  of  the  most  efficient  means  for  promot- 
ing trade  is  that  of  maintaining  permanent  exhibits  of  foreign  merchandise.  This 
system  has  given  magnificent  results  in  Honduras,  as  has  also  the  sending  to  that 
country  of  expert  travelling  agents  who  know  the  Spanish  language  and  who  are 
familiar  with  the  customs  and  needs  of  the  inhabitants.  The  Hondurean  law  gives 
commercial  travelers  all  facilities  for  the  importation  of  their  samples  free  of  duty. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Honduras  has  under  consideration  the  estab- 
lishment in  its  building  of  a  permanent  exhibit  of  the  agricultural  and  mineral 
products  of  the  Republic;  it  also  has  in  mind  the  compilation  of  statistical  data 
for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  research  by  those  interested  in  the  commercial 
affairs  of  the  country. 

Another  means  which  has  given  satisfactory  results  for  inter-American  trade 
in  this  country  has  been  the  exposition  of  moving  pictures  describing  Latin 
America. 

The  trade  of  the  United  States  with  Latin  America  could  be  increased  if 
Latin  American  importers  were  granted  reasonable  credit  terms  for  the  payment  of 
their  orders.  At  present  the  longest  period  granted  is  sixty  days  which  frequently 
elapses  before  the  merchandise  reaches  its  destination.  In  many  cases  American 
exporters  require  payment  in  advance  and  this  is  done  even  with  highly-responsi- 
ble firms.  The  European  exporters  conquered  the  Latin  American  markets  due 
to  the  long  credits  which  they  used  to  grant. 

On  account  of  the  abnormal  situation  created  by  the  War,  almost  all  the 
import  and  export  trade  of  Honduras  has  been  carried  on  with  the  United  States. 
The  trade  with  the  neighboring  and  European  countries  has  been  secondary. 
Under  normal  conditions  the  trade  of  Honduras  with  the  other  countries  of  Latin 
America  has  not  been  developed  on  account  of  the  lack  of  maritime  connection. 
For  instance,  our  tobacco  merchants  export  considerable  quantities  to  Peru,  but 
in  order  to  send  their  merchandise  to  that  country  they  have  to  ship  it  first  to  the 
ports  of  the  Atlantic  via  New  Orleans,  Colon  and  Panama.  When  the  shipment 
reaches  Callao  it  has  undergone  four  transhipments,  after  having  spent  several 
months  in  transit.  In  order  to  overcome  partially  this  obstacle  the  firm  of  Bueso 
Brothers,  of  Santa  Rosa  de  Capan.  ^  The  principal  tobacco  firm  in  Honduras  pur- 
chased recently  a  steamer  to  send  its  product  from  Peurto  Cortes  to  Callao  via 
Panama. 

With  the  scientific  methods  lately  employed  in  Honduras  in  the  cultivation 
and  manufacturing  of  tobacco,  this  industry  has  improved  remarkably.  The 
United  States  market  is  favorable  for  the  consumption  of  Hondurean  tobacco,  but 
on  account  of  the  heavy  customs  duties  the  product  cannot  be  imported  into  this 
country.  In  my  opinion,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  for  this  Government  to  lower 
these  duties  under  the  ^treaty  entered  into  between  Honduras  and  the  United 
States  July  4,  1864,  which  contains  the  most-favored-nation  clause.  The  same 
duties  on  Cuban  tobacco  might  be  made  applicable  to  Hondurean  tobacco. 

During  ^the  International  Exposition  of  Guatemala  in  1897,  our  importers 
became  acquainted  with  Chilean  products,  particularly  canned  food,  cereals  and 
wines,  but  we  have  been  unable  to  cultivate  commercial  relations  with  Chile  be- 
cause the  exporting  houses  from  that  country  have  not  sent  agents  to  Honduras, 
and  also  on  account  of  the  lack  of  regular  steamship  communication.  Honduras 
has  always  gotten  its  supply  of  flour  from  the  United  States,  but  in  the  last 
months  of  the  War  the  American  Government  was  compelled  to  prohibit  the 
exports  of  flour  in  order  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  country,  and  to  supply  the  allied 
armies  in  Europe.  For  this  reason  the  importers  in  Honduras  sent  orders  of  flour 
to  Chile,  but  the  importers  in  the  north  and  west  of  the  Republic  were  not  able 
to  secure  any  amount  on  account  of  the  lack  of  means  of  transportation  between 
the  Atlantic  ports  and  Havana  and  Colon  to  which  the  Chilean  exporters  sent 
large  shipments  to  supply  the  West  Indies  and  Central  America.  After  the  United 
States  entered  the  War,  Honduras  exported  to  the  American  markets  raw  materials 
for  the  manufacture  of  war  munitions  and  foodstuffs  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
Army,  such  as,  mahogany  and  castor  oil  for  aeroplanes  and  motors,  shells  for 
gas  masks  and  sugar  and  cereals. 


HONDURAS  173 

The  proposal  submitted  to  the  Conference  by  Mr.  Nicolas  Hernandez  of 
Havana,  Cuba,  suggesting  the  advisability  of  codifying  the  financial  and  customs 
laws  and  regulations  of  the  Pan  American  countries,  is  very  wise,  because  such  a 
codification  will  tend  to  develop  and  promote  inter-American  trade. 

Shipping  and  Steamship  Lines. — Even  before  the  War  the  maritime  com- 
munications with  Honduras  were  not  commensurate  with  the  needs  of  the  country, 
and  the  situation  at  present  is  worse.  This  applies  particularly  to  our  largest  port, 
Amapala  in  the  Gulf  of  Fonseca  on  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Of  the  five  steamship  lines 
which  plied  to  the  southern  ports  of  the  Republic,  there  is  only  left  the  Pacific 
Mail  Steamship  Company  and  recently  this  line  suspended  its  services  to  that 
port,  its  steamers  plying  at  present  between  Panama  and  San  Francisco  and  stop- 
ping at  Amapala  very  irregularly,  this  being  due,  perhaps,  to  the  fact  that  the 
steamers  were  requisitioned  by  the  United  States  Government  during  the  War. 
For  the  same  reason,  the  Ward  Line  was  compelled  to  stop  service  to  the  above 
mentioned  ports.  Amapala  is  a  port  of  entry  for  merchandise  destined  to  the 
departments  of  the  south,  centre  and  west  of  the  Republic,  and  through  the  same 
port  are  exported  the  products  from  the  same  departments. 

The  business  men  of  the  country  suffer  serious  losses  from  the  indefinite 
storing  of  their  merchandise  in  Panama  where  the  cargoes  consigned  to  them  must 
remain  until  there  is  an  opportunity  for  transhipment  to  Honduras.  On  the 
Atlantic  coast  the  steamers  of  the  Cuyamel  Fruit  Company  ply  between  New 
Orleans  and  Omoa  and  Puerto  Cortes;  those  of  the  Tela  Railroad  Company  and 
of  the  United  Fruit  Company  ply  between  New  York,  Puerto  Cortes  and  Tela; 
and  those  of  the  Vaccaro  Brothers  and  Company  between  New  Orleans,  La  Ceiba, 
Trujillo  and  Roatan.  It  is  imperative  that  the  Tela  Railroad  Company  or  the 
United  Fruit  Company  should  send  from  New  York  at  least  two  monthly  steamers, 
touching  at  Puerto  Cortes  and  Tela. 

The  coastwise  and  interior  communication  in  the  country  is  being  improved 
constantly  by  the  Government  and  the  different  private  companies.  Lake  Yojoa 
is  now  served  by  several  steamers,  launches  and  tugs  of  the  Hondurean  Naviga- 
tion and  Transportation  Company.  The  Republic  has  several  navigable  rivers,  the 
principal  one  emptying  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  In  Roatan  Island  there  are  two 
very  good  shipyards  which  build  and  repair  the  greater  part  of  the  sailing  vessels 
that  ply  between  the  Atlantic  coast  ports  of  Central  America  and  the  United 
States.  Recently  there  were  built  in  one  of  these  yards  five  sailing  vessels  of 
considerable  tonnage  for  Cuba,  and  several  others  for  Florida. 

Agriculture  and  Forestry. — Agriculture  is  the  principal  resource  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  Government  as  well  as  individual  enterprises  have  contributed  always 
to  its  development.  For  the  purpose  of  improving  the  cultivation  and  manufactur- 
ing of  tobacco,  the  Government  has  established  a  school  of  tobacco  culture  whose 
results  have  been  most  satisfactory.  It  has  also  established  two  experimental  farms 
and  has  already  undertaken  the  organization  of  rural  agricultural  schools.  Mr.  S. 
Zemurray,  an  American,  on  the  other  hand,  has  already  taken  steps  for  the  founda- 
tion of  an  agricultural  college,  in  the  Department  of  Cortes.  Recently  there  have 
been  organized  different  agricultural  and  industrial  corporations  which  are  strongly 
financed  and  are  sure  to  be  successful.  The  principal  agricultural  products  of  the 
country  are  bananas,  cocoanuts,  pineapples,  oranges,  sugar-cane,  rice,  sarsaparilla, 
as  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  have  always  been  awarded  the  highest  prizes  in 
foreign  expositions  and  been  quoted  at  high  prices  in  the  foreign  markets. 

The  cultivation  of  wheat,  henequen  and  sugar  is  now  being  undertaken  on 
a  very  large  scale.  Honduras  occupies  the  first  place  among  the  Central  American 
Republic  in  the  production  of  bananas.  Its  exports  to  the  United  States  for  the 
fiscal  year  ending  July  31,  1917,  amounted  to  9,970,773  bunches  valued  at  $5,742,- 
273.90. 

The  forest  wealth  of  Hunduras  is  considerable,  there  being  large  woods  of 
mahogany,  cedar,  pine,  etc.  The  transportation  of  these  forests  is  facilitated  by 
navigable  rivers  and  several  railroad  lines  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  In  the  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museum,  may  be  seen  a  complete  collection  of  samples  of  the 
various  precious  woods  of  the  country. 

Live  Stock. — This  is  one  of  the  most  important  resources  of  the  country.  In 
the  last  few  years,  the  exportation  of  cattle  to  some  of  the  Latin  American  coun- 
tries has  been  done  on  a  very  large  scale,  it  being  preferred  in  those  markets  on 
account  of  the  excellence  of  its  meat.  Exports  have  also  been  made  to  the 
Southern  States,  and  recently  the  Department  of  Agriculture  of  the  United  States 


174  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

sent  a  commission  of  experts  to  investigate  the  cattle  industry  of  Honduras.  The 
report  of  this  commission  shows  that  the  breeds  are  of  excellent  quality,  that  the 
animals  were  in  good  healthy  condition  and  that  there  was  a  good  basis  in  the 
country  for  the  breeding  of  first  class  live  stock. 

Mining. — The  mining  industry  occupies  the  first  place  in  the  country,  the 
products  being  gold,  silver,  copper,  bismuth  and  antimony,  quick  silver,  platinum, 
mercury,  iron  and  coal,  etc. 

The  New  York  and  Honduras  Rosarip  Mining  Company  has  since  1882, 
wheri  it  started  its  operations,  until  1918,  obtained  a  total  net  profit  of  $36,204,027. 
In  1918  alone,  its  total  net  earnings  were  $1,803,751  and  the  dividends  paid  by  the 
company  in  the  last  few  years  have  been  twenty  per  cent  per  annum.  Other 
mining  companies,  likewise  doing  an  excellent  business,  are — the  Paetan  Heim 
Company,  The  Honduras  Exploration  Mining  Company,  etc. 

Railroads  and  Highways. — In  the  last  few  years  considerable  attention  has 
been  devoted  by  the  Government  to  this  important  means  of  national  development. 
There  are  now  in  operation  six  lines  with  a  total  mileage  of  750  kilometers,  as 
follows:  Vaccaro  Brothers  Railroad,  Trujillo  Railroad  Company,  Tela  Railroad 
Company,  Cuyamel  Fruit  Company  Railroad,  and  Pan  American  Railroad.  The 
principal  highways  of  the  country  have  been  macadamized  and  are  constantly  being 
improved  under  the  direction  of  the  National  Government  itself.  The  immediate 
effect  of  the  general  improvement  of  the  country's  highways  has  been  a  constant 
increase  in  the  importation  of  automobiles,  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Government 
has  found  it  advisable  to  establish  a  school  for  chauffeurs,  with  good  results. 

Ports.— /The  principal  port  of  the  Republic  on  the  Pacific  coast,  is  that  of 
Amapala,  on  Tigre  Island,  which  is  constantly  being  improved  by  the  Government. 
Other  important  ports  are  those  of  Trujillo,  La  Ceiba,  Puerto  Cortes,  Omao  y 
Cuyamel,  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 


MEXICO  175 

MEXICO 

MEXICO'S  FOREIGN  TRADE 

BY  DR.  JUAN  B.  Rojo,  COUNSELLOR  OF  THE  MEXICAN  EMBASSY,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
(Delivered  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

The  noted  Baron  von  Humboldt  aptly  termed  Mexico  as  the  treasure  house 
of  the  world. 

The  list  of  articles  produced  in  and  exported  from  Mexico  is  a  long  and 
interesting  one.  First  come  the  metals 'gold,  silver,  copper,  lead,  antimony,  tin, 
zinc,  mercury,  sulphur,  plumbago,  mica,  asbestos,  salt,  etc.  Petroleum  and  its 
by-products  are  among  the  leading  articles  of  export,  having  become  so  within 
the  past  twenty  years  and  constantly  increasing  until  they  promise  to  take  the 
foremost  rank  in  this  direction.  Of  vegetable  products  there  is  a  large  export 
trade  in  cotton,  coffee,  rubber,  chicle,  chick-peas,  sisal  and  fibers  of  various  kinds, 
tobacco,  dyewoods,  sugar  and  molasses,  fresh  fruits,  vegetable  oils,  cocoa,  ma- 
hogany and  other  hard  woods,  etc.  Hides  and  skins  are  also  exported  in  large 
quantities. 

Fully  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  foreign  trade  of  Mexico  is  with  the  United 
States  and  undoubtedly  will  always  remain  so,  for  an  indefinite  period.  There 
are  two  chief  reasons  for  this:  geographical  situation  and  the  mutual  needs  of 
each  country  for  the  natural  as  well  as  the  manufactured  products  of  the  other. 
Mexico  produces  raw  materials  in  the  shape  of  minerals  of  various  kinds,  hard 
woods,  fibers,  rubber,  hides,  oil  and  a  great  variety  of  other  products  for  which 
there  is  a  heavy  and  constant  demand  not  only  in  the  United  States  but  in  other 
countries  as  well.  On  the  other  hand,  many  of  the  natural  products  of  Mexico 
find  their  way,  after  having  entered  into  various  forms  of  manufactures,  back 
to  the  country  where  they  originated  and  where  they  are  consumed  at  a  greatly 
enhanced  cost  to  the  producer. 

At  the  present  time,  as  stated,  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  foreign 
trade  of  Mexico  is  carried  on  with  the  United  States.  Indeed,  it  is  a  fact  that 
there  are  no  direct  or  exclusive  lines  of  ocean  transportation  connecting  the  ports 
of  either  the  eastern  or  the  western  coast  with  any  other  country  except  the 
United  States.  Vera  Cruz  and  Tampico  are  ports  of  call  for  a  single  line  mak- 
ing regular  trips  across  the  Atlantic,  but  which  also  include  Havana  and  certain 
American  ports  in  their  itinerary.  Such  a  thing  as  an  entire  cargo  of  Mexican 
products  on  one  of  these  steamers  is  almost  unheard  of  and  the  total  amount  of 
traffic  handled  by  them  is  inconsiderable  by  comparison  with  that  which  is  carried 
on  directly  with  the  United  States. 

So,  too,  on  the  west  coast.  Connection  is  made  at  several  points  by  for- 
eign owned  vessels  with  the  Orient  and  also  with  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  United 
States  and  of  South  America,  but  the  transportation  of  a  full  cargo  of  Mexican 
products  on  any  regular  steamer  is  as  rare,  if  indeed  it  ever  happens,  as  on  the 
east  coast.  In  this  connection  the  shipment  of  petroleum  products  is  not  re- 
ferred to,  since  from  their  very  nature  entire  cargoes  are  not  infrequently  dis- 
patched to  other  than  American  ports.  The  greater  portion  of  the  immense  and 
constantly  increasing  exportation  of  petroleum  comes  directly  to  the  United 
States,  much  of  it  being  refined  there  and  subsequently  shipped  to  all  quarters  of 
the  globe. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  traffic  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States 
is  carried  on  by  rail,  the  various  trunk  lines  which  traverse  the  Republic  from 
north  to  south  having  their  terminals  at  the  border,  where  they  connect  with  the 
vast  railway  system  of  the  United  States. 

The  Mexican  railways  extend  to  the  far  south  and  with  their  branch  lines 
may  be  said  to  drain  all  portions  of  the  country.  The  lines  which  touch  the 
United  States  at  Brownsville,  Laredo,  Eagle  Pass  and  El  Paso  have  connections 
with  the  seaports  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the 
south,  while  the  Southern  Pacific  in  Mexico,  which  is  the  only  through  line  tap- 
ping the  West  coast,  traverses  one  of  the  most  productive  portions  of  Mexico  and 
with  its  vast  system  on  the  American  side  of  the  border  is  able  to  deliver  products 
of  every  kind  in  any  portion  of  the  United  States  or  Canada  without  breaking 
bulk  or  transshipping  cargo.  A  very  extensive  foreign  trade  has  been  built  up 


176  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

by  this  line  in  the  few  years  during  which  it  has  made  the  State  of  Sonora 
Smaola  and  Nayarit  accessible  for  direct  rail  communication. 

The  latest  reports  indicate  a  constant  and  rapid  increase  in  the  trade  be- 
tween the  two  neighboring  countries  at  the  various  border  points  notably  in  the 
shipment  of  copper,  lead  and  other  metals. 

Means  of  Communication. — The  communications  between  Mexico  and  the 
ports  of  Central  and  South  America  were,  for  a  long  time,  rather  difficult;  but 
at  the  present  time  the  traffic  on  the  Tehuantepec  Railroad  has  become  normal 
This  railroad  traverses  the  isthmus  of  the  same  name,  and  the  services  of  passen- 
gers and  freight  can  be  effected  directly  from  the  City  of  Mexico  to  the  border 
with  Guatemala.  Connections  can  be  made  at  Salina  Cruz  with  southbound 
steamers  for  Panama. 

The  interoceanic  traffic  through  the  isthmus,  between  the  port  of  Salina 
Cruz,  on  the  Pacific,  and  Puerto  Mexico,  on  the  Atlantic,  and  vice  versa,  can  be 
accomplished  in  ten  hours.  The  two  terminal  ports  have  all  modern  facilities  for 
loading  and  unloading  vessels.  The  Tehuantepec  route  compared  with  that  of 
Panama  affords  a  great  saving  in  mileage  and  transportation  expenses. 

It  is  the  earnest  desire  of  the  Mexican  Government  to  enter  into  closer  and 
open  commercial  relations  with  all  the  Latin  American  countries.  Its  desider- 
atum is  that  vessels  leaving  Mexican  ports  may  do  so  loaded  with  petroleum,  sisal, 
metals,  etc.,  and  may  return  carrying  wheat,  wool,  nitrates,  etc.,  and  many  of  the 
numberless  products  which  nature  has  bestowed  upon  the  Southern  Hemisphere 

My  sincere  wish  is  that  the  results  of  this  Conference,  may  not  be  left  only 
on  interesting  papers  to  be  sent  to  the  libraries  for  the  enjoyment  of  experts  and 
scholars,  but  that  each  one  of  us,  imbued  with  the  faith  of  a  true  union  of  the 
Americas,  may  cooperate  in  the  task  of  increasing  friendship  and  commerce  among 
the  countries  constituting  the  Pan  American  Union. 


HOW  TO  TRADE  WITH  MEXICO 

BY  SENOR  CARLOS  ARELLANO,  FINANCIER  AND  MERCHANT,  MEXICO  CITY. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Mr.  Chairman;  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

Whilst  in  the  city  of  New  York  purchasing  American  goods,  I  received  the 
courteous  invitation  extended  to  me  by  the  Hon.  John  Barrett  to  attend  the 
Second  Commercial  Pan  American  Conference,  which  I  most  gladly  accepted,,  not- 
withstanding the  briefness  of  time  in  which  I  had  to  prepare  a  comprehensive 
paper,  but  imbued  with  the  earnest  desire  to  contribute  to  the  increase  of  com- 
mercial intercourse  between  all  the  countries  of  this  Continent. 

_  Every  one  ^knows  that  the  United  States  represents  in  this  hemisphere  the 
principal  factor  in  the  production  of  manufactures,  inasmuch  as  all  the  other 
countries  in.  same  are  mainly  producers  of  raw  materials ;  nor  does  any  one  ignore 
also  that  in  this  marvelous  country  everything,  absolutely  everything,  is  manu- 
factured. For  this  reason  it  is  undoubtedly  the  desire  of  the  American  manu- 
facturers to  continue  and  to  develop  their  commercial  relations  with  the  Latin 
American  Republics.  These,  on  their  part,  seeking  their  properly  well  understood 
convenience,  and  yielding  to  natural  spirit  of  solidarity,  should  endeavor  to  elimi- 
nate the  deficiencies  which  they  have  met  in  these  markets  where  they  have  been 
purchasing  all  their  wants. 

Moved  by  this  trend  of  thought,  may  I  not  be  permitted  to  make  out  some 
suggestions  to  American  manufacturers  and  exporters? 

Many  of  the  American  manufacturers,  accustomed  to  dispose  of  their  goods 
in  their  own  vast  home  market,  have  paid  but  little  attention  to  the  suggestions 
made  to  them  by  the  Latin  American  purchasers.  For  instance,  when  the  latter  ask 
for  a  small  change  in  cerain  kind  of  goods,  in  order  to  adjust  them  with  the  price 
thereof  or  to  comply  with  local  habits  or  tastes,  the  former  reply  ordinarily,  briefly 
in  this  manner:  "This  is  what  we  produce  and  this  is  what  we  sell."  And  if  it  is 
asked  of  them  to  make  some  practical  change  in  packing,  according  to  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  consuming  market,  they  also  refuse  to  take  the  same  into  consideration. 
Naturally  as  the  Latin  American  merchants  are  accustomed  to  buy  in  Europe,  in 


MEXICO  177 

whose  industrial  centers  these  gladly  comply  with  the  modifications  sought,  it  is 
to  be  inferred  that  when  the  European  manufacturers  are  in  a  position  to  renew 
their  exports,  the  manufacturies  of  similar  goods  in  this  country  will  find  them- 
selves anew  with  a  serious  competition. 

Besides,  some  American  exporters  do  not  sell  precisely  the  effects  selected 
by  the  Latin  American  merchants,  but  when  they  lack  the  necessary  stock  of 
certain  articles,  they  send  others  which  in  their  judgment  are  equivalent,  but 
without  consulting  first  the  buyer,  causing  thereby  an  injury  to  the  honest 
exporters  of  this  country,  and  giving  ground  to  some  merchants  not  acting  in 
good  faith  in  the  consuming  market  not  to  accept  orders,  many  times  well 
filled,  on  account  of  the  sending  party  refusing  to  meet  the  latter' s  bill,  and  caus- 
ing thus  an  injury  to  the  credit  of  the  honorable  merchants  of  Latin  America. 

Besides,  the  latter  merchants  have  always  obtained  from  the  European  com- 
mission houses  an  open  account,  or  a  period  of  6  months  for  the  payment  of  their 
orders;  this  is  a  great  inducement  for  them  and  in  some  cases  it  is  the  foundation 
of  the  success  in  placing  certain  articles  in  the  market.  On  the  other  hand  Ameri- 
can exporters  limit  themselves  to  sell  by  cash  payments  and  often  times  they 
request  that  partial  payment  be  made  beforehand,  and  only  as  an  exception  it  is 
granted  that  the  payment  be  made  within  60  days.  The  Americans  are  not  to  blame 
entirely  for  this  procedure,  for  in  order  that  they  could  grant  the  same  facili- 
ties, the  extension  is  indispensable  of  the  American  banking  system  by  the 
establishment  of  their  branches  in  the  most  important  cities  of  Latin  America ;  this 
would  permit  to  the  exporters  a  systematic  discount  of  their  drafts  and  would 
afford  them  an  opportunity  to  have  exact  credit  reports  in  regard  to  the  firms  of 
the  markets  where  they  desire  to  extend  their  business. 

In  Mexico,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  need  greatly  the  establishment  of  a 
branch  of  one  of  the  larger  banks  of  this  country.  I  am  sure  that  the  first 
great  American  bank  which  decides  to  establish  in  the  city  of  Mexico  such  a 
branch  will  obtain  huge  profits  and  would  aid  at  the  same  time  most  efficaciously 
to  the  commercial  intercourse  between  the  two  peoples. 

As  an  eminently  practical  suggestion,  I  would  suggest  the  sending  of  sales- 
men of  representatives  of  American  export  houses,  who  should  be  persons  who 
know  the  language  and  the  commercial  customs  of  the  country  where  they  are 
going  to  extend  the  market  of  their  goods.  These  salesmen  or  representatives, 
on  their  arrival  to  a  foreign  city,  will  soon  become  acquainted  with  the  especial 
needs  of  that  market,  they  would  acquire  credit  reports  of  the  houses  there 
established,  facilitating  thereby,  to  a  great  measure,  the  mutual  knowledge  of  the 
contracting  parties. 

It  would  be  also  of  importance  that  all  the  Latin  American  Republics 
should  unite  themselves  and  establish  in  the  city  of  New  York  a  permanent  ex- 
position of  their  products ;  it  is  incredible  the  number  of  importers  in  this  country 
who  have  no  knowledge  of  what  they  can  obtain  in  those  markets;  and  it  is  the 
fault  of  the  producers  not  to  put  the  means  in  order  to  facilitate  this  knowledge. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  remind  you  of  the  great  services  which  the  Cham- 
bers of  Commerce  can  .lend  in  this  matter,  for  having  established  relations 
amongst  themselves  and  being  in  a  direct  contact  with  the  producers  of  their 
own  locality,  they  can  lurnish  any  report  which  is  asked  of  them  as  well  as  to 
place  in  touch  buyers  and  sellers. 

To  conclude,  I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  the  result  of  this  my  trip 
of  investigations  and  of  the  experiences  which  I  have  made  recently  in  this 
country.  The  manufacturing  production  of  the  United  States  in  regard  to 
quantity  and  quality  goes  at  the  head  of  its  world's  competitors ;  the  other  peoples 
of  this  continent  should  know  it,  and  we  should  all  rejoice  of  this  fact.  When 
you  will  have  an  exact  account  here  of  what  the  Latin  American  countries  signify 
as  consumers  of  your  manufactures  and  as  producers  of  other  indispensable 
elements  of  wealth,  we  can  surely  say  that  we  have  succeeded  in  placing  the 
foundation  for  the  solidarity  of  the  economy  of  the  American  Continent. 


178  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

NICARAGUA 

NICARAGUAN  TRADE 

BY  PEDRO  GOMEZ  ROUHAUD  OF  NICARAGUA. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  feel  sure  that  this  Second  Pan  American  Com- 
mercial Conference,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Governing  Board,  and  the  presidency 
of  the  Director  General,  will  be  fruitful  in  beneficial  results  for  all  the  countries 
here  represented,  for  certainly  there  is  bound  to  come  from  its  discussions  a 
marked  improvement  in  the  commercial  relations  of  the  countries  of  Pan  America 
through  which  those  relations  of  a  social,  intellectural  and  political  nature  will 
be  strengthened. 

Commerce  is  a  great  factor  in  the  task  of  regeneration  and  reconstruction 
made  necessary  by  the  changes  wrought  by  the  World  War,  for  commerce  is  indeed 
at  the  foundation  of  civilization,  so  long  as  it  means  not  only  the  exchange  of 
products  for  money  or  other  products,  but  also  and  mainly  for  the  mutual  and 
reciprocal  good,  development,  progress,  material  and  moral  advancement  of  the 
countries  parties  thereto.  That  is  the  commerce  I  invoke  for  my  country,  Nicaragua, 
a  fraction  of  that  Central  American  land  upon  which  God  bestowed  with  a  lavish 
hand  varied  and  plentiful  resources.  Nicaragua  possesses  gold  mines,  coffee 
plantations,  cattle  ranches,  immense  forests  of  precious  woods,  such  as,  mahogany 
and  guayacan,  and  others,  and  its  territory  offers  the  greatest  advantages  and 
facilities  for  the  building  of  means  of  transportation,  inasmuch  as  it  is  crossed 
in  every  direction  by  navigable  lakes  and  rivers,  and  because  the  general  topography 
of  the  country  does  not  present  many  obstacles.  At  the  present  time  Nicaraguan 
trade  is  deficient  as  many  of  its  natural  resources  lie  undeveloped,  others  are  not 
sufficiently  exploited  and  all  over  the  country  they  lack  modern  improvements  and 
machinery  to  simplify  the  task  of  the  farmer  and  the  laborer.  It  is  indeed  a  fact 
that  Nicaragua  is  far  from  producing  what  its  natural  potential  powers  are  capable 
of  rendering. 

Gold  mines  are  abundant  in  Nicaragua,  but  only  a  few  in  the  departments  of 
the  Atlantic  coast,  Chontales  and  Leon,  are  at  present  under  operation.  The  laws 
on  mining  are  stable  and  just,  and  offer  every  possible  guarantee  to  the  owner 
whoever  he  may  be.  Nicaragua  is  equally  rich  in  oil  deposits  for  the  acquistion 
of  which  it  is  only  necessary  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  supreme  Government. 

Agriculture  in  general,  and  cultivation  of  coffee  in  particular,  represent  one 
of  the  principal  sources  of  wealth  in  the  country  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  coffee 
growing  does  not  reach,  at  present,  even  one-third  of  what  it  might  produce  if  all 
the  lands  which  are  adapted  for  coffee  were  cultivated.  The  principal  coffee  pro- 
ducing zones  in  the  Republic  are  Matagalpa,  Granava,  Carazo  and  Managua,  but 
even  in  these  departments  not  all  of  the  land  adapted  to  coffee  is  cultivated.  Not 
even  the  land  under  cultivation  is  taken  care  of  in  accordance  with  the  systems  in- 
dicated by  the  new  agricultural  processes,  with  the/  exception  of  the  plantation 
belonging  to  Messrs.  Vaughan  and  Gonzalez,  whom  I  mention  with  pleasure  as  a 
recognition  of  their  progressiveness  and  of  the  constant  effort  which  they  have 
exerted  for  the  improvement  of  their  property.  The  quality  of  Nicaraguan  Coffee, 
its  aroma,  color  and  exquisite  flavor,  have  created  a  very  large  demand  for  the 
product,  to  such  an  extent,  that  even  lacking  the  great  propaganda  that  is  made 
for  the  coffee  of  other  countries,  the  Nicaraguan  product  is  preferred  and  sold  at 
high  prices  in  the  European  markets,  especially  since  practically  the  greater  part  of 
the  output  was  sent  to  Europe  formerly,  it  being  exported  to  Germany,  England 
and  France.  During  the  war,  the  exports  of  coffee  to  Europe  diminished,  while  in 
turn  the  shipments  to  the  United  States  increased.  Now  that  the  war  is  over,  it 
is  natural  to  expect  that  Nicaraguan  coffee  will  again  seek  its  former  European 
markets;  for  this  reason  American  business  men  should  endeavor  to  increase  their 
purchases,  should  stucfy  "our  market,  and  above  all,  should  advertise  our  product, 
which,  on  account  of  its  quality,  would  create  greater  demand,  'and  bring  larger 
profits. 

The  best  refineries  in  the  country  turn  out  at  present  over  250,000  quintales 
refined  sugar.  This  product  is  now  being  exported  to  the  United  States  with  ad- 
vantage to  the  American  importer  on  account  of  its  pure  quality.  Cattle  raising 
in  Nicaragua  is  also  an ,  important  industry,  yielding  lately  from  25,000  to  30,000 
steers,  which  can  be  fattened  in  the  Republic  to  the  mean  weight  of  500  kiloes  per 


NICARAGUA  179 

head.  The  cattle  may  be  easily  exported  to  the  seaports,  either  by  railroads  or  by 
the  Great  Lakes  and  the  San  Juan  River.  Other  products  of  Nicaragua  are,  beans, 
cocoa,  cocoanuts,  fruits,  hides,  skins  and  etc.,  etc.  All  of  these  products  duly  and 
systematically  exploited  would  constitute  a  magnificent  source  of  national  wealth 
and  tend  to  bring  more  closely  together  the  countries  now  united  by  common 
ideals  of  freedom. 

The  Republic  of  Nicaragua  is  divided  into  13  departments,  3  districts,  and  2 
comarcas,  which  are  again  subdivided  into  municipalities.  The  capital  city 
Managua  lies  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Managua,  only  slightly  elevated  above  sea  level, 
1)ut  has  good  natural  surroundings.  The  population  is  about  40,000.  Some  few 
substantial  buildings  attract  notice,  but  it  must  be  stated  that  the  national  and  the 
municipal  governments  have  plans  for  permanent  improvements  that  will  greatly 
benefit  the  city.  Granada  (population  7,100)  to  the  south  of  Managua,  and  Leon 
(population  62,000)  to  the  north,  are  two  famous  cities  in  Nicaraguan  history,  and 
have  many  elements  of  natural  and  architectural  beauty.  The  chief  port  on  the 
Pacific  is  Corinto  (population  2,500),  through  which  flows  practically  all  of  the 
foreign  commerce  of  this  part  of  the  Republic,  although  San  Juan  del  Sur  (popula- 
tion 1,100)  not  far  from  the  border  of  Costa  Rica,  is  a  regular  port  of  call  and  was 
the  western  exit  of  the  Nicaraguan  canal  as  at  one  time  projected.  On  the  east 
coast  the  most  important  port  is  Bluefields  (population  5,000).  This  is  becoming 
a  center  for  a  very  large  banana  industry.  Of  interior  cities,  Rivas  (population 
14,000),  between  San  Juan  del  Sur  and  Lake  Nicaragua,  is  an  interesting  place, 
while  Matagalpa  (population  15,750),  north  to  Managua  and  in  the  beautiful  moun- 
tain district  of  the  Republic,  where  the  famous  coffee  is  grown,  has  a  fine  climate 
and  quite  a  foreign  population. 

Other  well  populated  towns  include  Jinotega  (population  13,900),  Masaya, 
13,000;  Chinandega,  10,600;  Boaco,  10,600;  Jinotepe,  9,400;  Esteli,  8,300;  Matapa, 
8,300;  Somoto  8,200. 

Sugar  growing  is  profitably  conducted,  the  production  of  this  article,  includ- 
ing the  by-products — molasses,  rum,  and  alcohol — haying  a  valuation  of  considerably 
over  $1,000,000  annually.  The  largest  sugar  estate  in  Nigaragua  is  situated  a  few 
miles  from  Corinto  on  the  west  coast. 

Bananas  are  grown  in  large  quantities  in  the  Bluefields  region  and  shipped 
to  New  Orleans. 

Cacao  ranks  in  importance  after  coffee,  sugar,  and  bananas  among  the  culti- 
vated resources  of  western  Nicaragua,  and  it  is  recognized  as  a  remunerative 
product.  At  present  the  entire  output  is  consumed  in  the  country,  the  selling  price 
being  from  20  to  25  cents  gold  per  pound.^  Two  varieties  of  cacao  trees  are  grown, 
and  the  Government  is  encouraging  the  industry  by  granting  premiums  for  every 
planted  tree  coming  into  bearing.  The  average  yield  from  each  tree  is  about  2 
pounds  when  in  full  bearing,  or  about  600  pounds  to  the  acre. 

Tobacco  is  grown  in  several  districts,  the  best  being  produced  on  the  island 
of  Omotepe,  in  Lake  Nicaragua. 

The  principal  crops  are  corn,  rice,  beans,  bananas,  cacao,  sugar  cane,  tobacco 
and  fruits. 

Cattle,  horses,  and  swine  are  reared,  the  number  of  cattle  being  estimated 
at  about  750,000. 

The  forests  contain  mahogany  and  cedar,  which  figure  largely  in  the  coun- 
try's exports,  many  valuable  timbers,  dyewoods,  such  as  logwood,  and  medicinal 
plants.  Gums  and  resins  abound,  and  the  native  camphor  tree  is  said  to  yieM  a 
variety  equal  to  that  produced  in  the  Far  East.  Vanilla  of  an  excellent  quality 
grows  freely,  and  senna  is  a  native  product. 

Manufacturing  industries  are  confined  mainly  to  articles  of  domestic  con- 
sumption, and  include  the  manufacture  of  furniture,  boots  and  shoes,  sugar,  rum, 
beer,  candles,  cigars,  cigarettes,  and  soap. 

But  it  is  the  gold  deposits  that  have  perhaps  contributed  most  in  the  matter 
of  actual  wealth  to  Nicaragua.  From  the  date  of  first  discovery  through  the  years 
to  present  times,  the  adventurous  have  journeyed  up  the  rivers  and  toiled  across 
the  table-lands  there,  seeking  elusive  evidence  of  the  highest-prized  metal. 

With  the  appointment  of  a  special  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  the  Gov- 
ernment is  giving  increasing  attention  to  this  phase  of  national  development.  One 
hundred  thousand  dollars  have  been  appropriated  for  school  buildings  in  one  city 
alone. 

In  Nicaragua  tTie  school  age  is  fixed  by  law  at  from  5  to  14  years.  In  a 
recent  year  there  were  127,269  children  of  school  age  in  the  Republic,  64,733  of 


PATvfAMA 

FOREIGN"  COMMERCE 

TOTAL  *  14,84-7,000. 


UNITED  STATES 
*  7,  063,  000. 


OTHER. 

COUNTRIES 


NICARAGUA  181 

whom  were  boys  and  62,536  girls.  The  average  daily  attendance  was  15,644,  con- 
sisting of  8,017  males  and  7,627  females. 

According  to  a  recent  report  there  are  414  primary  schools  for  both  sexes 
maintained  by  the  State  :i  4  institutes  and  46  private  and  municipal  schools,  of 
which  19  .were  municipal  and  27  private.  There  are  also  schools  of  law  and 
medicine.  Plans  are  under  way  to  establish  agricultural  schools  at  several  places. 

There  are  four  institutes,  with  876  matriculates  and  an  average  attendance  of 
783  pupils.  The  Central  Institute  for  males  and  its  annexes  has  123  matriculates 
and  an  average  attendance  of  111;  the  Western  Institute  for  males  has  215  matricu- 
lates and  an  average  attendance  of  200,  and  the  Eastern  Institute  (for  males)  has 
282  matriculates  and  an  average  attendance  of  245  pupils.  The  Normal  School 
for  girls  and  its  annexes  has  an  enrollment  of  166  pupils. 

There  is  regular  steamer  communication  carried  along  the  west  coast  of 
Nicaragua  by  those  lines  connecting  Panama  and  San  Francisco.  The  ports  ol 
San  Juan  del  Sur  and  Corinto  are  the  ports  of  call,  the  latter  on  a  beautiful  and 
ample  bay  having  almost  all  the  foreign  commerce.  On  the  east  coast  the  chief 
port  is  Bluefields,  between  which  and  New  Orleans  direct  and  regular  steamer 
connections  are  maintained.  For  other  ports,  like  San  Juan  del  Norte,  on  this 
coast,  local  steamers  can  be  found  in  Bluefields. 

The  Government  has  granted  concessions  to  extend  railways  and  to  build 
highways,  but  comparatively  little  actual  construction  has  been  undertaken.  Pro- 
gress is  difficult  in  the  country  until  the  interior  is  rendered  accessible  by  means  of 
railways  and  highways,  and  when  this  is  done  it  will  mark  a  new  era  for  Nicaragua. 


SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

PANAMA 

OPPORTUNITIES  IN  PANAMA,  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  CLEARING  HOUSE 

BY  SENOR  J.  E.  LEFEVRE,  CHARGE  D'  AFFAIRES  OF  PANAMA  IN  WASHINGTON. 
(Delivered  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

The  Republic  of  Panama  has  an  area  of  8,500  square  kilometers  and  a  pop- 
ulation of  slightly  over  half  a  million  inhabitants.  One  of  its  principal  industries 
is  cattle  raising.  The  Isthmus  of  Panama  is  not  only  self-supporting  as  far  as 
meat  is  concerned,  but  offers  remarkable  prospects  for  enlargement  of  this  in- 
dustry. A  good-sized  packing  house  could  be  established  in  Panama  and  enough 
pasture  can  be  raised  in  the  Republic  to  handle  the  cattle  production  of  the  neigh- 
boring countries:  Nicaragua,  Honduras,  Ecuador  and  Colombia,  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  Another  similar  establishment  could  be  built  at  Colon  for  the  handling 
of  cattle  from  Venezuela  and  Colombia  on  the  Atlantic,  having  in  mind  its  expor- 
tation to  the  United  States;  the  isthmus  being  so  much  nearer  to  North  America 
than  are  Argentina,  Uruguay  and  Brazil. 

Our  leading  export  is  bananas  which,  with  the  opening  of  the  Canal,  offers 
new  fields  for  profitable  cultivation  on  the  Pacific  coast.  At  present  this  industry 
is  almost  confined  to  the  Atlantic  side,  chiefly  to  the  province  of  Bocas  del  Toro, 
where  the  United  Fruit  Company  has  some  of  its  plantations,  which  are  a  prac- 
tical lesson  of  the  conquest  of  the  tropics  by  the  white  man. 

Cocoanuts  are  our  second  export  staple.  The  "San  Bias"  nut  is  considered 
the  best  in  the  world.  The  planting  of  cocoanuts,  the  exportation  of  copra  and 
the  manufacture  of  oils  and  other  by-products  would  be  a  good  and  safe  invest- 
ment to  American  capital  and  enterprise. 

Sugar  cane,  next  to  the  raising  of  artificial  pastures,  is  the  leading  agri- 
cultural activity  of  our  Pacific  slope.  The  sugar  industry  is  yet  in  its  incipiency 
although  its  development  is  rather  rapid  at  present.  The  potentialities  of  the 
Republic  of  Panama  as  a  sugar  producing  country  are  extraordinary  and  should 
not  be  overlooked  by  American  business  men.  When  I  safely  advise  the  invest- 
ment in  cocoanuts  and  sugar  planting  I  have  also  in  mind  the  opportunities  offered 
to  the  manufacturing  concerns  which  deal  in  the  machinery  and  implements  nec- 
essary for  the  development  of  the  industries  mentioned. 

Panama  produces  first  grade  ivory  nuts  and  the  best  hard  and  cabinet 
woods.  The  manufacturing  of  buttons  and  other  articles  made  of  vegetable  ivory 
as  well  as  the  making  of  beautiful  furniture  from  native  woods  is  already  in  its 
beginning.  Besides  the  excellent  local  raw  material  at  hand,  the  ivory  nuts  from 
Colombia  and  Ecuador  could  be  utilized  by  a  large  button  factory  established  on 
the  Isthmus.  The  hard  woods  of  Central  America  and  the  neighboring  Republics 
of  South  America  could  be  used  with  great  profit,  by  the  saving  of  transportation, 
in  the  manufacturing  of  furniture  which  could  be  distributed,  with  equal  advant- 
age, from  the  Isthmus. 

The  time  at  my  disposal  for  this  address  being  so  short  I  have  taken  into 
consideration  only  those  industries  which  already  exist,  and  which  dp  not  pre- 
sent any  doubts  as  to  their  ultimate  success,  under  reasonable  conditions,  and 
which  involve  less  risks  than  the  average  business  venture  in  any  other  country. 

The  Government  of  Panama  is  willing  to  give  hearty  cooperation  to  all 
enterprises,  without  granting  any  special  privileges  or  monopolistic  concessions. 
Our  legation  is  ready  to  furnish  any  information  desired  by  anyone  who  may  wish 
any  data  on  any  particular  branch  of  industry  or  agriculture,  so  far  is  its  possi- 
bilities or  potentialities  in  the  Republic  of  Panama  are  concerned. 

I  will,  therefore,  endeavor  to  bring  out,  as  the  main  subject  of  this  ad- 
dress, the  uppermost  importance  which  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  the  Panama 
Canal  have  in  Pan  American  trade.  To  this  end  I  shall  call  your  attention  to 
the  unlimited  possibilities,  as  distributing  centers  for  American  merchandise,  of- 
fered by  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon,  which  are  so  close  to  the  Pacific  and 
Atlantic  terminals  of  the  Canal.  These  ports  should  form,  in  the  near  future,  the 
advance  guard  of  the  much  needed  and  welcomed  American  trade  expansion, 
which  is  so  closely  connected  with  the  great  cause  of  Pan  Americanism:  a  cause 
whose  practical  and  idealistic  phases  mean  so  much,  not  only  to  the  welfare  of 


PANAMA  183 

% 

this  hemisphere,  but  also  to  the  advancement  of  humanity,  whose  fate  seems  to  be 
linked  with  the  Americas. 

Already  some  progressive  industrial  corporations  of  the  United  States  have 
awakened  to  the  realization  of  these  facts  and  of  the  vastness  of  the  possibilities 
which  I  have  already  briefly  mentioned.  The  Government  of  Panama  has  entered 
into  a  very  equitable  and  fair  contract  with  the  Goodyear  Rubber  Company  for 
the  establishment  of  a  bonded  warehouse  for  their  products,  which  step  augurs 
an  auspicious  beginning.  This  Legation  is  taking  up  this  important  subject  of 
warehouses  with  the  United  States  Government,  working  hand  in  hand  in  the 
closest  cooperation,  so  as  to  fully  benefit  the  people  and  commerce  of  North  and 
South  America. 

The  great  world  war,  happily  brought  to  an  end  at  last,  affected  the  Panama 
Canal  very  severely.  It  even  prevented  its  formal  opening  to  world  trade  when 
the  great  undertaking  was  completed  and  it  limited  considerably  its  wonderful 
opportunities,  reducing  them  to  such  conditions  as  to  reach  a  very  low  minimum. 

Conditions  are  different  now.  Favorable  changes  have  taken  place.  The 
war  has  made  the  United  States  the  unquestionable  market  for  its  sister  Re- 
publics of  the  South.  These  countries  will  be  hereafter  its  main  source  of  raw 
materials  and  a  leading  market  for  the  export  of  its  maufactures.  The  approach- 
ing expansion  of  the  American  merchant  marine  will  give  the  expected  impetus 
to  the  Panama  Canal.  Thus  the  time  has  come  when  American  business  men  of 
far-sightedness  and  vision,  should  not  overlook  the  unique  strategical  commercial 
advantages  of  establishing  branches  in  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon,  with 
their  own  bonded  warehouses  for  their  products;  and  central  agencies  for  the 
quick  and  efficient  distribution  of  their  merchandise. 

I  would  even  go  so  far  as  to  point  out  the  opportunities  thereby  available 
to  create  educational  centers  for. the  preparation  of  specially  trained  "ambassa- 
dors of  commerce,"  as  your  traveling  agents  and  representatives  of  Latin  Amer- 
ica should  be.  Panama  has  exceptional  conditions  to  obtain  this  end,  as  both 
^Spanish  and  English  are  widely  spoken  there. 

I  could  keep  on  addressing  you  on  this  subject,  which  has  enough  material 
for  many  a  lecture  and  conference,  but  my  time  being  restricted,  I  will  not  go 
into  details.  Nevertheless,  I  shall  not  finish  without  previously  assuring  you,  in 
my  official  and  personal  capacity,  that  in  the  carrying  out  of  these  far  reaching 
plans  you  will  find  in  me  the  heartiest  cooperation.  I  can  assure  you,  likewise, 
that  my  Government  will  meet  you  more  than  half  way  to  make  the  Isthmus  again 
what  it  was,  in  a  smaller  degree,  during  the  Spanish  dominion  and  to  transform 
it  into  what  God  and  nature  have  intended  it  to  be:  the  geographic  and  commer- 
cial link  of  the  Americas;  the  meeting  point  of  two  civilizations — the  clearing 
house  for  the  trade  of  all  America  I 


184  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

* 

PARAGUAY 

COMMERCE,  INDUSTRY  AND  FINANCE 

PAPER  PRESENTED  BY  THE  PARAGUAYAN  LEGATION. 
Population  and  Area 

Paraguay,  with  an  area  of  196,000  square  miles  (507,640  square  kilometers)— 
being  larger  than  those  of  the  original  thirteen  American  States  lying  north  of  the 
Potomac  River— has  an  estimated  population  of  1,100,000,  the  greater  part  being 
east  of  the  Paraguay  River. 

Climate 

With  the  exception  of  a  small  portion  of  the  northern  part  of  the  country, 
Paraguay  lies  within  the  South  Temperate  Zone,  the  climate  ranging  between  that 
of  Habana  and  the  southern  tier  of  the  United  States,  having  many  similarities 
with  the  latter.  Observations  covering  a  number  of  years  indicate  that  the  annual 
temperature  at  Asuncion,  the  Capital,  varies  between  35°  and  106°  F.  (2°  and 
35.5°  C),  the  mean  for  the  year  being  74°  F.  (23.3°  C),  that  for  the  summer, 
82°  F.  (27.7°  C.)  and  for  the  winter,  64°  F.  (17.7°  C.)— this  last  making  the  coun- 
try a  favorite  winter  resort  for  persons  living  farther  south.  Taking  a  normal 
year  (1915),  the  number  of  days  having  a  temperature  of  68°  F.  (20°  C.),  or 
less,  was  90;  between  68°  and  86°  F.  (20°  and  30°  C.),  206;  and  above  86°  F,  22. 
The  atmospheric  pressure  ranges  from  30.1  to  30.4.  Quoting  from  the  South 
American  Year  Book  (1915),  "it  is  therefore  evident  that  Paraguay  is  a  healthy 
country,  indeed  one  of  the  healthiest  in  the  world,  having  no  bad  effect  whatsoever 
on  the  European." 

Rainfall 

The  annual  rainfall — an  average  taken  for  twelve  years — is  60.5  inches,  being 
distributed  over  the  twelve  months — the  greater  portion  falling  during  the  sum- 
mer season,  November  to  March,  with  the  minimum  during  the  midwinter  months 
of  June  and  July.  During  1915,  the  number  of  days  having  precipitation  numbered 
81;  those  of  a  nebulosity  of  100  per  cent,  33;  from  60  per  cent  to  90  per  cent,  76; 
from  30  per  cent  to  60  per  cent,  101 ;  and  from  1  per  cent  to  30  per  cent,  99. — or  a 
mean  nebulosity  for  the  year  of  44  per  cent. 

Physical  Characteristics 

With  the  exception  of  that  portion  of  the  Republic  adjoining  Brazil,  the 
country  is  of  a  gently  rolling  contour,  there  being  an  almost  imperceptible  differ- 
ence between  the  altitude  of  the  northern  and  southern  parts.  The  result  is  an 
exceedingly  rich  soil,  the  greater  part  of  the  underlying  portion  being  a  ferruginous 
sand,  this  being  covered  with  the  decayed  humus  accumulated  from  centuries  of 
prairie  or  forest  vegetation.  In  the  eastern  part  rivers  and  other  streams  are 
abundant,  the  same  being  true  to  a  lesser  extent  in  the  western  part,  known  as 
The  Chaco.  Artesian  wells  may  be  sunk  in  any  part. 

Transportation 

Paraguay's  "main  transportation  facilities  are  afforded  by  navigable  water- 
ways, in  the  possession  of  which  it  is  more  highly  favored  than  any  other  country 
of  equal  size  in  the  world"  (Foreign  Commercial  Guide:  South  America,  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museum,  1906).  It  is  for  this  reason  that  greater  efforts  have 
not  been  made  in  the  past  to  construct  rail  transportation,  although  the  first  rail- 
road in  the  River  Plate  region  was  constructed  in  Paraguay.  Through  the  center 
of  the  country  flows  the  Paraguay  River,  one  of  the  world's  great  water  ways- 
being  about  one  mile  wide  at  Asuncion,  and  allowing  for  vessels  of  ten-foot 
draught  (and  nine-foot  draught  to  Villa  Concepcion)  and  being  navigable  for  smaller 
vessels  twelve  hundred  miles  to  the  north.  On  the  southeast  and  southwest  flow 
the  Rivers  Alto  Parana  and  Pilcomayo,  the  former  navigable  for  large  vessels; 


PARAGUAY  185 

while  within  the  country  are  innumerable  streams  utilized  for  transportation.  Rail 
communication  is  maintained  with  Buenos  Aires  by  a  single  line — the  Paraguay 
Central — from  Asuncion,  running  southeasterly  to  Villa  Encarnacion,  at  which 
point  connection  is  made  with  the  Argentine  Northeastern  Railway.  Prior  to  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  construction  had  been  begun  on  a  brancW  line  extending 
southward  through  the  rich  agricultural  lands  below  Paraguari;  and  likewise 
from  south  of  the  town  of  Borja,  near  Villarrica,  eastward  to  connect  the  Paraguay 
Central  with  the  Sao  Paulo  Rio  Grande  Railway  (of  Brazil),  bringing  Rio  de 
Janeiro  within  sixty  hours  of  Asuncion,  and  Paraguay  a  week  nearer  the  United 
States.  There  are,  in  addition,  several  private  lines  of  railway  belonging  to  cer- 
tain industrial  enterprises.  The  total  number  of  miles  of  railway  in  the  Republic 
— December  31,  1918 — amounts  to  464,  of  which  264  are  in  the  eastern  part,  .and 
200  in  the  western  part,  or  The  Chaco.  Their  physical  valuation,  including  rolling 
stock,  amounts  to  10,110,000  pesos  gold  (peso  gold  equals  $0.9648  U.  S.  gold)  ;  that 
of  tramways  and  electric  lighting  plants,  2,000,000  pesos;  and  telegraph  lines  (1,915 
miles),  680,000  pesos. 

Agriculture 

The  agricultural  productions  of  Paraguay  are  varied,  including  nearly 
everything  that  is  grown  in  the  United  States,  besides  other  products  adapted  to 
its  semi-tropical  climate. 

Tobacco:  Among  its  most  important  productions — and  the  crop  of  greatest 
cultivation — is  tobacco,  this  earning  for  itself  a  well  deserved  renown  for  more 
than  a  century  in  the  markets  of  continental  Europe  and  in  the  nearby  countries— 
notably  Argentina.  With  climatic,  humidity,  and  soil  conditions  resembling  closely 
those  of  Cuba,  some  varieties  of  the  Paraguayan  staple  possesses  an  excellence  of 
quality  differentiating  them  but  slightly  from  the  well  known  "Habana"  leaf.  With 
the  same  care  in  their  selection,  handling,  curing  and  elaboration — now  the  sub- 
ject of  the  supervision  of  the  Banco  Agricola  (the  Government  institution  having 
charge  of  the^  development  and  culture  of  this^  staple) — it  is  hoped  that  soon  the 
tobacco  of  this  country  will  enter  into  competition  with  the  celebrated  grades  of 
every  clime.  So  far,  rigorous  rules  for  the  grading  of  tobacco  have  been  adopted, 
a  penalizing  surtax  being  placed  on  the  ungraded  product.  Figures  for  the  year 
1863 — prior  to  the  war  of  the  Triple  Alliance — indicate  the  production  as  68,740,000 
pounds.  No  figures  are  available  as  regards  recent  production,  but.  in  addition  to 
the  domestic  consumption  (important  in  itself),  the  exports  in  1916  amounted  to 
14,927,066  pounds;  in  1917,  to  15,275,047  pounds,  and  in  1918,  to  15,513,252  pounds. 
None  of  this  comes  to  the  United  States.  Prior  to  the  war  just  ended,  the  greater 
share  of  the  exports  was  made  to  Argentina  and  to  Bremen  from  which  latter  port 
it  was  transhipped^  to  Spain,  where  it  is  received  with  the  greatest  favor,  the 
principal  buyer  being  the  Tabacalera  Espanola.  During  1918  difficulty  was  ex- 
perienced in  marketing  the  crop  abroad,  due  to  the  scarcity  of  jute  bags — a 
scarcity  that  is  to  be  met  by  the  recent  installation  of  a  plant  for  the  utilization 
of  native  fibres,  and  otherwise  to  be  relieved  by  the  raising  of  the  embargoes  of 
the  warring  nations  on  the  sale  and  shipment  of  these  necessary  containers. 
Recently,  also,  the  labor  difficulties  at  Buenos  Aires  have  interfered  greatly  with 
the  export  trade  in  tobacco,  as  well  as  in  other  commodities. 

Cotton:  Cotton  promises  to  be  an  important  crop  of  the  future,  as  it  has 
been  in  other  days.  While  the  Paraguayan  staple  is  not  today  commercially  im- 
portant in  the  world's  markets,  experience  has  shown  that  the  country  is  poten- 
tially adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  this  staple  as  are  few  other  localities.  In  tests 
made  with  native  cotton,  it  has  been  found  to  have  the  longest  fiber  and  the 
greatest  tensile  strength,  being  peculiarly  adapted  for  certain  purposes,  such  as  the 
manufacture  of  automobile  tires  and  fire-hose.  Its  culture  is  also  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Banco  Agricola,  which  institution  is  employing  experts  and 
testing  the  availability  of  well  known  classes  of  cotton,  notable  success  being 
attained  with  the  Sea  Island,  Egyptian,  and  "Caravonica"  grades.  The  yield  of 
fiber,  according  to  Dr.  Moises  Bertoni,  the  Swiss  botanical  authority,  is,  in  average 
number  of  pounds  per  acre — in  round  numbers — as  follows  for  the  following  cot- 
ton producing  regions:  Italy  and  Spain,  135;  Africa,  in  general,  180;  the  United 
States,  200;  Argentina,  310;  and  Paraguay,  530 — the  minimum  per  acre  for  the 
latter  being  265,  and  the  maximum  being  905.  These  figures  bear  out  the  state- 
ment of  Mr.  Leon  Mousnier  in  his  Notes  Concerning  the  Cultivation  of  Cotton  in 
South  America,  who,  quoting  an  American  writer — Mr.  Atkinson — says,  with  refer- 


186  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

ence  to  world  production:  "The  fiber  of  the  Indies  is  short  and  harsh  and  cannot 
be  utilized  for  other  than  common  textiles;  that  of  China  is  no  longer  than  an 
inch  in  length ;  that  of  Africa  cannot  in  every  respect  take  the  place  of  the  Ameri- 
can fiber;  in  addition,  neither  the  Peruvian  nor  the  Brazilian  can  compete  with 
that  of  the  United  States.  There  exists,  however,  one  region  of  the  world  that  may 
offer  competition  and  produce  cotton  of  a  quality  equal  to  that  which  we  (the 
United  States)  produce,  and  that  region  consists  of  the  upland  regions  of  the 
Parana  and  of  the  Paraguay  *  *  *." 

The  greatest  drawbacks  to  the  development  of  Paraguayan  cotton  growing 
have  been:  (1)  the  lack  of  sufficient  capital  among  the  small  individual  farmers; 
(2)  the  holding  of  large  tracts  of  land  by  foreign  corporations  devoted  largely  to 
the  cattle  and  timber  industries — these  also  utilizing  a  great  part  of  the  native 
labor;  (3)  the  lack  of  knowledge  of  cotton  raising  by  incoming  settlers,  most  of 
whom  come  from  regions  where  the  cultivation  of  this  staple  is  all  but  unknown; 
and  (4)  the  uncertainty  of  sale  at  a  price  warranting  the  use  of  the  land  for  a 
perennial  crop  when  other  products — of  known  sale  and  value — might  be  raised. 
To  overcome  these  obstacles  the  Banco  Agricola  is  making  rapid  strides,  encourag- 
ing the  planting  of  fields  averaging  twelve  and  one-half  acres  per  family,  making 
it  a  home  industry.  American  farm  machinery  is  needed  for  cultivating  the  grow- 
ing plant;  American  methods  and  machinery  are  required  for  picking,  handling, 
and  ginning  the  cotton;  and  American  mills  are  necessary  for  the  utilization  of 
the  cotton  seed — the  demand  for  oil  of  the  cotton  seed  and  other  native  products 
being  large  locally  and  in  the  neighboring  countries. 

Sugar:  Not  dissimilar  to  the  sugar-cane  bearing  regions  of  the  United 
States.  Paraguay  is  adequately  adapted  to  the  raising  of  this  product.  Figures  for 
1918  indicate  an  area  of  15,000  acres  devoted  to  cane,  this  being  comparatively 
small  when  it  is  realized  that  the  country  consumes  all  of  its  domestic  production 
in  addition  to  large  quantities  imported.  In  addition  to  sugar  a  part  of  the  cane 
is  utilized  in  the  manufacture  of  cana,  a  native  rum,  and  alcohol,  used  in  indus- 
try. Due  to  an  extremely  high  tax,  however,  the  manufacture  of  cana  is  dis- 
couraged, as  efforts  are  already  on  foot  to  prohibit  the  use  of  spirits.  More  sugar 
would  be  manufactured  if  there  were  more  mills — this  requiring  additional  capital 
and  better  transportation  facilities,  a  matter  of  interest  for  American  manufacturers 
of  sugar-making  machinery,  investors,  and  settlers.  With  the  establishment  of  the 
"centrals"  system,  in  vogue  elsewhere,  Paraguay  promises  to  be  able  to  supply  not 
alone  her  own  needs,  but  also  to  export  a  goodly  quantity.  When  it  is  realized 
that  thousands  of  tons  of  oranges  and  other  fruit  rot  every  year  for  the  want  of 
a  market,  it  may  be  seen  that  the  opportunity  for  the  installation  of  fruit  canneries, 
utilizing  native  sugar,  is  most  promising — particularly  so  when  it  is  known  that 
preserved  fruits  are  almost  considered  luxuries  in  nearby  countries,  bringing  fancy 
prices.  The  total  consumption  of  sugar  during  the  year  1914  amounted  to  9,757,656 
pounds,  of  which  5,642,595  were  imported  and  4,115,061  of  domestic  production. 
During  the  same  year,  denatured  alcohol  to  the  amount  of  108,613  gallons  was 
manufactured,  and  cana  to  the  amount  of  14,084  gallons. 

Other  Crops:  As  indication  of  the  diversity  of  crops  of  the  country,  it  may 
be  mentioned  that  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Republic  wheat  is  grown — not, 
however,  in  quantities  sufficient  to  supply  the  domestic  demand.  Indian  corn,  oats, 
alfalfa,  sorghum,  Kaffir  corn,  rice,  beans,  peas  and  like  cereals  and  vegetables,  are 
raised  throughout  the  country — an  important  one  being  mandioca,  a  necessary 
element  in  the  diet  of  the  native  population.  Fresh  vegetables  are  in  the  market 
the  year  around,  and  it  is  from  Paraguay  that  the  River  Plate  cities  are  supplied 
with  early  garden  produce  several  weeks  in  advance  of  their  local  truck  gardens. 

Fruits 

Fruits:  No  country  exceeds  Paraguay  in  the  abundance  and  quality  of  its 
subtropical  fruits,  native  in  many  cases  with  the  trees  of  the  forest.  Oranges,  man- 
darines, lemons,  pine-apples,  grape-fruit,  bananas,  and  other  like  fruits  are  found 
in  profusion — with  many  others  unknown  to  the  American  market.  Of  oranges 
alone,  the  exports  during  the  nine  years,  1910-1918,  amounted  to  1,314,729,333,  or  an 
annual  average  of  146,081,037,  these  being  valued  at  point  of  shipment  at  from 
one  to  two  dollars  per  thousand,  or  at  from  five  to  ten  for  a  cent.  The  surplus, 
above  home  consumption,  is  lost,  as  above  said,  or  allowed  to  rot.  With  better 
methods  of  handling  and  shipping  them,  they  might  be  shipped  to  any  point  and 
become  a  source  of  immense  wealth  to  the  Republic. 


PARAGUAY  187 

From  the  leaves  of  one  species  of  the  fruit  of  the  country — the  "bitter 
orange" — is  derived  a  special  product,  the  Essence  of  Petit-grain,  or  Oil  of  Neroli, 
for  which  the  United  States  has  been  a  steady  customer.  This  essence,  made  by 
distillation,  is  the  basis  of  a  delicate  perfume,  much  desired  by  perfumery  manu- 
facturers and  makers  of  toilet  soaps.  At  present  it  is  largely  a  home  industry. 
While  the  amount  exported  is  not  large,  an  increased  demand  would  easily  increase 
the  production.  During  the  year  1917,  the  exports  amounted  to  135,605  pounds, 
valued  at  $215,243. 

Coffee  and  Rice:  Coffee  of  splendid  quality  is  now  grown  in  Paraguay — 
there  being  cafetals  within  sight  of  Asuncion,  while  many  other  plantations  lie  to 
the  north  and  east.  The  annual  production  at  the  present  time  reaches  about  500,000 
pounds.  Rice  also  is  grown,  in  part  supplying  the  domestic  demand,  there  being 
many  localities  having  natural  irrigation  and  being  admirably  adapted  for  this  crop. 

Yerba  Mate — Paraguay  Tea 

Chief  among  the  special  alimentary  products  of  the  country,  and  one  for 
which  Paraguay  has  long  been  famed  is  Paraguay  Tea  (Yerba  mate),  the  exports 
of  which  are  on  a  par  with  hides,  timber,  and  tobacco.  This,  the  pulverization  of 
the  torrefied  leaves  of  the  Ilex  Paraguayensis,  in  infusion,  is  the  favorite  beverage 
of  around  20,000,000  persons  in  South  America — particularly  in  Argentina,  Uruguay, 
Chile  and  Brazil,  besides  Paraguay,  and  of  many  thousands  in  Europe.  Pleasant 
to  the  taste,  cheap  in  price,  and  possessing  remarkable  fortifying  properties  with 
regard  to  the  digestive,  muscular,  and  nervous  systems,  its  use  promises  to  be 
extended  elsewhere.  Numerous  at  the  present  time  are  the  inquiries  received  from 
parts  of  the  United  States  regarding  this  commodity,  to  the  end  of  using  it  as  a 
substitute  for  the  alcoholic  beverages  soon  to  be  displaced  in  the  United  States. 
While  growing  wild  throughout  the  country — particularly  in  the  eastern  and 
northern  part — large  tracts  have  been  planted,  and  many  enterprises  are  concerned 
with  its  exploitation  promising  large  returns.  In  recognition  of  its  value  and  im- 
portance, the  Pan  American  Union  has  issued  a  special  booklet  describing  Paraguay 
Tea.  The  exports  of  this  staple  amounted  during  the  nine  years,  1910-1918,  to 
70,275,826  pounds,  or  an  annual  average  of  7,808,425  pounds.  Its  successful  recep- 
tion in  other  countries  is  an  earnest  of  what  might  be  done  with  this  commodity 
in  the  United  States.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  yerba  mate  of  Paraguay  is  recog- 
nized as  being  superior  to  all  others  for  the  proportions  of  its  active  principle,  and 
for  its  delicacy  of  taste.  . 

Forest  Resources 

The  forest  resources  of  Paraguay  are  extensive,  numerous  being  the  varie- 
ties of  construction  and  cabinet  woods,  dye,  medicinal,  and  tannic  acid  woods. 
The  Official  Statistics  of  31  December,  1917,  gave  the  number  of  square  miles  of 
timber  land  under  private  ownership  and  exploitation  as  200,000 — this  representing 
but  a  portion  of  the  forest  extension  of  the  country.  From  the  quality  and  avail- 
ability of  the  timber  of  this  region,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  this  is  the 
region  noted  for  the  past  two  centuries  for  its  shipyards,  providing  in  great  part 
the  tonnage  required  for  the  inland  and  costal  River  Plate  region ;  and  it  has  been 
here  that  timbermen  have  cut  the  beams  and  lumber  that  have  gone  into  the 
construction  of  the  docks  and  many  of  the  buildings  of  the  cities  of  the  immediate 
seaboard.  Many  of  the  varieties,  after  the  test  of  water,  air,  and  time,  are  found 
almost  untouched  after  centuries.  All  are  available  for  shipment  abroad,  and 
many  are  comparatively  cheap — so  cheap,  in  fact,  that  it  would  seem  possible  to 
export  certain  kinds  to  the  United  States  for  use  in  the  construction  of  public  and 
private  works — such  as  docks,  shipbuilding,  railroad  ties,  telegraph  poles,  etc., 
where  extreme  durability  is  of  advantage.  In  so  doing — thus  creating  a  constant 
market — it  might  be  possible  to  open  lines  of  direct  shipping  communication  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  lowering  freights,  and  creating  a  market  for  other  com- 
modities. One,  only — the  most  important  commercially  of  Paraguayan  woods- 
will  be  here  mentioned :  Quebracho.  This  timber  is  an  exceedingly  hard  wood, 
enduring  for  generations,  and  in  great  demand  for  ship  and  dock  building,  railway 
sleepers,  and  posts,  but  best  known  for  its  tannic  acid  content,  for  which  it  is  in 
great  demand  in  the  United  States.  Numerous  corporations  are  concerned  with 
its  exploitation — including  American  capital.  The  amount  exported  in  1914  was 


188  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

13,981  tons  (metric  2,204.6  pounds);  1915,  20,138;  1916,  21,136;  1917,  29,899,  and 
1918,  19,096.  A  recent  report  of  the  United  States  Consul  at  Asuncion  states  that 
the  one  American  company,  the  International  Products  Company,  plans  to  ship 
20,000  tons  direct  to  the  United  States  during  1919. 

Cattle 

It  is  from  the  live  stock  business  that  Paraguay  has  heretofore  derived  her 
greatest  wealth.  Today,  with  its  world  scarcity  of  meat,  promises  much  to  the 
country,  for  nowhere  are  conditions  more  favorable  than  here,  with  climate,  soil, 
meadow,  and  cereals  suited  to  the  exigencies  of  cattle  raising.  Azara — the  Hum- 
boldt  of  southern  South  America — after  traveling  throughout  the  entire  southern 
portion  of  the  continent,  pronounced  the  Paraguayan  plains  as,  in  his  opinion,  the 
best  he  had  seen  for  cattle  grazing.  Recent  statistics  (31  December,  1918)  specify 
46,381  square  miles  as  at  present  devoted  to  cattle  ranching,  and  the  number  of 
cattle  as  between  5,500,000  and  8,000,000— a  conservative  estimate  being  6,500,000. 
or  approximately  6.5  head  per  capita,  as  against  .64  per  capita  for  the  United 
States.  Carrying  the  comparison  further,  the  Paraguayan  Division  of  Agriculture 
and  Live  Stock  states  that  1.65  acres  will  feed  for  twelve  months  and  put  ^  in 
marketable  condition  one  animal,  or  390  per  square  mile,  making  the  preceding 
46,381  square  miles  potentially  capable  of  supporting,  in  round  numbers,  18,000,000 
head.  The  importance  of  this  will  be  better  understood  when  it  realized  that  in 
the  nine  so-called  gazing  States  of  the  United  States,  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture estimates  an  average  of  25.6  acres  per  animal  for  8.66  months,  or  25  head  per 
square  mile.  This  last  also  presupposes  grain  feeding  during  the  winter  months 
as  preparation  for  butchering.  In  addition,  there  is  also  to  be  considered  the 
difference  in  the  price  of  the  grazing  land — that  of  Paraguay  being  purchasable  in 
fee  at  from  one  to  four  dollars  per  acre. 

As  an  earnest  of  the  importance  of  the  cattle  business  in  Paraguay,  since 
1915  three  large  American  packing  enterprises  have  installed  and  are  now  operat- 
ing packing  plants  ("frigorificos")  in  the  country — these  being  the  International 
Products  Company,  of  New  York,  and  Swift  &  Company,  and  Morris  &  Company, 
of  Chicago — with  prospects  of  others  of  like  character.  With  their  own  boats, 
built  in  the  country,  and  barges,  some  of  them  are  now  shipping  their  products  to 
the  River  Plate  ports,  there  to  be  trans-shipped  to  Europe  and  the  United  States. 
In  addition  there  are  various  concerns  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  salted  and 
dried  meat  ("tasajo"),  and  meat  extract — for  domestic  consumption  and  for 
export.  The  recent  increase  in  exports  of  cattle  and  meat  products  is  striking.  For 
the  exports  during  1917  and  1918 — the  reader  is  referred  to  the  official  statistics 
appearing  elsewhere  in  this  report. 

To  further  develop  the  industry,  outside  help  is  necessary.  More  blooded 
stock  is  required  to  improve  the  herds,  animals  resembling  the  well  known  "Texas 
steer"  of  a  generation  ago.  Many  of  the  larger  ranches  are  bringing  in  pedigreed 
stock,  a  recent  despatch  mentioning  one  shipment  of  forty-two  bulls  imported  by 
a  single  company.  The  small  ranchman,  however,  is  unable  to  avail  himself  of  this 
advantage,  and  it  is  to  assist  him  that  the  Banco  Agricola  is  making  a  campaign^  of 
education  for  the  community  purchase  and  ownership  of  breeding  sires.  Likewise, 
the  exacting  requirements  of  the  "frigorificos,"  assisted  by  a  recent  cattle  and 
meat  inspection  law  will  raise  the  standards  and  eventually  make  unprofitable  the 
raising  of  other  than  the  mixed  or  full  breeds — the  experience  of  Argentina, 
Paraguay's  neighbor  to  the  south.  Better  transportation  facilities  are  needed,  in- 
cluding railroad  extensions,  harbor  facilities,  and  the  dredging  of  certain  rivers  to 
afford  better  barge  and  steamer  accommodation ;  the  installation  of  the  silo  system, 
and  the  planting  of  certain  grasses  and  forage  plants  for  the  purpose  of  intensive 
feeding  and  fattening;  provision  for  water  throughout  the  year,  such  as  artificial 
ponds,  pumps,  windmills,  and  well-drilling  apparatus;  and  barb-wire,  the  use  of 
which  is  general  for  fencing.  In  addition,  it  would  be  of  extreme  advantage — 
and  mutually  lucrative — to  have  American  stockmen  to  join  with  -Paraguayan 
ranchmen  and  ranching  life  the  lessons  that  they  have  learned  through  experi- 
ence on  the  western  plains  of  the  United  States. 


PARAGUAY 


189 


The  foreign  trade  of  Paraguay,  1910  to  1918,  inclusive,  has  been  as  follows: 
(valuation  in  gold  pesos— $0.9648  U.  S.  gold.) 


IMPORTS. 


EXPORTS. 


*  Customs 
Valuation. 

1910... .  6,409,413 

1911 6,694,996 

1912 6,350,600 

1913 8,119,997 

1914 5,149,465 

1915 2,405,888 

1916 4,679,033 

1917 5,098,881 

1918 4,783,183 


Actual 
Valuation. 


5,149,465 
3,127,654 
7,020,036 
9,177,446 
8,370,570 


*  Customs 
Valuation. 

4,916,918 
4,735,573 
4,235,723 
6,630,929 
4,584,368 
5,616,172 
4,861,678 
6,494,802 
5,632,093 


Actual 
Valuation. 


6,558,807 


8,851,919 

11,705,012 

9,712,932 


*  The  customs  valuations  are  fixed,  and  are  based  upon  the  values  specified  in  the  Tariff 
Law  of  1909.  Since  1914,  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  realizing  that  these  are  too  low,  has,  for  the 
sake  of  making  the  figures  conform  with  market  values,  given  also  the  actual  valuations. 

The  actual  balances  in  favor  of  Paraguay,  1914-1918,  are  as  follows : 

1914...  409,342 

1915 5,763,345 

1916 1,831,883 

1917 2,527,566 

1918 1,342,362 

Total 11,874,498 

The  principal  articles  of  national  production  exported  during  the  calendar 
years  1917-1918  were  the  following: 

ANIMAL   PRODUCTS.                                                                              1917.  1918. 

Horns    Kilos    48,600  62,990 

Hair    ' Kilos    94,751  36,901 

Hides   (cattle)   salted Number    181,379  105,625 

Hides    (cattle)    dry    Number    69,965  87,105 

Beef    (preserved)    Kilos    1,987,612 

Beef   Extract    Kilos    6,000 

Wool Kilos    95,754  56,924 

Tallow Kiloa    237,418  224,501 

Beef    (Jerked),    "Tasajo" Kilos    1,033,910  791,514 

Cattle  on  Hoof  Number    60,804  43,149 

AGRICULTURAL   PRODUCTS. 

Starch    .                                      Kilos    20,014  28,031 

Pineapples    Number     1,990         

Bananas    Bunches    3,456  2,964 

Cigars    Kilos    7,219  13,139 

Peanuts    Kilos    141,583  23,841 

Peanut  Meal   Kilos    75,380         

Oranges    Number    159,430,800  80,328,700 

Mandarines    Number    15,320,570  18,331,150 

Tobacco   Leaf    (mild)    Kilog    5,406,862  5,869,261 

Tobacco  Leaf    (medium)    Kilos    1.425,523  1,137,642 

Tobacco   Leaf    (strong)    Kilos    110,818  44,575 

Paraguayan  Tea    (Yerba  Mate)    Kiloa    3,854,850  3,628,436 

FOREST  PRODUCTS. 

Copra    .                   Kiloa 7,896 

Coconut  oil    Kilos    133,793  20,757 

Essence  of  Petit  Grain    Kilos    61,498  36.163 

Quebracho   Extract    Kilos    29,899,119  19,096,008 

Timber    (squared  logs)    Number    39,492  47,228 

Timber   (sawed)     M.    Feet    1,177  4,535 

Timber   (quebracho  logs)    Kilos    1,645,081  522,206 

Timber    (other  logs)    Kilos    38,955,374  47,710,195 

Timber   (posts)    Number    47,586  24,980 

Timber    (sleepers)     1,026,066  1,234,717 

Timber   (palm  logs)    Number    19,434  11,370 

PRODUCTS  OF  THE  CHASE. 

Furs    Kilos    33,369  22,904 

Heron  Plumes -• . .  Grams    850         

Ostrich    Plumes    Kilos     84  690 


PARAGUAY 


COMMERCE  1917 
TOTAIi  4  11,  £51,  000. 


OTHER 
COUNTRIES 


NOTE. — The  figures  in  this  diagram  represent  the  customs  valuations,  which  are  much  lower 
than  the  invoice  or  actual  values. 


PARAGUAY 


191 


The  order  of  importance  in  the  foreign  trade  of  Paraguay  for  1918  is  indi- 
cated by  the  following  table  showing  the  six  principal  countries  :  (valuation  in  gold 
pesos—  $0.9648). 


Exports. 


Imports. 


Argentina    .........................  4,101,865       Argentina   .........................  2,479,014 


United  States  ......................  742,608 

Spain    .............................  561,059 

Uruguay    ..........................  386,580 

France    ...................  .  ........  298,150 

Italy    .........  .  ....................  134,530 


United  States   ......................  816,632 

United    Kingdom    ..................  611,880 

Spain     .............................  288,420 

Brazil    .............................  253,567 

Italy    ..............................  84,855 


The  official  figures  of  the  United  States  for  the  years  (calendar)  1917  and 
1918,  items  unspecified,  indicate  that  exports  to  Paraguay  in  1917  amounted  to 
$504,388;  and  in  1918,  to  $700,595;  imports  from  Paraguay  amounted,  respectively, 
to  $97,029  and  $140,275. 

The  striking  disparity  between  the  Paraguayan  and  United  States  figures 
results  in  part  from  the  fact  that  much  of  the  merchandise  shipped  to  and  from 
Paraguay  is  trans-shipped,  or  first  placed  in  stock,  at  one  of  the  River  Plate  ports, 
credit  being  naturally  given  to  the  country  where  transshipment  is  made.  'The 
United  States  is  now  the  most  important  market  for  Paraguayan  hides,  though 
none  of  them  are  shipped  direct  to  American  markets  from  Paraguay,  but  are  sent 
to  Buenos  Aires  for  transshipment"  (Report  of  Consul  Hamilton  Wiley,  Asuncion, 
12  March,  1916).  "A  large  percentage  of  the  imports  credited  to  Argentina  in  the 
statistics  are  not  goods  of  Argentine  origin  at  all,  but  are  manufactures  of  foregn 
origin  that  are  re-exported  from  that  country.  It  is  believed  that  a  rather  high 
percentage  of  these  imports  comes  from  the  United  States,  particularly  since  orders 
for  American  goods  are  placed  largely  through  Buenos  Aires  and  Montevideo 
middlemen,  on  account  of  the  limited  direct  trade  representation  between  Paraguay 
and  the  United  States"  (Report  of  Consul  Henry  H.  Balch,  Asuncion,  published 
31  December,  1917). 

As  indication  of  the  classes  of  articles  imported  from  Paraguay,  and  credited 
to  that  country,  the  following  table  shows  those  purchased  during  the  fiscal  years 
(ending  June  30),  1917  and  1918,  quantities  and  values: 

UNITED  STATES  IMPORTS  FROM  PARAGUAY.  FISCAL  YEARS  1917,  1918. 

Quantities.  Values. 

ARTICLES.                                                 1917.            1918.  1917.            1918. 
Chemicals,  drugs,  dyes,  and  medicines: 

Tanning  extracts,  all  other  .......................         ..................  $418 

Earthen,   stone  and  chinaware: 

Earthen  and  crockeryware  —  decorated  or  ornamented         ............  $22         ...... 

Fibers,  vegetable,  and  textile  grasses,  manufactures  of, 

n.  e.  s  .......................................................  15        ...... 

Hair,   unmanufactured  —  Horse    ................  Pounds           8,127         ......  1,996         ...... 

Hides  and  skins    (except  fur  skins)  : 

Cattle,  dry,  12  pounds  and  over  ............  Pounds         ......          28,385  ......            8,876 

Sheepskins,  dry   ..........................  Pounds         ......            4,714  ......            1,320 

India  rubber,  gutta  percha  and  substitutes  for,  crude: 

India  rubber  .............................  Pounds        ......           7,938  ......           3,105 

Oils:     Vegetable—  distilled  and  essential   .........................  63,668         56,078 

Silk,  manufactures  of  :     Laces  and  embroideries  ...................  294         ...... 

Wood,  manufactures  of  ..........................................  8        ...... 

Total  ....................................................        $66,003       $69,797 

UNITED  STATES  EXPORTS  TO  PARAGUAY,  FISCAL  YEARS  1917,  1918. 

Quantities.  Values. 

ARTICLES.                                               1917.           1918.  1917.  1918. 

Agricultural  implements  .........................................  $1,759  $5,274 

Blacking,  shoe  paste,  etc  ........................................  2,702  158 

Brass  :     Pipes  and  fittings   ............................................  7,935 

All   other  manufactures   of  .  .  .................................  703  622 

Breadstuffs     .....................................................  93  193 

Cars,  automobiles,  and  other  vehicles: 

Automobiles  —  Passenger    .................  Number                40                13  20,192  5,025 

All  other   ...................................................  4,172  3,714 

Cement,   hydraulic    .............  ,  ..............  Barrels         ......            4,714  ......  11,959 

Chemicals,  drugs,  dyes,  etc  ......  .................................  15,050  12,308 

Clocks  and  watches,  and  parts  of  ................................  2,754  343 


192 


SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 


Quantities. 


1917. 


1918. 


6,958 

30,295 

11,886 

45,946 

226,834 


8,931 

3,118 

28,458 

66,164 

133,994 


ARTICLES. 
Cotton,  manufactures  of: 

Cloths :     Unbleached     Yards 

Bleached    Yards 

Colored:    Printed    Yards 

Dyed  in  piece Yards 

All  other    Yards 

Wearing  apparel — Knit  goods    

All   other    

Electrical  machinery,  appliances,  and  instruments: 

Dynamos  and  generators 

Motors     

All  other   

Explosives:     Cartridges,   loaded    

All    other    explosives    

Fibers,  vegetable,  manufactures  of 

Glass  and  glassware  

India  rubber,  manufactures  of   

Iron  and  steel : 

Bars  or  rods  of  steel Pounds         

Cutlery   

Machinery,  machines,  and  parts  of 

Pipes  and   fittings    Pounds          19,527 

Sheets  and  plates   Pounds         

Stoves  and  ranges   

Structural  iron  and  steel   Tons         68 

Tin  plates,  terneplates  and  taggers'  tin Pounds        106,909        160,267 

Tools,    n.   e.    s 

Wire,  and  manufactures   of 

All  other 

Lead,  manufactures  of  

Leather     

Manufactures  of — Boots  and  Shoes — Men's. .  .Pairs  1,083  2,191 

All  other    Pairs  1,616  3,570 

Malt     Bushels  3,242         

Oils:     Mineral,   lubricating Gallons         12,100 

Perfumeries    

Silk,  artificial,  manufactures  of 

Wood:    Shooks    Number         1,600 

All  other  articles  


Values. 
1917.  1918. 


431,212 


863,581 
23,370 


1,497 
3,511 
1,099 
7,531 

23,887 
2,296 

10,284 

63,181 
83 

1,658 
7,181 
797 
986 
284 
143 


2,671 
659 
892 

"39 

'  e'i26 

15,911 

3,480 
6,448 


Total  domestic  exports 
Total  foreign  exports   . 


2,444 
2,116 
2,897 
5,349 

'  1,613 
2,167 

lV,596 
227,065 


2,619 
700 

4,017 
14,513 
23,529 

2,054 

6.677 


5,918 
17,011 

5,969 
11,277 
17,011 

1,795 

5,248 

16,190 
584 

281,286 

44,452 

2,863 

4,940 

9,004 

12,646 

15,044 

13,793 

35,838 

9,149 

518 

5,185 

7,756 

"  4*,566 
2,513 

'  8,666 

41,718 

670,766 
60 


Total  exports. 


227,065    670,826 


A  study  of  the  preceding  figures,  indicating  the  ascendency  of  the  United 
States  in  the  trade  of  Paraguay,  is  interesting  as  showing  the  possibilities  of  the 
future,  with  its  promised  increase  of  tonnage,  securing  quicker  and  more  regular 
transportation.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  a  direct 
line  may  be  inaugurated  between  Asuncion  and  the  United  States,  with  calls  at  inter- 
mediate ports.  American  merchandise  is  received  with  much  favor.  To  continue 
its  sale  it  will  be  necessary  to  maintain  sound  banking  connections  between  the 
two  countries,  have  American  business  men  visit  the  country,  for — quoting  from  the 
letter  recently  received  by  the  Paraguayan  Legation  from  an  American  farmer  now 
established  in  Paraguay — fit  is  not  American  goods  that  competitors  fear,  but 
American  salesmen. '  Most  of  all,  however,  the  United  States  must  purchase 
Paraguay's  productions.  They  are  required  by  United  States  industries,  and  may 
be  purchased  on  the  ground  to  greater  advantage  than  in  the  European  market. 
This  particularly  will  tend  to  establish  -and  cement  the  understanding  and  friend- 
ship of  the  two  nations,  and,  more  than  anything  else,  will  make  "dollar  exchange" 
a  reality  in  Paraguay. 


Finance  and  Banking 

The  financial  condition  of  the  country  is  sound.  The  general  depression 
produced  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  European  War  was  of  immediate  effect  in 
Paraguay,  where  business  was  for  the  moment  all  but  paralyzed.  Inactivity  reigned 
in  the  customs  service,  the  main  reliance  for  fiscal  expenses;  gold  immediately 
disappeared.  But  for  the  prompt  measures  of  retrenchment  taken  by  the  Govern- 
ment, matters  might  have  been  serious.  The  paper  currency,  exchangeable  for  gold, 
peso  for  peso,  at  rate  of  17.00  (to  1.00),  rose  in  1914  to  37.00  (averaging  26.00)  ; 
in  1915  to  40.00  (averaging  33.33),  falling  during  1916  to  as  low  as  25.00  (averag- 


PARAGUAY 


193 


ing  27.60),  and,  following  the  entry  of  the  United  States  into  the  war,  fluctuating 
between  38.40  and  31.27  (averaging  33.98),  and  during  1918  falling  from  34.51  to 
18.18  (averaging  26.35),  closing  the  year  at  19.00.  On  1  May  of  the  current  year 
it  fell  to  17.29 — practically  its  pre-war  rate. 

The  amount  of  paper  in  circulation  on  31   December,   1914-1918    (including 
nickel  subsidiary  coins),  is  as  follows: 


PAPER  AND  NICKEL  COINS  PLACED  IN  CIRCULATION  FROM  1914  TO 
DECEMBER  31,  1918. 


Held  By  Banks. 
Paper  Pesos 
Year.  and  Nickel.  % 

1914 30,442.019  33.82 

1915 49,859,155  43.36 

1916 65,146,466  52.11 

1917 65,437,280  52.35 

1918 59,935,945  47.95 


In  Circulation. 


Paper  Pesos 
and  Nickel. 
59,557,981 
65,140,845 
59,853,534 
59,562,720 
65,064,055 


66.18 
56.64 
47.89 
47.65 
52.05 


Total 
Authorization. 

90,000,000 
115,000,000 
125,000,000 
125,000,000 
125,000,000 


COINED  MONEY  IN  PARAGUAY,  1914-1918,  AS  OF  DECEMBER  31. 


*In  possession  of:  1918. 

f  Exchange    Office    1,463,199 

Banks    3,260,283 


Total 4,723,482 


Year  and  Value  in  Gold 

1917.  1916.  1915. 

1,010,046  470,348  757,827 

1,520,555  1,172,632  893,951 


2,530,601 


1,642,980 


1,651,778 


1,309,097 


*  No  account  is  made  of  a  considerable  amount  of  gold  in  private  hands. 

tThe  Oficina  de  Cambios,  the  institution  charged  with  the  regulation  of  foreign  exchange. 


OPERATIONS   IN   FOREIGN   MONEY. 

(1)   DRAFTS  ISSUED  ON  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES,  1916,  1917,  1918. 
(Valuation  in  Gold  Pesos.) 


Countries. 


1916. 


Argentina    9,414,264 

Bolivia    . . . 


Brazil    , 

France    

Germany    

Holland    

Italy    

Portugal    , 

Spain    

United  Kingdom 
United  States   . . 

Uruguay    

All  others  . , 


2,711 

196,953 

12.196 

89 

31,913 


55,716 
210,599 
132,982 
393,721 


1917. 
12,083,069 


444 
175,712 

4 

63,310 
1,875 

90,374 
188.325 
207,465 
791,178 


1918. 

18,985,785 
3,000 


145,633 

24,591 
113,635 

119.051 
841,484 
121,648 
339,714 


Totals 10,451,204 


13,601,756 


20,195,525 


(2)   BUYING  AND  SELLING  OF  FOREIGN  MONEY.  1916,  1917,  1918. 
EXCHANGE  OFFICE.  BOURSE. 


Purchases. 


Sales. 


Purchases. 
In  Argentine 
In  Gold  Pesos.      In  Gold  Pesos.          Currency.      In  Gold  Pesos. 

1916 1,107,111  1,326,515  9,494,877  98,137 

1917 1,363,017       1,154,471      10,991,863       31,517 

1918 1,874,125       1,384,579      13,849,369       27,931 


194 


SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 


CONDITION  OF  PARAGUAYAN 
Paid  Up  Capital. 


Bancos. 


Gold. 


de  la  Republica 4,000,000 

Mercantil  del  Paraguay  

*Agricola  del  Paraguay  

Espafia  y  Paraguay 

Constructor 

fCaja  de  Cr6dito  Com- 

ercial  

'Oficina  de  Cambio. . . .  830,194 
Agenda  Industrial  y 

Comercial    


Paper. 

25,'o'oo',b'ob 

34,590,097 
8,984,000 
1,977,000 

1,550,032 
10,000,000 

1,363,000 


BANKS  DECEMBER  31,  1918. 

Reserves.  Deposits. 

Gold.            Paper.  Gold.            Paper. 
1,500,363 


Totals,  1918 4,830,194       83,461,129         1,500,363 


Totals,  1917 4,759,528 

Totals,  1916 4,668,909 

Totals,  1915 4,629,244 

Totals,  1914 4,615,868 


83,112,368 
78,278,268 
55,184,397 
39,195,659 


1,460,537 
1,411,590 
1,232,974 
1,157,801 


300,000 
14,100,000 
1,734,137 
880,422 
80,000 

1,781,518 
1,464,563 
4,600 
754,636 

44,696,403 
54,710,557 
2,494,328 
22,917,717 
62,956 

135,125 

1  062  562 

3  308,688 

159,070 

31,813 

411 

115,000 

20,570,185 

4,164,798 

126,059,523 

25,878,131 
19,163,864 
18,102,102 
17,090,606 

2,195,515 
1,539,974 
1,205,887 
1,335,558 

134,654,724 
131,071,325 
114,130,586 
81,389,216 

*National  institution. 

tOf  amount  shown,  1,089,992  pesos  belong  to  chattel  loans. 

CONDITION  OF  PARAGUAYAN  BANKS,  DECEMBER  31,  1918— Continued. 

Cash  on  Hand. 


Bancos. 

Savings  Accounts. 
Gold.            Paper. 
203  242         4  313  564 

Loans  and 
Gold. 
3  870  327 

Discounts. 
Paper. 
27  968  481 

Mercantil  del  Paraguay 
*Agricola  del  Paraguay 

675,780      31,863,001 

2,585,605 
1,631 

85,486,686 
25  578,810 

Espafia  y  Paraguay.  .  . 

248,593        7,067,928 

718,162 

29,950,218 
2,593,440 

tCaja  de  Crfidito  Com- 
ercial     

2,341,674 

*Oficina  de  Cambio     . 

11,120 

Agencia     Industrial     y 

122             35,220 

35,220 

296,083 

Gold. 

4,344,509 

631,534 

3,589 
276,085 

2,967 


1,463,199 
1,699 


Paper. 
25,937,637 
18,068,667 

3,425,194 

10,139,029 

1,317 

267,755 
1,489.842 

606,504 


Totals,  1918 1,127,737       43,279,713         7,176,902     174,226,512         4,724,482       59,935,945 


Totals,  1917. 
Totals,  1916. 
Totals,  1915. 
Totals,  1914. 


472,438 
306,809 
251,680 
303,826 


39,700,332 
38,630,113 
32,919,532 
27,717,368 


7,093,097 
7,326,697 
7,428.576 
7,886,499 


163,974,311 
143,636,851 
115,671,483 
105,994,005 


2,530,601  65,437,280 

1,642,980  65,146,466 

1,651,778  49,859,155 

1,309,097  30,422,019 


*National  institution. 

tOf   amount    shown,    1,089,992   pesos   belong   to   loan   to   Monte   Plo    (National   collateral 
loan)    fund. 

DEBT    OF   PARAGUAY   DECEMBER   31,    1918. 


Domestic.  Gold  Pesos. 

Treasury  overdrafts  anticipating  revenues 238,561.12 

Old  orders  of  payment 276,929.63 

Consolidated  6s  of  1915 1,624,450.00 

Consolidated  6s  of  1915,  fractional 


Sinking  Fund  through  Banco  Agricola 


2,139,941.79 
95,158.82 


Net  totals 2,044,782.97 


Consolidated  bonds  in  circulation :     Gold,  1,497,750 ;  paper,  17,804,000. 

Foreign.  Gold  Pesos. 

Loan  of  London,   1871-72 3,454,212.28 

Loan  of  Banco  Nacional  Argentino   68,227.45 

Loan,  Law  of  27  November,  1912 2,090,261.02 


Paper  Pesos. 
6,240,653.44 
9,516,089.63 

23,244,000.00 
825,587.20 

39,826,330.27 
6,692,874.90 

33,133,485.37 


Paper  Pesos. 


Total 5,612,700.75 


SINKING    FUND    PROVISIONS    MADE  DURING    YEAR 

Loan.  Gold  Pesos. 

Loan  of  London,  1871-72 155,172.58 

117,109.00 


Loan,  Law  of  November  27,  1912. 


Total. 


272,281.58 


1918. 

Paper  Pesos. 


NOTE. — Gold  peso  is  valued  at  $0.9648  U.   S.  gold;  paper  peso  on  December  31,  1918, 
quoted  at  ratio  of  19.00  to  1 ;  on  May  1.  1919,  at  17.29  to  1. 


PERU  195 

PERU. 

The  main  paper  on  Peru,  read  by  Sr.  Dr.  Francisco  Varela  y  Tudela,  the 
Ambassador  of  Peru,  appears  on  page  19. 

SYNOPSIS  OF  THE  COMMERCIAL  EVOLUTION  OF  PERU. 

BY  SENOR  CARLOS  GIBSON,  FIRST  SECRETARY  OF  THE  PERUVIAN  EMBASSY, 

WASHINGTON/  D.  C. 

A  brief  synthesis  will  permit  us  to  form  an  integral  idea  of  the  economic 
progress  of  Peru  during  the  last  two  years,  and  the  new  pathways  that  the  de- 
velopment of  its  enormous  resources  allows  a  glimpse  of  for  the  future. 

Three  problems  attract  the  attention  of  the  country  with  indisputable  in- 
sistence: colonization,  irrigation  and  railways.  To  determine  these  to  the  best 
advantage  for  the  National  progress  is  the  earnest  aspiration  of  all,  notwith- 
standing discrepancies  in  creeds,  opinions  or  political  parties. 

Colonization.  For  the  purpose  of  colonization,  Peru  counts  mainly  upon 
her  valuable  forest-lands  of  the  Montana.  With  the  idea  of  making  these  most 
available  to  colonists  and  immigrants,  the  State  distributes  them  in  three  forms : 
(a)  by  purchase,  at  the  rate  of  5  solo  ($2.50)  per  hectare,  deeding  it  to  the 
purchaser  in  fee  simple  title;  by  rental,  upon  payment  of  the  sum  of  1  solo 
($0.50)  per  hectare  for  the  first  three  years,  and  this  term  having  expired  1 
solo  ($0.50)  for  the  area  under  cultivation  and  improvement  and  2  solo  ($1.00) 
for  the  uncultivated  area;  (b)  by  contract  of  colonization  which  requires  a 
guarantee  of  5  solo  ($2.50)  per  hectare,  the  cultivation  of  10  to  100  hectares 
per  colonist  or  the  abrogation  of  the  contract  for  the  failure  of  the  concessionaire 
to  fulfill  his  part  of  the  contract;  (c)  a  free  allotment  of  two  hectares,  re- 
scindable  in  three  years  if  the  colonist  does  not  cultivate  them,  unless  he  con- 
sents to  convert  the  free  allotment  to  a  mortgage  paying  the  corresponding  rate 
per  hectare,  in  which  the  contract  continues.  In  short,  permanent  legal  pos- 
session may  be  acquired  by  punctual  payment  of  the  small  sum  of  5  solos  ($2.50) 
per  hectare  or  about  $1.00  per  acre. 

Irrigation.  The  Peruvian  executives  and  legislators  have  given  no  less 
consideration  to  the  question  of  irrigation.  There  is  a  vast  irrigable  tract 
where  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  territory  only  small  acres  are  now  culti- 
vated. The  fertility  of  the  soil  is  amply  attested  by  the  incomes  derived 
from  the  exploitation  of  these  small  areas. 

Sugar.  From  a  cost  of  154  to  175  shillings  ($37.50  to  $42.60)  per  ton  at 
the  shipping  ports,  has  sold  during  the  war  at  an  average  of  300  shillings  in  the 
markets  to  which  it  is  exported.  Peru's  sugar  production  has  increased  from 
150,000  to  close  on  400,000  tons  during  war-times,  without  a  proportional  increase 
in  the  area  of  the  cultivated  cane-lands,  which  was  and  will  continue  to  be 
hardly  200,000  acres.  However,  there  are  ready  for  immediate  irrigation  more 
than  400,000  hectares,  at  a  cost  of  $19  to  $105,  according  to  the  quality  of  the 
land.  Altogether  there  is  an  area  along  the  Peruvian  coast  of  more  than  20,- 
000,000  hectares  of  land  suitable  for  irrigation,  of  which  scarcely  500  hectares  are 
actually  in  a  state  of  cultivation. 

CQtton.  The  price  of  cotton,  of  which  Peru  is  also  a  heavy  producer,  has 
certainly  been  no  less  flattering.  Peruvian  Egyptian  cotton  has  sold  at  £110 
($550)  per  ton,  and  the  "Metafife"  at  £200  ($1,000),  costing  no  more  than 
£40  to  £44,  according  to  quality.  Of  these  the  best,  considered  one  of  the 
finest  grades  in  the  world,  is  a  variety  peculiar  to  this  country,  the  rough 
cotton  of  Piura,  so  called  on  account  of  the  region  which  produces  it.  It  is 
possible  for  one  single  plantation  to  obtain  five  good  harvests  and  at  the  end 
of  the  third  year  reach  the  maximum  production.  Almost  the  whole  national 
production  is  exported,  scarcely  3,000  tons  being  used  as  raw  material  in  the 
factories  established  in  Lima,  Arequipa  and  lea,  in  spite  of  the  superior  quality 
of  the  fabric  manufactured  in  the  country  to  that  of  foreign  import. 

The  Laws  of  Irrigation.  Considering  such  flattering  results,  the  men  di- 
recting the  affairs  of  the  country  are  trying,  resolutely,  to  push  forward  the 
irrigation  projects,  a  law  having  been  in  force  since  1893,  before  the  actual 
promulgation  of  the  "Water  Laws"  which  authorized  the  grantee  to  ^use  in 
perpetuity  any  water  under  public  dominion  for  the  purpose  of  irrigating  the 


196  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

lands.  This  act  likewise  exempts  these  irrigation  enterprises  from  the  duty 
usually  imposed  upon  imported  materials  which  are  required  for  the  construc- 
tion of  hydraulic  undertakings,  confirms  the  title  to  the  irrigated  lands  and 
exempts  them  from  all  taxation  for  three  years,  permits  the  changing  of  the 
course  of  the  rivers  and  free  use  of  government  lands,  and  besides,  con- 
cedes other  franchises.  Since  1902  operations  have  been  systematized  and 
placed  under  the  control  of  the  Department  of  Mines  and  Rivers,  which  has 
organized  the  Service  of  Irrigation  and  has  undertaken  costly  propositions  which 
are  truly  an  exponent  of  the  lofty  spirit  of  progress  which  animates  the 
country. 

The  Railways.  Also  of  vital  interest  is  the  railway  question  of  Peru. 
Railroads  and  other  means  of  communication  traverse  the  country  in  every  di- 
rection. Railways  extend  longitudinally  along  the  coast  while  others  penetrate 
the  Sierras  to  the  very  axis  of  the  Cordillera.  What  the  country  desires  most 
is  to  enter  the  heart  of  the  unexplored  forest  regions,  filled  with  every  variety 
of  rich  flora  and  fauna,  a  magnificent  tract  where  cabinet- woods,  vegetable-ivory 
and  other  vegetation  and  plants  abound,  a  land  in  which  the  marvelous  soil 
yields  a  variety  of  products,  while  the  rivers  carry  gold  mixed  with  their  waters. 
This  district,  perhaps  the  richest  in  the  country,  is  the  one  which  it  is  desired 
to  exploit  at  all  hazards,  facilitating  access  thereto  by  means  of  railways.  This 
will  be  accomplished  within  a  very  short  time.  So  far  all  possible  routes 
have  been  studied  and  without  counting  the  existing  roads  there  are  four  per- 
fectly feasible  projects:  (a)  the  connection  of  the  extensive  railway  system 
which  crosses  the  southern  part  of  the  Republic  with  the  Madre  de  Dios  River; 
the  union  of  the  central  part  of  the  country  by  means  of  a  line  which  will  con- 
nect the  Carhuamayo  station  of  the  Oroya  railroad  at  Cerro  de  Pasco  and  the 
richest  copper  zone  of  the  country,  with  some  navigable  point  either  on  the  Pachitea 
River  or  on  the  Ucayali;  (b)  the  proposal  to  join  the  Chimbote  railway  with 
the  Marafion  River  across  the  Transandean  Valley  of  the  same  name;  and 
(c)  last,  the  one  which  has  in  view  the  union  of  this  same  river  with  the  port  of 
Paita  in  northern  Peru.  In  this  manner  the  Montana  will  become  linked  with 
the  central  and  northern  portions  of  the  Republic. 

The  Transandean  Railroad.  The  transandean  railway  enterprise  promises 
to  attain  a  happy  conclusion,  This  project  is  designed  to  link  up  the 
ports  of  the  Pacific  with  the  Atlantic  by  means  of  a  line  which,  starting  from 
Ninacaca  at  kilometer  25  on  the  Oroya  railway,  will  extend  to  the  Pachitea. 
According  to  recent  official  information  the  Peruvian  Government  has  decided  to 
undertake  this  vast  enterprise,  perhaps  the  greatest  undertaken  in  South  America 
within  the  last  decade.  Indeed,  the  Transandean  line  will  surpass,  both  in  its 
conception  and  execution,  the  most  favoured  projects  of  lines  of  penetration 
to  the  tributaries  of  the  Amazon  and  to  the  Ynugas  District,  to  which  Bolivia 
and  Ecuador  have  respectively  devoted  much  attention,  for  many  years.  This 
line,  which  it  is  estimated  will  cost  about  $30,000,000  for  a  length  of  350  miles, 
will  cross  the  Andes  at  a  point  8,000  feet  above  sea  level,  although  there  is  noth- 
ing remarkable  in  this  in  a  country  like  Peru  which  has  constructed  the  Oroya 
Railway,  which  ascends  to  a  height  of  more  than  15,000  feet.  The  transandean 
will  be  productive  from  its  first  year  as  it  is  expected  to  transport  700,000  tons 
of  freight  annually,  after  the  first  100  miles  have  been  completed  and  opened  for 
public  service. 

The  Interior  Railways  of  the  Mining  Districts.  But  the  Nation,  in  addi- 
tion to  its  Transandean  tract,  possesses  mineral  deposits  of  great  value,  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  whole  length  of  its  extensive  area.  Today,  the  railways 
in  operation  together  with  those  in  construction,  without  counting  the  Trans- 
andean,  there  are  no  less  than  5,383,473  Km.,  according  to  recent  statistics  and 
publications.  In  order  to  carry  these  to  a  successful  completion  the  Peruvian 
Parliament  has  voted  a  permanent  reserve  fund  of  £250,000  ($1,250,000)  an- 
nually in  the  budget.  By  means  of  incontestable  facts  demonstrated  by  actual 
figures  and  experience,  the  public  authorities  of  Peru  have  been  persuaded  that 
national  production  will  increase  a  hundred  fold  when  the  existing  lines  are 
able  to  reach  the  copper  and  coal  districts  of  Ancrhs,  Huancavelica,  etc.,  now 
operated  on  a  very  small  scale.  It  is  only  necessary  to  state,  that  a  branch  of 
15  miles  would  be  sufficient  to  connect  the  best  carboniferous  veins  of  the  coun- 
try, located  in  Ancos,  in-  the  valley  of  Chuquicara,  with  the  port  of  Chinbate. 


PERU  197 

Production.  Metals.  The  coast  and  forest-lands,  however,  do  not 
constitute  all  the  wealth  of  the  country.  It  has  a  tract  known  as  the  Sierras 
or  table-lands  which  consist  mainly  of  grazing-lands  and  mines.  The  mineral 
exports  from  Peru  average  approximately  305,191  tons,  valued  at  between  $160,- 
000,000  and  $250,000,000.  Yet,  notwithstanding  her  enormous  mineral  wealth, 
Peru  has  been  exploited  upon  a  very  small  scale,  only  two  provinces  of  the  De- 
partment of  Junin,  export  90%  of  their  total  production.  These  metals  are 
of  high  grade  ore ;  and  of  an  average  yield  of  6%  from  bids  worked  on  a  large 
scale. 

Copper.  No  less  satisfactory  has  been  the  price  reached  by  the  mineral 
products  in  the  markets  where  they  are  sold;  standard  copper,  which  sold,  be- 
fore the  war,  for  £65  ($325)  per  ton  having  fluctuated  between  £130  and  £144 
($650  to  $720)  per  ton,  costing  less  than  £60  ($200)  delivered  in  the  New  York 
market.  On  this  account  the  production  has  vastly  increased  as  before  the 
war  Peru  never  produced  more  than  30,000  tons  of  copper  annually,  and  today 
the  production  is  not  less  than  50,000. 

Of  the  above  total,  the  American  concern,  Cerro  de  Pasco  Copper  Cor- 
poration, extracts  70%  and  although  operating  with  a  nominal  capital  of  $60,- 
000,000  they  have  actually  invested  less  than  $30,000,000,  realizing  a  net  profit 
calculated  at  about  $1,000,000  per  month;  the  normal  production  being  estimated 
at  3,000  tons  per  month  at  a  cost  of  £60  to  £70  ($300  to  $350)  per  ton  and  a 
selling  price  of  £170  ($850.)  This  does  not  include  any  of  the  gold  and  silver, 
also  occurring  with  the  copper.  As  a  proof  of  the  flourishing  condition  of  this 
Corporation  we  note  that  its  stock  is  quoted  in  the  New  York  market  at  $58 
with  a  rising  tendency,  having  almost  doubled  in  the  last  couple  of  months,  as 
it  was  selling  in  March  at  $30;  a  clean  rise  of  28  points.  We  also  wish  to 
state  that  the  Cerro  de  Pasco  Copper  Corporation  is  about  to  invest  $10,- 
000,000  in  a  new  smelter  in  Oroya,  and  $1,000,000  more  in  a  railway  line  be- 
tween Morococha,  a  district  which  the  Company  has  recently  acquired,  and 
a  point  on  the  Central  R.  R.  of  Oroya,  it  not  having  been  possible  to  build  a 
line  across  this  rich  tract,  which  it  exploits,  due  not  to  lack  of  funds  or  the 
will  to  do  so,  but  rather  to  an  agreement  with  the  Peruvian  Corporation,  which 
has  been  in  force  for  over  ten  years. 

Other  Metals.  The  same  conditions  met  with  by  the  copper  industry, 
have  been  experienced  with  the  silver,  Jead,  antimony,  vanadium,  tungsten, 
petroleum,  and  other  metal  and  mineral  substances  in  which  Peru  abounds. 
Silver,  for  example,  which  before  the  war,  was  valued  at  24  d.  per  ounce  has 
since  sold  for  40  d.  per  ounce. 

The  Live-Stock  Industry.  There  has  been  an  enormous  increase  in  agri- 
cultural and  live-stock  activities.  High  quotations  have  been  reached,  not  only 
in  the  case  of  cotton  and  sugar,  but  also  in  rice,  cocoa,  wool,  hides  and  all 
agricultural  products.  Stock  and  farm  products  have  been  exported  from  "Peru 
in  an  ever-increasing  volume  which  in  recent  years  has  never  fallen  below 
262,150  tons  valued  at  £8,855,813  (or  about  $44,219,065.) 

Wool.  A  single  statement  will  serve  to  give  an  idea  of  one  of  the  rich- 
est and  best  stocked  districts  engaged  in  stock-raising :  concerning  the  wool 
produced  by  the  sheep,  vicuna  and  llama,  of  which  latter  Peru  has  the  monopoly 
of  the  world  and  from  which  over  200,000  tons  of  wool  are  produced  an- 
nually. According  to  statistics  a  moderate  estimate  of  the  annual  export  of 
wool  is  put  at  6,916,313  Kilos  valued  at  £1,711,734  (approximately  $8,558,670) 
a  good  proportion  of  which  is  used  for  manufacturing  purposes  in  the  Republic. 

Hides.  The  industry  of  the  preparation  of  dried  and  salted  hides  and  kid 
and  goat  skins,  has  developed  considerably.  Parchment  which  Peru  exports  is 
highly  appreciated  by  the  trade  on  account  of  its  fine  texture,  softness  and 
suitability  for  handling,  and  glove-making.  These  skins  are  eminently  adapted 
for  the  manufacture  of  high  grade  articles. 

Commercial  Enterprise  and  Navigation.  Well  abreast  of  the  expansion 
of  the  natural  resources  is  the  remarkable  development  of  the  commerce  and 
means  of  transportation  by  land,  river,  and  ocean  routes,  to  such  a  degree 
that  the  tonnage  of  Peru  is  beginning  to  occupy  an  important  place  in  world 
trade. 

Public  and  Private  Properties.  The  public  and  private  wealth  has  in- 
creased. Daily,  unoccupied  territory  is  being  urbanized.  In  only  three  months 


198  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

250,000  square  meters  were  sold  along  the  recently  constructed  Magdelena  Boule- 
vard, between  Lima  and  Callao.  Besides  this,  many  other  boulevards  and  build- 
ing sites  are  under  construction.  , 

The  Budget.  The  fiscal  situation  is  all  that  may  be  desired.  The  Re- 
public has  liquidated  almost  the  whole  of  its  debt  and  the  recent  budgets  have 
left  a  surplus.  The  deficit  occasioned  during  the  first  two  years  of  the  war 
(1914-1915)  was  cancelled  by  a  moderate  duty  laid  on  the  exports. 

Bank  Notes.  The  legal  tender  in  form  of  bank  bills  is  fully  secured  by 
a  gold  deposit  in  the  banks  by  which  the  bills  are  issued,  covering  60%  of 
the  issue,  the  remainder  being  secured  by  mortgages  and  notes,  which,  far  from 
depreciating  in  value  are  quoted  at  a  premium  of  20  to  30%  on  the  American 
dollar.  Sight  drafts  have  sold  in  Peru  at  $5.50  and  $5.85  per  £  (Peruvian). 

Exchange.  Peru  has  been  enabled  to  stabilize  its  exchange,  by  virtue  of 
an  agreement  with  the  United  States,  by  means  of  which  a  portion  of  the  amount 
resulting  from  the  commercial  balance  may  be  deposited  in  the  Federal  Reserve 
Banks,  and  an  equivalent  amount  of  paper  may  be  put  in  circulation  in  Peru. 
This  circumstance  and  the  enormous  commercial  development  with  the  U.  S.  A. 
which  has  increased  from  33%  to  65%  during  the  war,  especially  in  exports,  have 
procured  for  Peru  the  honor  of  figuring  among  the  creditors  of  the  Great  Re- 
public, which  in  turn  is  the  creditor  of  the  great  world  powers.  As  a  significant 
fact,  we  indicate  that  the  first  consignment  of  gold  that  was  sent  to  any  foreign 
country,  in  virtue  of  the  recent  suspension  of  the  embargo  on  gold,  was  sent 
to  Peru  through  the  Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas,  and  Amounted  to 
$1,000,000. 

All  this  is  a  harbinger  of  the  era  of  national  aggrandizement,  which  has 
already  been  inaugurated  in  Peru,  a  country  intended  by  its  wealth,  history  and 
traditions  to  fulfill  the  highest  demands  of  destiny. 

American  Investments  in  Development  of  Peru.  Although  data  bearing 
on  this  matter  has  already  appeared,  it  is  desirable  to  particularize  the  sur- 
prising results  derived  from  the  investment  of  American  capital  in  different  en- 
terprises in  Peru.  The  principal  and  most  important  is  the  Cerro  de  Pasco 
Copper  Corporation,  whose  gross  earnings  for  1918,  from  the  sale  of  copper, 
amounted  to  $22,867,807,  notwithstanding  the  momentary  fall  in  the  price  of 
copper,  while  the  profits  for  1917  were  $2,106,275  higher,  with  net  receipts  of 
$5,078,868,  and  $4,393,352  as  dividends. 

The  original  capital  of  this  company  was  $30,000,000  and  the  claims  which 
it  has  registered  with  the  Peruvian  Government  now  number  1,800,  which  repre- 
sent an  extensive  area  of  most  valuable  property,  situated  in  the  heart  of  the 
richest  copper  district  of  the  world,  whose  value  is  increased  by  the  coal  minegj 
of  Gollarisquisca  and  Quishauarchancha ;  by  water  rights  and  agricultural  estab- 
lishments of  more  than  25,000  hectares  in  extension;  by  the  hydro-electric  power 
plant*  of  La  Oroya,  of  more  than  12,000  H.  P.,  and  lastly  by  the  Smelter  which 
daily  treats  hundreds  of  tons  of  ore,  the  whole  concern  employing  more  than 
15,000  persons  in  the  mines  and  offices,  all  earning  very  good  salaries  and  well  looked 
after  in  the  buildings  erected  for  the  purpose,  which  include  a  model  hospital 
equipped  with  the  most  recent  appliances.  The  monthly  net  income  of  the  concern 
is  estimated  at  $1,000,000,  produced  by  its  Cerro  de  Pasco  and  Morococha  establish- 
ments. 

A  new  smelter,  that  of  La  Oroya,  has  recently  been  inaugurated,  capable 
of  treating  4,000  tons  of  ore  daily.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  Cerro  dd  Pasco 
Copper  Corporation  is  able  to  place  its  copper  on  the  New  York  market  at  the 
lowest  possible  cost,  as  low  as  any  other  producer  and  lower  than  most.  This 
result,  Mr.  Harding  stated,  at  the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  company,  during 
which  he  furnished  much  interesting  data  on  the  work  accomplished,  is  due 
to  the  high  proportion  of  gold  and  silver  which  the  ore  contains  and  the  cheap- 
ness of  labour  in  Peru.  Apart  from  the  200  American,  British  and  Canadian 
employes  working  for  the  company,  the  remaining  5,000  are  natives  belonging 
to  the  mountainous  regions  of  the  Andes  and  able,  therefore,  to  withstand  labour 
in  the  mines  without  hardship. 

Morococha.  The  Morococha  Mining  Company  owns  about  1,200  "per- 
tenencias"  or  claims,  situated  in  the  district  of  Morococha,  with  a  powerful  plant 
of  44,000  H.  P.  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  mines.  This  is  another  of  the  very 
flourishing  American  concerns  of  the  region. 


PERU  199 

The  Cerro  de  Pasco  Railway  Company  carries  the  ores  and  metals  from 
the  mines  to  the  port  of  embarkation,  taking  advantage  of  a  branch  line  which 
unites  Cerro  de  Pasco  with  the  Oroya,  where  it  joins  the  Central  Railway  which 
continues  on  to  Callao.  The  above  mentioned  branch  line  is  132  kilometres 
long,  its  freight  rates  are  fair  and  the  rolling  stock  comfortable  and  well  cared 
for.  Locomotives  are  driven  by  two  electric  motors  of  100  and  50  H.  P.  re- 
spectively; the  staff  consists  of  several  officials  and  about  200  workmen. 

The  barometer  for  appreciating  the  development  of  the  district  is  un- 
doubtedly the  returns  of  the  railroad  which,  with  its  shops  and  regular  schedules, 
cooperates  efficiently  with  the  neighbouring  towns  for  their  advancement.  The 
continuously  prosperous  condition  of  this  line  can  be  appreciated  by  the  fact 
that  since  1914  to  date,  the  monthly  quantity  of  mineral  freight  conveyed  has 
been  488,544  tons. 

Other  American  companies  of  no  less  importance,  although  they  have  not 
developed  as  rapidly  as  the  above  mentioned,  are  to  be  found  in  Arequipa,  Cara- 
baya  and  Sandia,  southern  provinces  of  Peru;  such  are  the  Andes  Exploration 
Company,  which  works  the  copper  mines  of  Cerro  Verde;  the^Inca  Mining  Com- 
pany, the  Inca  Gold  Company,  both  gold-mining  concerns,  the  Inambari  Dredg- 
ing Company,  which  achieved  very  good  results  from  the  drainage  of  the  auri- 
ferous rivers  in  the  region  from  which  the  company  takes  its  name;  and  the 
Humboldt  Gold  Placers  Company,  which  exports  considerable  quantities  of  gold 
obtained  from  Montana  de  Puco. 


PERUVIAN  TRADE  AND  INTERNAL  CONDITIONS 

BY  SENOR  JOSE  CORBACHO,  DEPUTY  TO  THE  PERUVIAN  CONGRESS. 

Mr.  Chairman:  Taking  advantage  of  the  recess  of  the  Peruvian  Congress — 
of  which  I  am  a  member — il  have  made  a  trip  to  this  great  country,  having  as  one 
of  its  principal  objects  to  inspect  the  industrial  centers,  in  order  to  take  back  with 
me  to  Peru  a  collection  of  samples  of  American  goods,  and  also'  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  deficiencies  of  the  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United 
States  and  South  America,  and  concerning  the  complaints  which  have  been  formu- 
lated against  the  same. 

No  better  opportunity  could  be  offered  to  me  than  that  with  which  the 
Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union  has  honored  me  in  inviting  me  to 
make  known  before  this  Second  Commercial  Conference  the  data  which  I  have  been 
giving  to  merchants  with  whom  I  have  come  in  contact  since  my  arrival  in  this 
country. 

In  the  following  synthetic  resume,  I  will  speak  with  frankness,  and  although 
it  may  not  be  an  agreeable  task,  I  entertain  the  conviction  that  in  treating  com- 
mercial questions  which  aim  towards  a  better  development  of  the  different  coun- 
tries, the  language  of  diplomacy  as  well  as  every  conventional  formula  which  hides 
or  disguises  the  truth  and  impedes  the  exact  knowledge  of  the  situation,  should  be 
set  aside. 

The  usual  international  courtesy,  which  converts  congresses  and  conferences 
into  literary  contests  and  acts  of  mutual  eulogy,  tend  to  make  them  move  in  a 
vicious  circle,  but  without  failing  at  the  same  time  to  sanction  practical  formulas. 

Consistent  with  these  principles,  I  take  the  liberty  to  transmit  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Second  Commercial  Pan  American  Conference  some  of  the  many 
complaints  which  in  South  America  are  made  against  American  merchants ;'  to 
denounce  the  factors  which  contribute  to  weaken  commercial  relations ;  to  point 
out  a  serious  danger  which  is  being  presented  in  a  large  measure,  and  to  state  the 
measures  which  I  consider  indispensable,  in  order  to  save  the  commerce  of  this 
great  nation  from  experiencing  a  breakdown  in  its  relations  with  the  Latin  Ameri- 
can countries. 

It  should  be  granted  that  American  commerce  was  not  prepared  to  enter 
into  business  with  the  South  American  countries  on  account  of  the  lack  of  a  bet- 
ter knowledge  of  the  geographical  conditions  of  each  country  and  of  the  psychologi- 
cal conditions  of  their  respective  peoples;  it  should  also  be  granted — as  regards 
Peru — that  to  this  ignorance  have  contributed  the  prejudice  and  falsehoods  spread 
by  these  interested  in  the  monopoly  of  their  commerce  and  which  have  always 
striven  in  their  eagerness  to  retain  it,  to  ward  off  competition  by  misrepresenting 


PERU 

FOREIGN*  COMMERCE  191? 

TOTAIf  *  156,231,000. 


"UTNT1TED  STATES 
. 180,000. 


PERU  201 

us  and  depicting  us  as  a  savage,  revolutionary  and  unreliable  people,  through  pub- 
lications which  periodically  and  systematically  are  made  in  some  of  the  New  York 
dailies  and  which  are  energetically  refuted  by  the  Peruvian  press.  Thus,  the  un- 
expected intercourse,  caused  by  the  war,  and  without  a  basis  of  these  two  primordial 
factors — geographical  and  psychological  knowledge — have  produced  a  result  un- 
favorable to  the  prestige  of  American  commerce,  because  it  has  singled  out  some 
serious  deficiencies  and  errors,  and  from  which  South  American  merchants  have 
experienced  real  and  positive  losses,  all  of  which  have  brought  about  a  longing  for 
the  resumption  of  the  former  commercial  relations  with  the  European  nations.  I 
can  summarize  the  main  complaints  formulated  as  follows: 

Poor  quality  of  some  articles;  higher  cost  of  others  with  regard  to  similar 
European  goods ;  tardy  filling  out  of  orders ;  lack  of  knowledge  regarding  climate ; 
means  of  transportation,  tastes,  usages,  customs  and  psychology  of  the  people,  etc., 
sending  of  goods  of  z  different  quality  from  those  agreed  upon,  alteration  in 
regard  to  the  prices  stipulated,  in  many  cases  increase  of  it  on  the  merchandise 
already  paid  for  but  not  sent ;  improper  packing  in  some  cases,  and  in  other  cases 
duplicating  the  value  of  same  by  their  excessive  weight;  intervention  of  agents, 
commission  people,  etc.,  who  charge  excessive  commissions,  exploiting  the  producer 
and  the  client,  preventing  a  direct  understanding ;  difficulties  for  shipping ;  diverse 
taxes  including  those  charged  across  the  Panama  Canal ;  losses  produced  by  ex- 
change, and,  finally,  the  most  serious  of  all,  credit  terms  of  very  brief  periods  in 
some  cases,  and  in  others,  refusal  of  credit  by  exacting  a  cash  payment. 

To  the  above  should  be  added  the  plague  of  agents  sent  abroad,  who  specu- 
lating with  the  products  of  the  houses  they  represent,  are  their  worst  enemies, 
and  the  most  efficient  means  of  disrepute  to  them.  They  do  not  content  themselves 
with  gaining  a  commission,  but  sell  the  articles  fixing  their  own  price  at  will.  I 
will  cite  a  case  of  an  agent  of  an  automobile  firm  which  sells  $1,000  cars  in  Lima, 
Peru,  for  $2,500.  Another  concern  sells  as  brand  new,  second  hand  cars  purchased 
in  New  York.  It  is  sufficient  for  my  purpose  to  cite  these  two  cases  to  show  the 
conspiracy  of  agents  abroad  against  the  prestige  of  American  commerce. 

Very  much  mistaken  are  those  who  think  that  with  the  downfall  of  Germany 
will  disappear  the  menace  for  the  peace  and  security  of  the  nations  of  the  world. 
Upon  the  ruins  of  that  empire  there  has  arisen  another  more  imperialistic  and 
more  threatening  in  its  tendencies,  more  dangerous  on  account  of  its  practical 
methods  and  by  certain  ethical  and  psychological  conditions  superior  to  the  white 
race,  and  more  efficient  in  accomplishing  their  ends.  Whilst  the  United  States 
comes  out  in  defense  of  civilization,  as  the  standard  bearer  of  Right,  of  Justice 
and  of  Liberty,  with  the  weight  of  its  great  financial  power  and  the  heroic  effort 
of  her  sons  in  the  battlefield,  on  the  other  hand,  Japan  without  waste  of  resources, 
and  men,  employed  during  the  period  of  the  world's  struggles,  her  activities  and 
energies  in  pushing  off  the  American  goods  from  South  American  markets  in 
order  to  occupy  the  place  formerly  held  by  Germany  in  the  industrial  and  com- 
mercial world. 

The  tendency  of  Japan  to  expand!  towards  the  South  American  peoples, 
specially  in  Peru,  was  made  known  by  the  words  uttered  a  few  years  by  one  of 
the  Japanese  Ministers  of  State,  who  declared  in  Parliament,  that  Peru  in  view 
of  the  reports  which  he  had  had  from  their  agents,  was  the  country  selected  for 
its  expansion,  because  to  the  favorable  climate  conditions  and  natural  richness, 
there  were  to  be  added  certain  strong  racial  analogies  of  a  common  origin.  This 
most  unusual  declaration  was  not  then  taken  seriously,  and  only  some  ironical  and 
jocular  comments  were  made  by  some  of  the  South  American  papers. 

To  a  period  of  study  and  preparation  by  means  of  able  secret  agents  who 
fulfilled  admirably  their  mission  of  investiga^n,  under  cover  of  the  most  humble 
services  and  trades,  there  is  added  their  immigration  to  South  America  and  spe- 
cially to  Peru  in  such  an  alarming  manner,  that  at  present  it  preoccupies  the  public 
as  well  as  the  statesmen  in  the  solution  of  this  great  problem. 

The  culmination  of  the  campaign  of  expansion  developed  by  Japan  during 
the  last  five  years,  remains  graphically  verified  by  the  following  facts:  Establish- 
ment of  banks  and  commercial  exchanges  in  the  principal  capitals  and  commercial 
centers  of  South  America;  monopoly  at  present  of  commercial  transactions  relat- 
ing to  low  priced  articles,  specially  in  Peru ;  great  maritime  activity  by  the  increase 
of  her  merchant  marine,  consisting  of  modern  transoceanic  ships  built  in  her  own 
docks  and  which  arrive  weekly  at  the  ports  both  on  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic 


202  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

Oceans,  flooding  the  markets  with  articles  adapted  to  the  necessities  of  each  coun- 
try and  at  low  cost  and  produced  by  14,000  new  industries;  supplanting  German 
goods  by  those  made  in  Japan  and  of  the  greatest  variety,  from  repair  pieces  for 
American  and  European  machinery  to  electric  lamps,  plows,  pianos,  etc.,  publishing 
statistical  data  which  reveal  a  progressive  increase  of  marriages  between  Japanese 
and  South  American  women;  establishing  colonies  on  some  of  the  great  rivers  of 
the  Continent;  purchasing  extensive  tracts  of  land  in  several  countries,  carrying 
out  an  active  and  insiduous  propaganda  and  entering  into  secret  treaties  with  some 
countries. 

Such  are  briefly  sketched  the  maneuvers  of  this  formidable  competitor  which 
through  the  mouth  of  one  of  its  most  representative  statesman,  Minister  Okuma, 
has  affirmed  not  long  ago  that  the  South  American  countries  at  no  distant  date 
would  form  part  of  the  Japanese  empire,  a  bold  declaration  which  was  opportunely 
and  eagerly  refuted  by  a  South  American  diplomat  accredited  in  that  country. 
In  a  word,  sixty  million  of  the  yellow  race  are  engaged  in  preparing  the  commer- 
cial, industrial  and  financial  bankruptcy  of  the  people  of  the  white  race. 

All  the  facts  which  I  have  indicated  and  which  affect  and  jeopardize  Ameri- 
can commerce  in  South  America  are  not  insuperable,  if  there  can  be  brought  about 
at  once  the  meeting  of  the  next  Commercial  Financial  Congress  in  one  of  the 
American  capitals,  in  which  there  shall  be  sanctioned,  commercial  treaties  and  a 
free  interchange,  creation  of  arbitral  tribunals,  etc.,  and  recommendation  of  the 
nullification  of  restrictions,  limiting  the  sphere  of  action  of  maritime  commerce, 
amendment  of  custom  house  duties,  reduction  of  postal  tariffs,  extension  and 
cheapness  of  cable  charges ;  repeal  of  taxes ;  shipping  facilities,  and  a  series  of 
measures  which  will  cheapen  production  and  facilitate  the  interchange,  resisting 
thereby  successfully  Asiatic  competition. 

Besides,  it  is  necessary  to  send  committees  of  investigation,  like  those  sent 
by  Spain,  of  representatives  of  the  industries  so  that  they  may  establish  the 
actual  conditions  and  the  possibilities  of  the  future,  such  as  those  of  manufacturers 
and  shippers  from  England  who  with  a  similar  purpose  are  now  on  the  way  to 
South  America;  to  establish  permanent  expositions;  to  grant  economic  facilities, 
such  as  long  credit  terms ;  to  employ  citizens  of  the  respective  countries  where  the 
exports  are  to  be  made ;  to  send  agents  who  know  the  language,  and  the  psychology 
of  the  nation,  and  to  eliminate  commission  agents,  and  middle  men,  thus  establish- 
ing a  direct  communication  between  seller  and  buyer. 

This,  and  much  more  which  is  not  possible  to  enumerate,  supplemented  by 
efficient  diplomatic  consular  services,  and  by  the  knowledge  of  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can language  and  psychology,  will  surely  ward  off  the  crisis  which  is  drawing  near 
and  which  I  have  tried  to  sketch  roughly. 

I  hope  that  you  will  excuse  me  for  the  apparent  abruptness  of  my  criticisms, 
and  I  beg  you  to  bear  in  mind  that  any  effort  aimed  at  the  conspiracy  of  silence 
is  just  and  worthy  of  consideration. 

From  the  factors  above  mentioned,  will  be  seen  the^  interest  which  prevails 
in  my  country  for  the  success  of  a  more  intimate  commercial  relationship  with  the 
United  States,  and  this  is  still  more  evident  if  we  bear  in  mind  that  Peru  from  its 
independence  from  Spain  in  1821,  until  the  present  day,  has  given  proof  of  friend- 
ship, sympathy  and  adherence  to  the  United  States. 

Peru  is  the  cultural  centre,  which,  since  the  remote  prehistoric  times  has 
impressed  its  civilizing  influence  from  North  to  South  in  the  South  American 
continent;  which  during  the  Empire  of  Incas  with  its  advanced  spiritual  culture, 
was  getting  ahead  of  the  political  ideal  that  the  greatest  thinkers  of  the  century 
had  preached;  which  during  the  Colonial  times  concentrated  in  itself  the  splendor 
and  brilliancy  of  that  historic  period  of  America;  which  in  1850  was  the  first 
military,  naval  and  economic  power  in  the  continent,  and  which  is  now  marching 
by  virtue  of  an  infallible  cyclic  law,  towards  a  new  renaissance  in  the  fulfillment 
of  the  prophecy  formulated  by  the  great  Humboldt  when  he  foretold  that  Peru 
would  be  towards  the  end  of  the  century  the  centre  of  a  stupendous  civilization, 
and,  who  after  having  studied  and  becoming  acquainted  with  its  colossal  riches 
exclaimed  one  hundred  years  ago ;  "Peru  is  a  beggar  sitting  in  a  bench  of  gold." 

It  behooves  North  American  capital  to  transform  that  bench  of  gold  for 
the  mutual  benefit  of  all,  and  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  great  Roosevelt 
has  said  that :  "The  coming  century  is  the  century  of  South  America." 

The  present  time,  therefore,  cannot  be  more  favorable  for  North  American 
merchants  and  investors,  because  the  people  of  Peru  have  in  a  democratic  and 


PERU  203 

overwhelming  manner  elected,  as  their  president  for  the  term  beginning  next 
August,  the  most  eminent  stateman  which  my  country  has  produced  in  the  last  fifty 
years ;  Senor  Augusto  B.  Leguia,  who  was,  until  very  recently,  the  President  of  the 
Latin  American  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  London,  which  he  founded. 

When  Senor  Leguia  was  in  Washington  and  New  York,  three  months  ago, 
he  came  in  contact  with  the  ablest  statesmen  and  financiers  of  this  country,  and  the 
press  of  the  United  States  has  given  publicity  to  his  ideas  and  plans  for  closer 
commercial  and  political  relations,  and  for  encouraging  the  investment  of  North 
American  capital  in  the  exploitation  and  development  of  the  incalculable  and  in- 
exhaustible wealth  contained  in  the  Peruvian  territory,  which  have  justly  given 
origin  to  the  proverbial  Spanish  expression  "Vale  un  Peru"  (It  is  worth  a  Peru). 

A  very  important  and  decisive  factor  today  ensures  Pan  American  solidarity 
and  brings  the  Latin  American  peoples  closer  to  this  country,  a  factor  which  has 
already  gained  the  gratitude  of  the  civilized  world. 

The  sublime  and  noble  doctrine  given  to  the  world  by  the  greatest  apostle 
of  modern  times,  a -man  to  whom,  in  the  course  of  time,  the  words  addressed  by 
the  Peruvian  Indian  Choquehuanea  to  Bolivar,  the  Liberator,  would  be  fitting. 
Those  words  were:  "With  the  lapse  of  centuries  your  name  and  your  fame  will 
grow  as  the  shadow  grows  when  the  sun  declines." 


204  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

SALVADOR 

SALVADOREAN  TRADE  CONDITIONS 

BY  SENOR  ATILJO  PECCORINI,  SECRETARY  OF  THE  LEGATION  OF  SALVADOR,  WASHINGTON 
(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

The  Republic  of  Salvador  distributes  its  export  and  import  commerce 
principally  among  the  United  States,  England,  France,  Italy,  and,  formerly,  Ger- 
many. By  reason  of  the  war,  lately  most  of  the  trade  of  Salvador  was  with  the 
United  States  and  England. 

With  the  neighboring  Republics  of  Central  America  there  is  an  interchange 
of  merchandise,  but  on  a  small  scale,  inasmuch  as  all  of  them  produce,  more  or 
less,  the  same  articles.  A  tendency  among  the  central  American  countries  has  been 
to  constitute  a  customs  union,  but  thus  far  there  is  only  -one  treaty  of  trade 
reciprocity  between  Salvador  and  Honduras  for  products  originating  from  either 
country.  With  the  rest  of  Latin  America  our  commerce  is  only  beginning  and 
just  at  present  nothing  fortells  that  there  will  be  a  more  important  interchange, 
inasmuch  as  in  general  their  products  are  about  the  same,  while  the  need  of  all 
the  Republics  is  to  give  their  natural  products  in  exchange  for  manufactured 
products. 

Imports  into  Salvador  amount  at  present  to  nearly  $10,000,000,  and  the 
exports  to  over  $20,000,000,  thus  the  balance  of  trade  in  our  favor  is  over  one- 
half.  Our  principal  staple  is  coffee,  which  represents  seventy  per  cent  of  the  total 
exports.  Then  come  gold,  silver  and  ore  bearing  those  metals.  Our  indigo,  which 
is  considered  the  best  in  the  world,  produces  large  profits  to  our  farmers.  All 
indications  point  to  an  increasing  prosperity  in  Salvador,  and  the  best  efforts  of 
our  present  Government  are  directed  to  encouraging  commerce  and  agriculture, 
the  main  sources  of  our  wealth.  The  Government  strives  to  strengthen  the 
progress  of  the  country  upon  a  solid  basis,  which  affords  it  stronger  credit  abroad. 
Reliability  and  honesty  in  the  management  of  public  revenues  have  ensured  the 
finances  of  the  country  upon  well  defined  and  sound  channels. 

The  economic  and  social  advantages  derived  from  the  Free  Trade  Treaty  of 
Salvador  and  Honduras  have  induced  the  other  central  American  countries  to 
negotiate  similar  treaties,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  in  no  distant  future 
all  the  Republics  in  the  Isthmus  will  be  bound  by  the  solid  ties  of  commerce. 

The  following  suggestions  are  confined  to  submitting  to  the  consideration 
of  the  Second  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  certain  points  which  in  my 
judgement  involve  the  commercial  problems  of  America. 

First  of  all  we  should  take  into  account  the  natural  difference  in  the  products 
of  the  tropical  and  iritertropical  countries,  and  those  of  the  temperate  or  cold 
regions  of  the  Continent. 

Among  countries  which  are  similar  as  regards  production,  commercial 
interchange  must  be  limited.  At  least  it  must  be  so  long  as  such  countries  are 
merely  agricultural. 

The  regions  of  the  north  and  those  of  the  extreme  south  of  this  continent 
differ  of  course  in  their  agricultural  production  and  naturally  among  them  must 
take  place  the  commercial  interchange  of  natural  for  manufactured  products. 
Hence  the  greater  part  of  Pan  American  commercial  transactions  will  have  to  be 
made  for  the  present  time  between  North  America  and  the  tropical  and  inter- 
tropical  countries  of  Latin  America.  The  United  States  does  not  produce  to  a 
great  extent  articles  which  are  indispensable  to  it  for  its  own  material  support,  and 
for  the  manufacture  of  its  products,  while  our  countries  need  almost  all  the 
American  manufactures.  The  Latin  American  field  is  enormous  and  the  oppor- 
tunities for  the  commercial  development  are  even  greater.  It  is  the  land  of 
promise  for  the  world's  commerce.  All  of  Europe  will  have  to  seek  the  markets 
of  this  Continent  and  preferably  those  of  Latin  America.  A  tremendous  struggle 
3f  competition  between  the  European  countries  and  the  United  States  will  ensue, 
the  issue  of  which  will  depend  upon  the  methods  employed. 

France  in  former  years  controlled  our  export  commerce  and  almost  all  of 
the  import  trade.  It  was  later  replaced  by  Germany  and  England,  and  it  was 
Dnly  as  a  consequence  of  the  war  that  the  United  States  came  to  occupy  a  perma- 
nent position  in  Salvador's  trade. 


SALVADOR  205 

Salvador's  experience  has  been  that  England  was  her  best  customer,  because 
she  offers  good  terms  and  fulfills  most  religiously  her  agreements  in  regard  to 
consignments,  treats  her  clients  with  the  utmost  consideration,  and  extends  to 
them  special  facilities. 

The  United  States  cannot  be  in  a  more  favorable  position  to  extend  their 
commercial  intercourse  and  to  send  their  products  to  us.  In  order  to  have  the  best 
success  towards  this  end,  good  faith  and  as  a  consequence,  absolute  confidence 
must  be  reposed  on  the  houses  to  which  they  send  their  goods;  facilities  of  credit 
and  extension  in  payments  should  be  granted  as  is  done  by  England;  an  effective 
propaganda  should  also  be  carried  on  both  by  the  press  as  well  as  by  traveling 
agents  carrying  \vith  theni'  all  son0  '  samples.  Frequent  steamship  lines  and 
transportation  facilities  should  be  es'  1,  and  lastly  commercial  treaties  should 

be  entered  into.» 

It  is  not  ^possible  "-to  pass  over  in  silence  what  should  be  the  fundamental 
reason  of  American  commercial  expansion,  namely,  will  the  intensity  of  the 
interior  commerce  of  the  United  States  permit  this  nation  to  send  out  vast  amounts 
of  their  products  without  injuring  the  reserves  required  to  satisfy  the  needs  of 
their  own  domestic  markets?  If  the  United  States  have  not  a  great  excess  of 
their  goods  for  export  purposes,  the  triumph  of  commercial  supremacy  will  surely 
go  to  the  European  countries.  But  if  the  United  States  sacrifices  part  of  their  own 
domestic  commerce  in  order  to  strengthen  their  position  in  Latin  America,  the 
internal  disadvantages  in  the  commercial  sacrifice  will  be  amply"  compensated  by 
the  advantages  of  a  liberal  commerce  between  this  country  and  those  of  Latin 
America,  which  would  send  their  products  under  the  most  favorable  conditions, 
affording  to  the  North  American  public  these  products  at  moderate  prices.  This 
could  be  easily  arranged  by  means  of  commercial  conventions  which  could  become 
the  basis  of  a  future  Pan  American  League,  and  which  in  due  time  would  be  the 
foundation  of  an  inter-American  free  commerce. 


206  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

URUGUAY 

URUGUAYAN   FINANCES   AND    TRADE 

BY  SENOR  A.  REY  O'SHANAHAN,  URUGUAYAN  CONSUL  GENERAL  IN  BELGIUM,  LATE 

DIRECTOR  OF  COMMERCIAL  BUREAU  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  FOREIGN 

AFFAIRS  OF  URUGUAY. 

The  total  sum  in  circulation  on  March  31,  1919,  of  the  Uruguayan  Public 
Debt  (internal  and  external  bonds)  atioi"  -^  cc  $160,000,000  nominal  pesos,  quoted 
as  follows: 

3V2  per  cent  be  .6^  per  ccnl. 

5  per  cent  tends  at     89  per  cent. 

6  per  cent  bonds  at     96  per  cent. 
6%   per  cent  bonds  at   102  per  cent. 

The  property  of  the  State  represented  by  government  personal  and  real 
estate  producing  and  capable  of  producing  income,  has  an  actual  value  in  excess 
of  the  amount  of  the  foreign  and  internal  debt  issued.  The  interest  on  this  debt 
has  always  been  paid  abroad  and  at  home  at  its  maturity. 

The  Government  has  guaranteed  a  profit  of  3%  per  cent  yearly  to  railroads 
owned  by  foreign  companies,  over  an  extension  of  1,710  kilometers.  The  profit 
from  the  business  of  several  of  these  lines  has  already  relieved  the  Government 
from  the  payment  of  guaranties,  the  companies  turning  into  the  Treasury  all 
amounts  in  excess,  in  accordance  with  the  franchise  contracts. 

Government  appropriations  are  paid  when  due,  without  delay,  and  the 
Government's  signature  is  accepted  by  the  financing  and  commercial  world  with 
preference. 

The  Bank  of  the  Republic  (Banco  de  la  Republica)  was  authorized  by  the 
National  Government  to  grant  loans  to  England  and  France  to  the  sum  of 
30,000,000  pesos  to  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  Uruguayan  products.  The  same 
bank  is  at  present  trying  to  grant  similar  loans  to  other  European  countries. 

During  the  last  five  years  the  international  rates  of  exchange  have  been 
favorable  to  Uruguay.  Up  to  May  6,  1919,  the  rate  of  exchange  on  the  Uruguayan 
peso  was  as  follows: 

On  London,  59%  pence-;  Paris  7.02  francs;  Antwerp,  7.00  francs;  Switzer- 
land, 5.60  francs;  Italy,  8.60  liras;  Spain,  5.60  pesetas;  United  States,  87  cents. 

The  rate  of  interest  on  discounts  varies  between  5  and  6  per  cent  per 
annum,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  transaction,  and  the  rate  of  interest  on 
overdrafts  on  accounts  under  one  single  name  varies  between  6  and  8  per  cent 
per  annum. 

From  1914  until  December  31,  1918,  the  balance  in  favor  of  Uruguay  from 
the  commercial  and  financial  interchange,  according  to  the  estimate  made  by  the 
Bureau  of  Commercial  Affairs  of  the  Department  of  Foreign  Relations,  amounted 
to  130,000,000  Uruguayan  gold  pesos,  and  this  balance  ought  to  be  increased,  taking 
into  consideration  the  fact  that  the  value  of  exports  is  higher  than  that  of  imports, 
deducting  the  remittances  abroad  on  account  ^of  the  service  of  the  debt,  and  the 
transactions  of  commercial  and  financial  interchange. 

The  Government  owns  the  following  banking  institutions :  Banco  de  la 
Republica  Oriental  del  Uruguay;  Banco  Hipotecario  del  Uruguay,  y  Banco  de 
Seguros  del  Estado.  (Bank  of  the  Oriental  Republic  of  Uruguay;  Mortgage  Bank 
of  Uruguay,  and  Government  Insurance  Bank.)  All  of  these  institutions  are  gov- 
erned by  their  organic  charters,  which  are  national  laws,  and  their  management 
is  under  officials  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  Republic  with  the  consent  of 
the  Senate. 

On  December  31,  1918,  the  statement  of  the  Bank  of  the  Republic  was  as 
follows : 

Authorized  capital $25,000,000.00 

Paid  up  capital  16,741,060.70 

Bank  notes  in  circulation 55,649,927.00 

Gold  in  cash  , 43,672,841.79 

Silver  and  nickel  in  cash 46,587,772.96 

Deposits   32,872,860.00 

Discounts  and  loans 52,000,000.00 

Stocks  and  bonds  in  deposit 92,415,341.96 


URUGUAY  207 

The  amount  of  coined  gold  on  hand  represented  86.20  per  cent  of  the  bank 
notes  in  circulation  convertible  into  gold.  The  Bank  of  the  Republic  regulates  the 
financial  market  and  engages  in  all  general  banking  transactions,  including  redis- 
counts to  other  banks.  In  1918  it  had  a  cash  movement  of  $1,295,490,363.02  with  an 
average  of  $3,636,146.98  on  the  net  profit  of  $1,944,118.61. 

The  combined  general  movement  of  all  the  nineteen  national  and  foreign 
banks  established  in  the  country  does  not  as  a  rule  reach  that  of  the  Bank  of  the 
Republic  alone.  The  National  Mortgage  Bank  issues  first  national  bonds  on  real 
estate  which  bear  income,  and  these  bonds  have  a  subsiduary  guarantee  from  the 
Government,  bearing  6  per  cent  interest  and  are  quoted  at  99  and  102  per  cent 
according  to  the  series  to  which  they  belong.  The  bank  has  an  authorized  capital 
of  $5,000,000,000,  of  which  on  November  30,  1918,  $1,206,170.63  had  not  been  paid 
up.  It  has  issued  cedulas  to  the  nominal  sum  of  $2,114,400  in  mortgage  bonds  to 
the  amount  of  $38,232,525.  The  property  mortgaged  represents  the  assessed  value 
of  $87,127,542.81. 

Most  of  the  mortgage  bonds  have  been  absorbed  by  the  public  thrift  of  the 
country,  and  only  about  $2,000,000  worth  of  nominal  bonds  are  held  abroad. 

The  Government  Insurance  Bank  was  founded  with  a  capital  of  $3,000,000 
and  deals  with  fire,  life,  accident,  maritime  and  agricultural  insurance,  etc.  In 
February,  1919,  its  movement  gave  the  following  balances: 

Liquid  assets  * $4,760,605.06 

Reserve 1,969,126.83 

The  bank  has  absorbed  80  per  cent  of  the  insurance  in  the  country,  and 
does  business  in  combination  with  the  large  foreign'  companies  in  active  and 
passive,  re-insurance.  Its  transactions  have  the  subsidiary  guarantee  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  total  mileage  of  the  railroad  lines  in  operation  amounts  to  2,504  kilo- 
meters, and  at  present  the  Government  has  under  consideration,  several  branches 
for  the  construction  of  new  lines,  and  the  extension  of  the  existing  ones  on  the 
basis  of  construction  and  operation  on  account  of  the  Government,  in  the  same 
manner  that  it  operates,  through  independent  companies,  the  electric  plants  all 
over  the  country,  with  very  satisfactory  results  for  the  public  service,  because  the 
rates  for  light  and  power  are  very  low,  in  spite  of  which  the  annual  profits  from 
the  operation  of  these  plants  exceeds  1,000,000  pesos. 

The  port  of  Montevideo  has  been  built  by  the  Government,  which  operates 
it  through  an  independent  Board  of  Directors.  Its  construction  has  been  totally 
paid  up.  Its  operation  with  reduced  rates  is  carried  on  with  the  idea  of  paying  the 
expenses  without  any  consideration  to  the  curtailing  of  the  cost  of  construction. 
The  port  is  equipped  with  a  modern  outfit  for  the  rapid  loading  and  unloading 
of  merchandise,  and  the  hangers  and  warehouses  of  large  capacity  are  built  along 
side  the  wharf,  which  has  a  draft  of  ten  meters  in  low  tide.  Such  are  the 
facilities  for  handling  merchandise  that,  as  a  rule,  cargoes  are  unloaded  at  the 
rate  of  1,400  metric  tons  in  ten  working  hours.  The  port  of  Montevideo  is  the 
'cheapest  in  South  America  for  shipping  and  trade;  it  is  a  free  port  for  the 
storing  of  merchandise  in  transit,  which  can  remain  in  the  'customs  warehouse 
during  one  whole  year  without  payment  of  taxes.  It  is  likewise  equipped  for 
merchandise  in  transit  to  the  neighboring  countries  as  well  as  for  the  interchange 
with  Bolivia  and  Chile.  There  are  besides,  the  following  river  ports :  Puerto 
de  Sauce,  Colonia,  Paysandii  y  and  Salto,  all  of  which  are  perfectly  equipped. 

The  statistics  for  Uruguay  alone  show  the  commercial  movement  in  so  far 
as  it  refers  to  exports  and  imports  proper,  as  they  do  not  include  the  movement 
of  merchandise  in  transit  to  other  countries,  which  is  of  considerable  importance, 
because  the  commerce  of  Uruguay  operates  largely  in  combination  with  Argentina, 
Brazil,  Paraguay,  Bolivia  and  Chile. 

The  business  world  of  Uruguay  has  for  many  years  enjoyed  a a very  high 
reputation  on  account  of  the  integrity  and  promptness  of  its  operations ;  it  transacts 
business  upon  sound  bases ;  it  is  characteristically  conservative ;  it  does  not  operate 
on  foreign  credits,  and  it  is  very  prompt  in  the  fulfillment  of  obligations  and 
demands  from  the  foreign  merchants  the  same  conditions. 

I  consider  that  it  is  interesting  for  the  business  men  of  the  United  States 
to  enter  into  relations  with  Uruguay,  and  that  they  should  send  to  that  country 
capable  representatives  who  will  earnestly  endeavor  to  know  the  country,  its  im- 


208  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

mense  wealth  and  the  practical  means  which  it  has  for  the  development  of  trade 
and  the  establishment  of  industry.  I  strongly  recommend  sending  to  the  Uruguay 
active  men  who  know  the  language  of  the  country  well,  and  who  will  devote  all 
their  energies  to  strengthening  the  commercial  and  financial  relations  with  the 
United  States. 

Note — In  Uruguay  there  is  no  income  tax.  The  bonds  issued  are  guaranteed 
by  the  State  and  are  free  from  all  taxes ;  real  estate  is  taxed  by  6l/2  per  cent 
per  thousand  on  the  assessed  value.  There  is  a  law  in  force  which  exempts  new 
industries  from  the  payment  of  taxes  during  ten  years,  and  which  grants  fran- 
chises for  the  importation  of  machinery. 


VENEZUELA  209 

VENEZUELA 

COMMERCE,  INDUSTRIES  AND  FINANCES 

BY  DR.  JOSE  SANTIAGO  RODRIGUEZ,  SPECIAL  AGENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF 

VENEZUELA. 

(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

As  the  powerful  forces  of  the  war,  which  has  happily  ended,  destroyed 
the  foundations  upon  which  the  economic  system  of  the  world  was  based,  and 
the  fire  of  this  catastrophe  reached  directly  or  indirectly  all  the  corners  of  the 
globe,  the  necessity  of  a  readjustment  of  commercial  relations  is  today,  as  it 
were,  a  powerful  voice  which  is  calling  Pan  America  to  this  meeting.  But  that 
sonorous  voice,  which  is  the  expression  of  a  great  necessity  has  in  America  a 
transcendent  and  a  unique  significance,  for  it  is  also  a  safeguarding  instinct  which 
transforms  itself  in  that  current  implying  sympathy  in  reciprocal  intelligence,  in 
cordiality  and,  even  more,  in  fraternity,  which  is  the  high  and  genuine  expres- 
sion of  this  Pan  American  assemblage.  The  fact  is,  that  the  present  situation 
through  which  the  European  Continent  is  passing,  so  pathetically  described  not 
long  ago  by  one  of  the  most  prominent  representative  men  in  financial  America 
— Mr.  Frank  Vanderlip — and  the  powerful  development  that  will  be  reached  by 
the  new  mercantile  route  of  Panama,  make  it  necessary  for  Pan  America  to  be 
the  star  or  the  lighthouse  which  will  guide  new  economical  developments  in  the 
future.  The  present  moment  is,  therefore,  one  of  those  decisive  occasions  in 
which  Pan  American  thinkers  need  to  close  their  rank  and  file  in  order  to  reach 
the  apex  of  a  great  purpose,  which  is  identical  for  all  Americas,  because  it  con- 
sists in  insuring  for  the  present  and  for  the  future  the  great  economical  devel- 
opment that  the  Pan  American  continent  is  bound  to  reach  and  must  reach  by 
all  means.  But  that  purpose  could  not  be  carried  out  if  we  do  not  avail  our- 
selves of  this  special  occasion  to  get  together  and  agree  concerning  the  basis 
of  that  development,  and  concerning  the  rules  of  equity  to  be  adopted  as  a  stand- 
ard; because  if  there  should  arise  by  some  reason,  any  antagonistic  and  irresist- 
ible currents  between  the  nations  of  America,  and  if  these"  currents  are  caused 
by  complete  disagreement  regarding  economical  plans  an  armed  struggle  is  bound 
to  result-,  thereby  destroying  our  portentous  Pan  American  unity  which  is  the 
strongest  support  and  the  highest  democratic  ideal  ever  created,  and  the  vig- 
orous nucleus  of  a  new  law  which  as  a  shield  is  capable  of  protecting  the  highest 
ideals  of  contemporaneous  mankind. 

Venezuela  is  united  to  all  Pan  America  by  ties  of  friendship,  from  people 
to  people,  and  feels  a  great  satisfaction  in  attending  this  Conference  with  the 
same  vivid  enthusiasm  shown  by  all  governments  of  Pan  America.  She  has  fol- 
lowed step  by  step  the  great  task  Pan  Americanism  which,  with  such  a  lofty  pur- 
pose, is  being  carried  out  so  happily,  day  by  day,  by  the  great  institution  which 
has  promoted  this  Conference ;  and  she  has  not  only  followed  those  steps,  but  also 
has  had  the  good  fortune  and  the  honor  to  associate  herself  very  actively  in  that 
transcontinental  work.  I  should  like  very  much  to  apprise  this  Conference  of  the 
legislative  efforts  Venezuela  has  made  in  the  last  few  years  in  order  to  be  ready 
for  the  full  development  of  her  immense  and  untold  resources  and  to  offer  in- 
ducements to  foreign  capital  and  to  industrial  enterprises.  The  law  of  railroad 
concessions,  for  instance,  is  conceived  in  a  very  generous  spirit.  Concessions  of 
this  kind  are  granted  to  Venezuelan  or  foreign  companies  and  also  to  private  in- 
dividuals. The  privilege  for  the  exploitation  of  railroads  may  be  extended  to 
cover  a  period  of  forty  years,  and  during  that  time  no  concession  is  granted  for 
the  establishment  of  another  line  or  the  construction  of  aerial  cables  which  may 
compete  with  such  a  railroad,  within  a  zone  of  20  kilometers  on  each  side  of  the 
line.  It  is  sufficient,  however,  that  an  option  be  reserved  in  the  contract  in  order 
that  the  extension  of  the  road  may  be  lengthened  if  the  contractor  should  so 
desire.  The  companies  entering  into  such  contracts  are  not  subject  to  the  pay- 
ment of  any  special  taxes ;  they  are  granted  the  full  title  of  the  National  Waste 
Lands  (belonging  to  the  Nation)  for  their  lines,  stations,  offices  and  depots. 
The  railroad  proper  may  be  built  within  a  line  60  meters  wide.  Railroad  com- 
panies wishing  to  build  a  railway  in  Venezuela  may  also  obtain  lots  of  land  still 


SAUVADOR 


FOREIGN  COMMERCE  1917 


22,919,000. 


UNITED  K.1XQT5OM 

i.eeo.ooo. 


VENEZUELA  211 

larger  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  colonies  therein  and  this  may  include  grants 
of  100  hectares  of  land  for  each  kilometer  of  railroad  constructed.  As  these 
enterprises  are  considered  of  public  utility,  the  law  recognizes  their  right  of  ex- 
propriation of  private  land  where  the  railroad  line  offices  and  depots  are  to 
be  located.  Besides  these  advantages,  they  are  granted  the  following  fran- 
chises: Free  introduction  for  the  first  25  years  of  the  material,  machinery, 
tools  and  other  apparatus  necessary  for  the  construction,  exploitation  and 
maintenance  of  the  lines;  the  right  to  cut  from  the  national  forests,  with- 
out any  indemnity  whatsoever,  the  necessary  lumber  for  the  construction 
and  maintenance  of  the  lines;  the  right  to  use  from  the  national  lands 
the  necessary  material  for  the  same  purposes ;  permission  to  build  tele- 
graphic and  telephonic  lines  for  the  service  of  the  company  and  lastly, 
not  be  liable  to  military  service  except  in  case  of  international  war.  In  con- 
tracts relating  to  the  developments  of  plantations  and  other  agricultural  enter- 
prises, where  the  granting  of  lands  to  the  families  of  the  immigrants  is  made, 
the  former  shall  not  be  less  than  four  hectares  in  area,  and  the  immigrants  shall 
receive  in  advance  all  that  will  be  deemed  necessary  to  build  their  homestead, 
purchase  implements,  seeds,  beasts  of  burden,  and  live  stock.  At  the  expiration 
of  the  contract,  he  shall  have  to  option  either  to  acquire  full  title  of  the  land 
or  receive  payment  for  the  improvement  that  he  may  have  carried  out.  The  fam- 
ilies that  may  be  contracted  for  agricultural  enterprises  shall  not  be  obliged  to 
labor  in  the  property  of  such  enterprises  for  more  than  four  days  per  week  during 
harvest  time  and  not  more  than  three  days  for  the  rest  of  the  year.  Any  company 
or  private  individual  may  bring  immigrants  into  the  Republic.  The  law  expressly 
says :  "The  government  shall  take  the  necessary  measures  so  that  the  immigrants 
will  not  be  deceived  by  false  promises  or  inaccurate  information  concerning  the 
conditions  of  Venezuela  as  a  country  fit  for  immigration."  The  ships  employed 
for  the  transportation  of  immigrants  enjoy  all  kinds  of  franchises  in  Venezuelan 
ports.  Each  of  the  first  100  families  that  may  be  established  in  each  section  des- 
tined for  colonization  shall  receive,  gratuituously,  a  grant  of  land  of  25  hectares 
and  ten  more  hectares  for  each  child  over  ten  years  old.  The  rural  lots  of  land 
are  sold  to  them  at  the  rate  of  ten  dollars  per  hectare,  payable  in  ten  annuities, 
and  the  first  payment  is  to  be  made  only  at  the  expiration  of  the  second  year. 
Immigrants  enjoy  the  benefit  of  very  many  advantages,  for  instance: — the  law 
recognizes  the  right  of  their  free  use  of  the  homestead  for  one  year;  they  may 
obtain  in  advance  the  implements  and  beasts  of  burden,  seeds  and  live  stock  and 
the  necessary*  food  stuff  for  at  least  six  months  in  warm  climates,  and  for  one 
year  in  colder  regions,  also  the  necessary  material  to  build  their  homesteads  or 
the  money  to  purchase  these  articles.  The  immigrants  are  granted  a  term  of 
five  years  to  reimburse  the  advances,  which  he  shall  begin  to  repay  at  the  expi- 
ration of  the  third  year,  and  the  government  also  furnishes  them  with  free  trans- 
portation necessary  from  the  port  of  debarkation  to  the  region  where  the  colony 
is  to  be  established.  Moreover,  the  immigration  contractors  that  will  carry  out 
their  contracts,  as  an  inducement,  have  besides  the  advantages  already  mentioned 
in  said  contract,  the  right  to  the  product  of  the  sales  of  rural  lots  of  land,  not 
included  in  the  contract,  also  a  right  to  twice  the  amount  of  the  land  which 
they  may  cultivate  for  their  own  account.  If  within  the  first  ten  years,  these 
lands  prove  to  be  cultivated  with  productive  plants  and  the  area  of  these  pro- 
ductive lands  is  one-third  of  the  whole  granted  and  immigrants  have  been  used 
in  its  cultivation,  the  contractors  have  the  right  to  the  rest  of  the  land  that  has 
not  been  granted  or  sold  to  the  immigrants.  This  colonial  development  is  stim- 
ulated by  means  of  gratuitous  concessions  of  new  lots  of  land  or  by  means  of 
prizes  in  cash  given  to  the  immigrants  which  have  established  industries  in  the 
colony  or  that  have  introduced  any  new  departure  unknown  in  the  country.  Im- 
migrants are  also  given  a  prize  of  ten  dollars  for  each  thousand  trees  of  cacao  or 
1500  trees  of  coffee  or  thousand  fruit  trees  in  the  lands  comprised  in  their  grants. 
Immigrants  have  also  the  right  to  the  immediate  establishment  of  primary  schools. 
A  cooperative  association  between  them  shall  be  the  means  by  which  they  shall 
attend  to  their  needs,  credits,  savings,  insurance,  purchases  and  sales  and  agri- 
cultural improvements  thereby  furnishing  them,  as  the  law  intends,  all  the  moral 
advantages  of  reciprocal  help  and  of  the  unity  of  efforts  for  a  common  purpose. 
I  also  could  mention  other  laws,  but  suffice  it  to  say  that  by  virtue  of  the 
resolution  of  the  Pan  American  Financial  Conference,  which  met  in  this  city 


212  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

in  1915,  Venezuela  created  a  High  International  Commission  which  has  been  co- 
operating in  the  fulfillment  of  the  purposes  of  the  aforesaid  conference.  It  has 
been  the  purpose  of  that  High  Commission  to  obtain  rapid,  cheap  and  regular 
connections  with  the  principal  ports  of  the  United  States  and  Latin  American 
countries;  adopting  as  a  general  thesis  the  project  of  uniformity  in  our  laws  re- 
garding letters  of  exchange  accepted  by  the  conference  of  The  Hague  in  1912; 
reformation  and  improvement  of  Venezuelan  legislation  concerning  trademarks, 
establishment  of  international  money  orders  and,  lastly,  the  important  matter  of 
Parcel  Post.  Venezuela  has  gone  even  further,  and  has  taken  a  transcendental 
measure  in  her  de'sire  of  getting  still  nearer  the  other  nations  of  America.  I 
refer  to  the  creation  in  the  Department  for  Foreign  Relations  of  a  special  sec- 
tion which  will  be  used  for  that  particular  purpose.  I  may  assert,  without  hesi- 
tation, that  this  reform  shall  yield  very  promising  results  in  the  expansion  of 
the  Venezuela  Foreign  Trade  because  the  Department  shall  collect  all  the  data 
relative  to  the  economic  and  mercantile  situation  of  all  Latin  American  coun- 
tries and  shall  be  in  a  position  to  study,  therefore,  the  economic,  mercantile  or 
physical  results  that  may  supervene  and  that  are  affecting  or  may  effect  the 
commercial  situation  of  other  nations,  because  it  shall  analyze  actual  conditions 
of  Pan  American  navigation  and  transportation ;  because  it  shall  prepare  re- 
ports concerning  the  economical  and  mercantile  situation  of  the  other  nations, 
thus  using  this  valuable  data  as  a  guide  in  its  treaties  and  mercantile  covenants 
with  these  countries,  because  it  will  exert  a  powerful  and  decisive  influence  upon 
our  Consular  Service  abroad  and  consequently,  will  be  enabled  to  introduce  in  the 
latter  the  reforms  that  may  be  necessary  for  our  commercial  expansion,  as  re- 
quired ;  because  it  will  direct  the  international  propaganda  of  our  products,  of  our 
resources  and  possibilities  with  the  purpose  of  procuring  the  greatest  development 
in  our  economic  system  and,  lastly,  for  the  reason  that  it  shall  make  comparative 
studies  on  legislation  affecting  economics  and  shall  recommend  the  enactment 
of  new  laws  to  facilitate  international  commerce,  thus  knowing  what  is  and  what 
is  not  objectionable  in  that  trade.  With  that  end  in  view,  our  present  and  em- 
inent Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  Dr.  Esteban  Gil  Borges,  has  stated  in  the 
annual  report  which  he  has  submitted  to  our  Congress  now  in  session,  "that 
the  Department  for  Foreign  Relations  will  take  an  active  part  in  the  organization 
of  our  foreign  trade.  Measures  have  been  taken,"  he  says,  "and  are  being  taken 
towards  this  end  and  this  Department  has,  after  mature  consideration,  already 
begun  to  execute  with  happy  results  a  plan  of  economic  expression  which  is  very 
promising  to  our  growing  prosperity  and  our  national  production  and  for  a  full 
development  of  our  foreign  trade." 

The  Special  Mission  which  has  afforded  me  the  honor  of  visiting  this  great 
country  synchronizes  with  that  program  of  mercantile  expansion  I  have  just  men- 
tioned. Trade  between  Venezuela  and  the  United  States  is  being  developed  in 
a  very  progressive  and  intensive  manner  and  a  strong  current  of  foreign  capital, 
which  in  Venezuela  has  found  ample  security  and  a  large  field  for  its  application 
and  operation,  is  a  sure  promise  that  new  capital  will  be  invested,  gradually,  for 
the  development  of  our  immense  and  unexploited  resources,  of  our  most  fertile 
soil  and  of  our  rich  subsoil.  It  is  plain  to  be  seen  that  there  is  new  energy  an- 
imating all  our  business  men.  The  Chambers  of  Commerce  have  been  recently 
organized  by  the  most  accredited  and  the  most  authoritative  and  representative 
rren  in  our  finances  and  commerce.  An  agricultural  and  live  stock  exposition 
will  be  opened  within  a  few  weeks,  and  as  a  proof  of  the  great  interests  here  in 
the  United  States,  a  great  quantity  of  American  products  shall  be  exhibited  there. 
We  are  lacking  but  means  of  deep  sea  transportation.  They  must  be  rapid  and 
fully  capable  to  supply  the  demands  of  our  trade.  We  also  need  foreign  capital 
to  bring  people  to  our  shores  for  agricultural  and  live  stock  development,  for  the 
exploitation  of  our  very  rich  mines,  and  for  the  progress  of  our  industries.  This 
Conference  brings  to  light  the  connections  that  Venezuela  desires  and  is  seeking 
to  establish  on  a  firmer  basis,  because  .it  keeps  pace  with  the  great  contempora- 
neous ideal  of  Pan  American  unity  in  thought  and  action,  in  the  amplest  devel- 
opment of  all-America,  and,  therefore,  the  Venezuelan  delegation  appointed  to 
this  Conference,  to  which  I  belong,  avails  itself  of  this  occasion  to  express  to 
this  distinguishd  assemblage,  through  me,  the  most  sincere  wishes  for  the  greatest 
success  in  its  deliberations. 


VENEZUELA  213 

TRADING  WITH  VENEZUELA 

BY  SENOR  PEDRO  RAFAEL  RINCONES,  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  VENEZUELA  IN  NEW  YORK. 
(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  present  my  respectful  greetings 
to  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union  and  to  its  worthy  Director 
General,  who  have  called  this  Commercial  Conference,  the  purpose  of  which  is 
to  bind  together  in  closer  commercial  relations  this  great  country,  and  the  Latin 
American  Republics.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  the  trade  exchange  which  in  these 
latter  years  has  perforce  gone  on  increasing,  the  labor  may  be  fruitful  that  is 
spent  in  "cordializing" — if  I  may  be  permitted  to  use  the  expression — the  feeling 
of  friendship  and  good  understanding  which  should  prevail  among  countries  where 
democratic  ideals  are  the  basis  of  their  national  institutions. 

The  European  war  diverted  to  this  country  the  current  of  trade  that  for- 
merly flowed  principally  to  the  markets  of  Europe;  the  war  in  which  this  coun- 
try became  involved  produced,  unquestionably,  a  commercial  crisis  in  our  Re- 
publics on  account  of  the  measures  that  this  country  was  obliged  to  take  in 
order  to  give  preferential  attention  to  the  struggle  in  which  it  was  taking  an 
active  part.  We,  who  were  aware  of  the  motives  that  caused  legislators  to  re- 
strict and  even  prohibit  the  exportation  and  importation  of  certain  articles,  un- 
derstood thoroughly  the  meaning  of  these  restrictive  measures.  They  were,  how- 
ever, misunderstood  in  many  cases.  Some  Republics  as  a  consequence  were  left 
with  limited  means  of  communication,  and  this  resulted  in  the  creation  of  a 
diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  real  reason  of  such  restrictive  measures. 

For  this  reason,  the  Conference  that  brings  us  together  here  has  a  very 
important  significance,  to  my  mind;  because  it  tends  to  bring  facts  in  their  true 
light,  in  considering  the  abnormal  order  of  things  due  to  the  great  war.  I  be- 
lieve, therefore,  that  this  Conference  is  opportune  in  all  respects.  Matters  of 
great  importance  for  the  American  merchant  and  manufacturer  will  be  discussed 
here  as  affecting  the  Latin  American  merchant,  farmer  and  producer  in  their 
dealings  with  each  other. 

I  have  come  to  attend  this  Conference  solely  with  the  object  of  learning 
something  from  the  merchants  of  this  country  who  today  dominate  the  financial 
and  industrial  world,  in  the  same  way  as  North  America  in  the  war  inclined  the 
balance  towards  victory. 

Allow  me,  then,  to  beg  the  kind  indulgence  of  the  Honorable  Delegates 
while  I  briefly  outline  the  present  situation  of  Venezuela  and  its  commerce;  I 
should  like  to  offer  you  a  complete  and  detailed  treatise  based  on  statistics  that 
would  bear  out  my  assertions;  but  the  time  at  my  disposal  has  prevented  me 
from  making  an  extensive  report. 

The  Pan  American  Union,  this  center  for  the  dissemination  of  trustworthy 
and  valuable  data,  which  it  gathers  with  great  efficiency  and  precision,  is  in  a 
position  to  furnish  you  reliable  information  which  can  be  used  to  advantage. 

Encouraged  by  peace,  various  American  and  foreign  banks  have  estab- 
lished branches;  new  industries  have  been  developed,  and  our  rich  petroleum  de- 
posits are  beginning  to  be  worked  by  American  and  English  capitalists ;  coal 
mines,  asphalt,  gold  and  copper  are  exploited  with  most  satisfactory  returns, 
agriculture  and  cattle-raising,  which  are  elements  of  real  wealth  among  nations, 
have  today  a  vast  field  for  their  prolific  gains,  since  the  fertility  of  our  soil  and 
the  enormous  extent  of  our  grazing  lands  are  a  guarantee  that  the  capital  and 
labor  employed  in  their  cultivation  will  be  plentifully  rewarded. 

The  basis  of  our  commercial  exchange  is  gold.  That  means  that  capital 
seeking  investment  there  is  not  in  danger  of  suffering  loss  through  depreciation. 
During  the  first  five  months  of  this  current  year  Venezuela  has  imported  about 
Five  Million  Dollars  in  American  gold.  Silver  money  is  now  scarce,  and  the 
Government  has  accordingly  ordered  a  million  dollars  (five  million  Bolivars)  to 
be  coined  at  the  Philadelphia  mint.  Our  Bolivar  is  equivalent  to  a  franc  or  a 
lire ;  but  it  actually  has  a  higher  negotiable  value  than  either  of  the  units  re- 
ferred to. 

To  the  business  men  who  are  especially  interested  in  Venezuela  I  beg  to 
recommend  the  reading  of  the  report  published  by  the  Department  of  Commerce 
in  Washington,  D.  C,  No.  48-A,  under  date  of  March  20  of  this  year.  This  re- 
port, sent  by  the  American  Consuls  at  La  Guaira,  Maracaibo  and  Puerto  Cabello, 
gives  a  very  clear  and  exact  idea  of  the  present  situation  of  Venezuela,  its  com- 
merce and  most  outstanding  industries.  It  is  a  splendid  report  based  on  facts 

anrl    nffl^isl    rlato      ?anr1    io      tVi/ar#>£r>rp     imV»?acp/4    in     ifc    r»Vi*»cpc 


214  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

To  contribute  to  the  growth  of  commercial  relations  between  this  country 
and  the  Republic  of  Venezuela,  I  may  take  the  liberty  of  calling  your  attention 
here  to  some  of  the  defects  which  I  have  had  occasion  to  note  in  my  Consular 
capacity.  As  fiscal  laws  are  not  the  same  in  the  South  American  Republics,  the 
study  of  these  must  be  one  of  the  conditions  to  be  met  in  order  to  be  able  to 
build  up  successfully  a  trade,  free  from  the  hindrances  caused  by  misunderstand- 
ing or  ignorance  of  legal  requirements. 

In  Venezuela  it  is  not  permissible  to  introduce  goods  consigned  to  order 
and  in  search  of  a  market. 

In  many  countries  it  is  a  long  established  custom  that  shipping  papers,  bills 
of  lading  or  consular  invoices,  accompanied  by  drafts  to  be  paid  on  the  delivery 
of  the  goods,  are  sufficient  to  cover  said  goods,  and  these  are  not  delivered  with- 
out the  corresponding  payment.  This  is  not  the  case  in  Venezuela,  however,  for 
if  the  consignee  of  the  goods  does  not  receive  the  consular  invoice,  the  Customs 
House  does  receive  it,  for  Consulates  send  one  copy  to  the  proper  Custom  House 
and  the  consignee  can  request  the  latter  to  compute  the  duties  according  to  the 
invoice  received;  then  when  this  computation  has  been  made  and  the  duties  paid, 
the  consignee  receives  the  goods  and  the  bank  or  its  agent  is  left  with  the  papers 
and  draft  without  recourse,  except  that  which  it  may  obtain  through  the  courts 
in  claiming  the  amount  of  the  commercial  invoice.  It  is  well  for  those  who  con- 
template doing  business  in  Venezuela  and  with  persons  not  known  to  them  to 
bear  this  fact  in  mind,  if  they  think  that  they  are  protected  in  the  manner  re- 
ferred to,  when  this  is  not  so. 

It  is  very  important  that  commission  houses  or  firms  having  commercial 
relations  with  Venezuela  should  study  the  laws  and  regulations  established  in  the 
Customs  Houses  of  the  Republic,,  so  that,  in  complying  with  their  requirements, 
they  may  avoid  the  penalties  inherent  in  their  infraction.  It  is  of  great  import- 
ance that  they  should  employ  clerks  who  know  the  Spanish  language,  since  the 
documents  connected  with  the  custom  house  procedure  have  to  be  in  Spanish, 
which  is  the  language  of  the  country,  and  therefore,  the  official  one.  Not  infre- 
quently I  have  seen  consular  invoices  with  declarations  like  this :  "Cotton  goods," 
translated  by  the  aid  of  a  dictionary,  as  "Algodon  mercancias."  It  is  well  known 
that  cotton  goods  are  of  a  great  variety  of  classes  from  very  heavy  to  the  finest 
quality,  and  there  are  even  some  with  a  silk  mixture.  Our  tariff  schedule  makes 
a  very  broad  specification  of  these  textiles,  and  classifies  the  common  one  at 
low  rates  and  the  fine  or  best  grade  at  high  rates.  The  declaration  above  re- 
ferred to  gives  rise  to  the  confiscation  of  the  goods  by  the  Customs  House,  and 
the  firm  that  has  made  the  shipment  criticizes  our  legislators  as  severe,  without 
taking  into  account  the  fact  that  a  serious  error  has  been  commuted  in  the  am- 
biguity of  the  declaration. 

What  is  attributed  to  severity  in  the  legislation  is  only  the  deficency  of  the 
clerk  who  prepared  the  documents,  either  through  ignorance  of  the  language  or 
through  lack  of  familiarity  with  the  branch  of  work  to  which  he  has  been  assigned. 

I  mention  these  things  solely  with  the  object  of  showing  that  in  the  ma- 
jority of  cases  the  fines  or  penalties  imposed  by  our  Customs  Houses  result  from 
the  fact  that  the  firm  shipping  the  goods  has  not  a  competent  clerk  to  despatch 
shipments  in  conformity  with  the  requirements  of  the  law,  and  I  may  say  that  in 
case  of  many  errors  that  are  committed  where  it  is  evident  that  there  was  no 
intention  to  defraud  the  Treasury,  the  higher  authorities  of  the  Treasury  remit 
or  reduce. the  penalties  that  have  been  occasioned  by  these  errors  or  transgression 
of  the  law. 

At  the  International  Congress  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  held  at  Boston 
in  September,  1912,  a  form  of  consular  invoice  was  proposed  which  was  consid- 
ered to  be  exceedingly  simple  and  practical,  and  I  should  state  that  the  one  re- 
quired by  our  fiscal  legislation  is  even  simpler;  for  in  the  form  referred  to,  in 
addition  to  the  gross  weight  of  the  goods,  the  net  weight  was  required,  while  in 
our  form  only  the  gross  weight  is  necessary. 

In  making  the  above  observations  my  purpose  has  been  only  that  commercial 
activities  between  this  country  and  Venezuela  should  not  suffer  loss  from  the 
bad  impression  caused  by  shipments  made  with  improperly  prepared  papers,  but 
that  these  activities  should  increase  and  prosper  under  well  informed  and  effi- 
cient direction  to  the  mutual  benefit  of  both  countries. 

Venezuela  is  now  in  a  new  era;  for  the  stable  peace  that  it  enjoys  is  a 
guarantee  that  the  capital  which  seeks  legitimate  employment  in  the  country  will 
find  useful  and  remunerative  investment.  The  existing  Government  has  under- 
taken improvements  in  all  branches  of  the  Administration — highways,  aqueducts, 


VENEZUELA  215 

sanitation,  education — and  has  on  hand  in  the  Treasury  more  than  thirty  million 
Bolivars  gold  ($6,000,000.00),  an  amount  which  no  previous  Government  has  had 
in  its  vaults,  and  enjoys  so  good  a  credit  as  to  cause  a  European  banker,  who  was 
asked  if  he  wished  to  sell  his  Venezuelan  bonds,  to  say :  "No,  for  they  are  as  good 
as  gold."  The  honesty  of  public  Administration  is  in  this  manner  eloquently  pro- 
claimed. 

The  United  States  of  America  has  proved  that  in  war  it  can  improvise 
armies,  fit  out  squadrons  and  overcome  all  difficulties  until  victory  is  attained. 

Now,  that  peace  shows  her  white  wings  on  the  horizon  and  this  nation  has 
the  financial  and  industrial  preponderance,  a  large  merchant  marine,  the  Panama 
Canal  route  which  makes  it  the  center  of  the  world's  interchange,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  it  is  on  the  point  of  obtaining  commercial  supremacy. 

Will  it  triumph  also  in  this  peaceful  struggle? 

The  slogan  which  appears  on  the  banners  of  the  conquests  of  Peace  is 
"Deeds,  not  Words." 

Competition  is  what  helps  commercial  interchange  and  therefore  communi- 
ties; that  which  produces  the  best  workmanship,  annihilates  distances,  and  sat- 
isfies the  necessities  of  the  individual  at  the  least  possible  cost  is  that  which  wins 
the  palm  of  victory. 

An  eminent  American  business  man,  in  his  address  at  the  Sixth  National 
Foreign  Trade  Convention  held  at  Chicago  at  the  end  of  April,  said:  "It  is 
my  belief  that  we  shall  be  able  to  retain  a  large  share  of  the  trade  brought  to  us 
so  suddenly  by  the  war ;  but  not  unless  we  deserve  it  by  good  performance." 


VENEZUELA'S  SHARE  IN  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCE 

BY  NICOLAS  VELOZ,  CONSUL  GENERAD  OF  THE  .UNITED  STATES  OF  VENEZUELA  AT 

NEW  ORLEANS. 
(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

The  purpose  of  ^this  Conference  demonstrates  very  conclusively  that  Pan- 
America,  so  happily  united  by  lasting  bonds  of  friendship  and  commerce,  is  heartily 
supported  by  the  untiring  and  efficient  propaganda  of  this  unique  Institution  whose 
hospitality  we  are  now  enjoying. 

These  periodical  meetings  show  in  a  very  convincing  manner  that  we  have 
been  aroused  to  a  realization  of  the  fact  that  there  lies  a  great  strength  in  our 
commercial  and  political  union,  and  that  no  matter  how  important  a  factor  we  may 
be  in  the  World's  Commerce,  it  is  our  duty  to  take  immediate  and  practical  meas- 
ures to  expand  and  improve  our  trade  relations,  not  only  among  ourselves  but  also 
with  the  other  countries  engaged  in  our  commerce. 

The  Great  War  gave  an  unusual  opportunity  to  the  United  States  to  enlarge 
considerably  its  Latin-American  trade.  The  increase  that  was  attained  was  really 
phenomenal,  and  the  figures  would  be  more  surpassing  still,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
untimely  shortage  of  tonnage  which  was  created  by  complexities  arising  from  the 
European  Struggle,  which  affected  in  a  very  profound  manner  the  economic 
foundation  of  warring  and  Neutral  nations. 

As  it  was  of  paramount  importance  to  preserve  tonnage  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, especially  after  the  United  States  entered  ^the  war,  the  curtailment  of  the 
Pan-American  Trade  was  inevitable.  The  restrictions  which  were  systematically 
imposed  brought  about  a  considerable  decrease  in  our  commercial  activity  to  a 
position  where — from  the  point  of  view  of  many  merchants  in  Latin-America — 
a  misleading  opinion  was  formed  as  to  whether  or  not  the  United  States  would 
avail  themselves  of  that  unique  opportunity  and  reap  the  benefits  of  the  wide- 
open-door  traffic,  while  European  countries,  engaged  in  warfare,  were  reducing 
their  Pan-American  trade  to  almost  a  negligible  figure — and,  above  all,  whether  or 
not  the  American  merchants  and  manufacturers  would  be  in  a  position  to  hold 
the  gains  so  far  obtained,  once  peace  was  signed  and  Europeans  would  endeavor 
to  re-establish  their  pre-existing  competition. 

That  seems  to  be  the  momentous  issue  before  this  Conference,  and  I  feel 
confident  that  in  the  performance  of  its  mission,  a  profusion  of  practical  sugges- 
tions will  be  made  towards  the  solution  of  this  important  problem.  Whatever 
conclusion  is  reached,  and  whatever  resolutions  are  adopted  by  the  Conference, 
as  embodying  our  combined  thought,  we  may  be  sure,  Gentlemen,  that  the  Pan 
American  Union  shall  rise  as  usual  to  the  occasion,  and  shall  see  to  it  that  the 
results  of  our  efforts  be  equal  to  or  even  surpass  our  expectations  as  to  unity  and 
co-operation  in  the  modus  operand*. 


216  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

The  time  is  ripe  to  study  and  remedy  the  conditions,  and  to  remove  objec- 
tionable features  that  may  appear  on  the  surface,  because  we  are  now  approaching, 
slowly  but  perceptibly,  a  status  of  normality.  Peaceful  trading  will  soon  be  started, 
as  black-listing  and  other  safeguarding  measures  have  been  abolished,  thus  relieving 
a  great  burden  which  weighed  very  heavily  on  trade  at  large. 

The  United  States  Government,  as  we  understand,  is  about  to  complete  its 
shipbuilding  program,  and  it  has  even  been  suggested  lately  that  the  establishment 
of  coal  and  oil  depots  on  all  trades  routes,  and  the  creation  of  free  ports,  would 
be  of  immense  value  to  trade  in  general. 

Let  us  analyze  at  the  outset  what  are  the  conditions  obtaining  in  the  present 
trade,  and  find  out,  if  another  policy  were  adopted,  what  would  be  the  results  to 
be  expected. 

One  of  the  drawbacks  in  the  Latin  American  Trade  has  been  that  many 
American  merchants  and  manufacturers*,  have  been  rather  independent  in  their 
treatment  of  this  question,  undoubtedly  because  of  the  enormous  development  of 
their  domestic  business  which,  under  normal  conditions,  has  absorbed  most  of 
their  attention.  Pre-war  conditions  proved  in  no  mean  manner  that  their  interest 
in  the  Latin-American  commerce  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  "side-show"  to  which 
they  devoted  their  spare  time. 

Some  of  them  thought  that  all  that  was  necessary  to  get  our  trade  was  to  sit 
at  their  desks  and  transact  business  with  a  single  letter,  a  five-cent  postage  stamp 
and  a  catalogue,  which  was  not  understood  at  the  country  of  destination.  This 
is  not  a  matter  that  can  be  taught  by  mail  and  fortunately  there  are  many  who  by 
this  time  have  realized  the  truth  of  this  assertion.  They  know  now  what  the 
European  Merchant  has  done  to  get  the  business,  and  they  have  witnessed  his 
progress  there. 

You  cannot  succeed  unless  you  have  the  required  ability  for  the  role  you 
expect  to  play  in  the  commercial  game.  It  is  absolutely  essential  that  a  thorough 
study  be  made  of  actual  conditions.  The  commercial  legislation  of  Latin  America 
must  be  carefully  scrutinized,  for  no  merchant  can  form  a  true  conception  of  the 
actual  value  of  his  products  in  the  country  of  destination,  and  thus  be  enabled  to 
make  a  fair  comparison  with  similar  European  products,  unless  he  makes  it  a 
point  to  analyze  the  variety  of  circumstances  which  will  affect  his  goods  at  the 
country  where  he  expects  to  make  sales.  It  is  also  necessary  to  make  an  analytical 
study  of  the  psychology  of  the  people  he  is  dealing  with.  In  this  case  your  actions 
should  be  guided  by  a  spirit  of  tolerance  and  flexibility,  as  success  cannot  be 
expected  without  the  knowledge  of  these  important  factors  which  are  fundamental 
in  common-every-day  practice.  You  are  dealing  with  people  exceedingly  traditional 
in  their  customs.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  they  are  extremely  susceptible 
to  any  favorable  change  and  can,  with  patience  and  perseverance,  be  inclined  to  adapt 
themselves  to  a  new  situation,  because  they  have  a  remarkable  capacity  for  assimila- 
tion of  anything  progressive.  Many  Americans  have  gone  to  Latin  America  in  the 
manner  of  Commercial  Iconoclasts,  as  it  were,  imposing  conditions,  and  expecting 
radical  changes,  suitable  to  themselves.  They  have  failed  for  they  were  venturing 
into  the  impossible. 

When  the  American  business  man  can  realize  this  situation,  visualizing  in  a 
broad  minded  way  the  conditions  as  they  are,  and  not  as  they  should  be,  according 
to  his  particular  point  of  view,  great  progress  shall  have  been  attained  and  you 
will  be  nearer  the  desired  goal. 

It  should  be  understood,  too,  that  you  cannot  consider  domestic  products,  in 
all  lines,  as  final  and  adaptable  to  Latin  American  needs.  There  should  be  a  fixed 
policy  among  manufacturers  tending  to  give,  so  to  speak,  more  elasticity  to  the 
ways  and  means  of  production,  so  that  it  is  on  equal  footing  with  the  European 
production.  The  latter  has  found  a  good  market  in  South  America  on  account 
of  its  adaptability,  because  the  European  is  manufacturing  articles  especially  for 
the  Latin  American  trade,  even  when  this  involves  a  complete  change  of  sizes  and 
quality  from  the  standard  product. 

This  apparent  inconvenience  to  some  American  merchants  has  caused  their 
refusal  to  comply  with  existing  demands  in  producing  something  different  than  the 
standardized  domestic  article,  and  in  packing  according  to  requirements,  thus 
losing  great  opportunities  in  the  Latin  American  trade,  because  "they  were  not 
prepared."  This  has  been  a  veiled  manner  of  expressing  their  indifference  towards 
such  a  trade,  and  the  result  has  been  that  their  inertia  has  had  a  natural  reflex 
effect  of  destroying  or  minimizing  other  opportunities  eagerly  sought  by  some 
"who  are  prepared."  It  is  a  stumbling  block  which  must  be  removed  at  all  costs. 


VENEZUELA  217 

An  excellent  preparation  may  be  acquired  through  Government  publications. 
The  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  is  a  splendid  source  of  informa- 
tion open  to  all  wishing  to  get  acquainted  with  Latin  American  Countries  and 
their  trade.  The  Pan  American  Union  is  always  ready  to  furnish  very  valuable 
data.  Its  proven  efficiency  defies  all  inquiries,  and  there  are  many  who  are  en- 
joying the  benefits  of  the  experience  acquired  through  this  important  institution, 
which,  by  its  own  gravity  and  birthright,  has  become  All-Americas'  Commercial 
Mecca,  and  the  Temple  of  Pan-American  worship.  Consular  Officers  of  the  United 
States  abroad  and  Latin-American  Consuls  accredited  to  this  country  are  also  in 
a  position  to  furnish  important  information  concerning  their  countries. 

To  flood  territories  with  catalogues  in  English,  is  absolutely  a  waste  of  time 
and  money.  They  should  be  printed  in  the  language  of  the  country  of  destination, 
as  far  as  practicable,  and  distributed  to  the  proper  parties.  There  is  a  widespread 
divergence  of  opinion  as  to  the  use  of  catalogues;  but  it  may  be  asserted  that  as 
convenient  and  necessary  as  they  may  be  in  some  lines,  they  constitute,  however,  a 
very  ineffective  way  of  getting  large  business,  if  for  no  other  reason,  because  of 
the  well-known  saying  that  "a  sample  is  worth  100  catalogues." 

This  brings  the  agent  or  salesman  into  the  scene  with  his  potential  value  to 
be  determined  by  his  ability  and  preparation.  As  in  any  other  calling,  the  matter 
resolves  itself  into:  "personal  equation"  This  is  a  very  important  factor,  not  dis- 
counting in  any  way  the  question  of  the  language  of  the  country,  knowledge  of 
its  geography,  customs,  etc.,  which  are  absolutely  essential. 

Another  difficulty  has  been  the  question  of  credit,  which  has  handicapped 
the  development  of  Pan-American  trade.  The  American  merchant  has  been  prone 
to  close  his  deals  on  the  cash  basis  or  with  a  leeway  of  30-60  or  90  days.  He  has 
considered  it  risky  to  extend  longer  terms  to  Latin  American  merchants.  This 
credit  is  really  expected  by  them,  because  they  are  accustomed  to  the  treatment  of 
the  matter  by  the  European,  who  grants  120-180  days  or  more  if  necessary.  In  their 
sensitiveness,  they  have  in  many  cases  resented  the  refusal  of  credit  as  a  reflection 
on  their  integrity.  European  Bankers  were  the  pioneers  in  establishing  their 
branches  in  Latin  America,  and  were  able  to  help  their  nationals,  not  only  in 
getting  more  business  for  them,  but  also  acting  as  a  source  of  information  con- 
cerning the  financial  stability  of  the  merchants  engaged  in  their  trade. 

Since  the  war  started,  however,  the  establishment  of  American  Banks  in 
Venezuela  has  done  a  great  deal  to  accomplish  what  was  considered  as  a  great 
necessity.  These  new  banking  facilities  have  had  the  tendency  to  broaden  the 
mind  and  to  incline  the  American  merchant  towards  longer  credits.  This  consti- 
tutes undoubtedly  a  great  advance  in  the  position  they  now  occupy,  as  compared 
with  pre-war  conditions;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  many  more  merchants  and 
manufacturers  who  have  failed  to  do  so,  will  appreciate  in  the  near  future  the 
full  value  of  credit  as  an  essential  requirement  in  winning  the  trade.  Means  are 
now  at  hand  to  investigate  in  the  United  States,  and  through  such  Banks,  all 
about  the  financial  standing  and  integrity  of  Latin  American  Merchants,  so  that 
the  granting  of  necessary  credits  does  not  involve  today  much  risk  or  uncertainty. 

It  is  surprising  how  few  manufacturers  and  merchants  have  made  an  effort 
to  inquire  into  the  possibilities  that  are  latent  in  Latin  America. 

So  far  as  Venezuela  is  concerned,  it  may  surprise  some  to  know,  for  in- 
stance, that  Denver,  Col.,  is  further  away  from  New  York  than  from  Venezuela, 
the  distance  from  New  York  and  New  Orleans  through  regular  steamship  lanes 
being  about  the  same  (1840  miles) — It  will  be  also  a  revelation  to  others  that 
Venezuela  is  twice  as  large  as  Texas,  and  still  would  leave  room  for  Kentucky 
and  other  smaller  Eastern  States. 

On  account  of  our  unusual  and  splendid  geographical  position,  we  are  nearer 
the  United  States  than  any  South  American  country.  Our  eight  ports  open  for 
export  and  import  trade,  and  other  ports  used  for  coastwise  service  only,  afford 
an  excellent  opportunity  for  a  full  development  of  the  trade.  We  are  blessed  by 
nature  with  a  marvelous  and  natural  system  of  irrigation  which  makes  of  Venezuela 
one  of  the  best  watered  lands  in  the  world,  with  a  fertility  of  soil  truly  astonishing. 
Therein  you  will  find  a  variety  of  climates,  from  the  tropical  ^  to  the  temperate, 
thus  creating  diverse  conditions  of  life  to  be  contended  with.  Venezuela  is 
eminently  an  agricultural  country,  although  we  also  are  very  wealthy  in  forest 
products,  live-stock  and  mineral  resources.  Modern  methods  in  agriculture  are 
required,  and  this  should  be  a  splendid  field  for  the  American  manufacturer. 

During  the  European  War,  Venezuela  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  South  Ameri- 
can Countries  better  situated  to  face  the  economic  crisis  at  a  time  when  the  food 
problem  was  the  main  question  in  the  minds  of  the  peoples  of  the  world.  The 


218 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Venezuelan  Government  took  immediate  measures,  inciting  the  people  to  a  more 
intensive  development  of  agriculture;  and  the  generous  response  of  my  countrymen 
to  this  appeal  was,  as  may  be  observed  in  statistics,  that  we  not  only  started  to 
become  more  productive  for  domestic  consumption,  but  that,  for  the  first  time  in 
our  history,  we  were  able  to  export  large  quantities  of  corn,  peas,  beans,  onions, 
castor-oil  seeds,  etc. 

The  Venezuelan  Foreign  Trade  has  taken  great  strides  in  the  last  few  years. 
By  way  of  reference,  the  following  table  will  show  its  gradual  increase  during 
the  years  1908-1917,  both  inclusive : 

Years.  Imports.  Exports.  Total  Trade. 

1908   $9,814,027  $14,613,244  $24,427,271 

1909  9,766,182  16,028,635  25,794,817 

1910  12,387,553  17,948,570  30,336,123 

1911    18,364,889  22,684,384  41,079.273 

1912   20,568,940  25,260,908  45,829,848 

1913    18,030,104  29,483,789  47,513,893 

1914 13,987,465  21,520,534  35,507,999 

1915  13,470,236  23,404,427  36,874,663 

1916 21,382,817  23,530,570  44,913,387 

1917  22,892,977  24,044,872  46,897,849 

These  figures  will  be  more  graphically  described,  and  shown  at  a  glance,  in 
the  following  chart,  where  the  curves  are  plotted  in  accordance  with  the  figures 
given  above.  It  may  be  added,  incidentally,  that  the  increase  of  our  trade  with 
the  United  States  was  due,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  uninterrupted  steamship 
service  which  was  maintained  between  Venezuelan  ports  and  New  York,  even  when 
other  Latin  American  countries  were  suffering  from  partial  stoppage  and  uncer- 
tainty in  sailings. 


MILLION$     1408 


1101 


KIO 


1111 


HIS 


1115    IW 


1117 


35 


40 


30 


35 


30 


20 


V 


15 


ZQ 


10 


\S 


\ 


to 


VMPoirrs 
TOTAV.  TRADE 


SUBD 


I.CFT   MKRGIN  AP 


LICS TOT!  TAL.    TRA  >K.j 


As  may  be  noticed,  the  beginning  of  the  European  War  caused  a  great  slump 
in  our  trade,  reducing  it,  at  the  end  of  the  calendar  year,  from  $47,513,893,  to 
$35,507,999,  that  is,  in  $12,005,894,  or,  approximately  27  per  cent;  the  lowest  point 
in  the  chart  being  the  year  1908,  when  it  sank  to  $24,427,271.  We  gradually  re- 
covered, however,  and  the  satistics  show  that  our  trade  has  been  increasing  steadily 
since  August,  1914,  in  spite  of  the  war  to  a  point  where  we  now  have  practically 


VENEZUELA 


219 


reached  the  figures  attained  during  the  year  1913.  The  imports  of  Venezuela  from 
the  United  States  for  the  year  1917  amounted  to  70  per  cent  of  the  total  volume. 
Great  Britain's  share  during  the  same  period  was  of  16.4  per  cent,  and  other  coun- 
tries 13.6  per  cent.  Our  imports  and  exports  for  the  year  1915  were  divided  among 
the  following  ports : 

Metric  Imports  Metric  Exports 

Ports.  Tons.  Value.  Tons.  Value. 

La   Guaira    , 40,341  $6,785,162  21,574  $6,224,830 

Maracaibo   20,548  3,058,598  47,403  7,114,775 

Puerto  Cabello  , 28,620  2,367,951  35,352  5,129,656 

Ciudad   Bolivar    7,714  993,416  6,355  3,221,555 

Carupano  2,780  466,239  4,497  1,049,756 

Puerto   Sucre    1,653  119,132  1,029  165,596 

La   Vela   327  72,606  14,621  156,238 

Cristobal   Colon   3,094  84,802  29,840  904,299 

Guanta  218  16,535  1,091  72,605 

Pampatar  310  5,091  7,173  44,245 

It  will  readily  be  observed  that  the  greater  portion  of  our  imports  were  in- 
troduced through  the  ports  of  La  Guaira,  Puerto  Cabello  and  Maracaibo  in  their 
order  of  importance,  while  with  our  exports  Maracaibo  takes  the  lead  in  that  year 
and  is  followed  by  Puerto  Cabello  and  La  Guaira,  reversing  conditions.  This  is  due 
to  coffee  and  sugar  exports,  as  Maracaibo  is  the  main  Western  outlet  for  a  coffee 
and  sugar  region,  through  which  those  commodities  are  shipped  to  the  United 
States  and  abroad.  Puerto  Cabello  and  La, Guaira  are  in  the  same  position  con- 
cerning the  bulk  of  of  our  trade. 

There  is  at  Puerto  Cabello  a  packing  house  with  a  capacity  of  500  heads 
per  day,  and  frozen  beef  is  exported  from  there  to  Europe  in  special  refrigerating 
ships.  The  plant  was  enlarged  considerably  during  the  war.  The  great  plains  of 
Venezuela,  especially  in  the  South,  offer  splendid  opportunities  for  the  raising  of 
cattle  due  to  low  cost  of  land  and  their  nearness  to  markets. 

Our  most  important  staples  are  coffee  and  cacao.  The  crops  for  1917  and 
1916  were  not  as  large  as  usual  due  to  the  shortage  of  tonnage  and  also  to  low 
prices  prevailing  in  the  markets  and  to  inability  to  ship  to  Europe.  These  prices 
have  risen  considerably  since  the  armistice  was  signed  in  November  last,  and  con- 
sequently have  been  a  timely  boon  for  Venezuela  planters. 

The  coffee  shipped  from  Venezuela  in  1916  and  1917  was  distributed  among 
the  following  countries : 


COFFEE— (1  Bolivar  =  $0.193  gold).     Value  given  in  Bolivares. 


Countries. 


Met.  Tons. 


United  States   25,971 

France   , 11,381 

Netherlands   2,171 

Curacao  2,989 

Spain    6,149 

Italy    6,182 

Trinidad    . 


Bs. 


(1916) 
Value. 
27,364,224 
13,517,369 
2,559,593 
3,348,134 
5,555,661 
1,955,341 


Met.  Tons. 
26,908        Bs. 
5,832 
454 
1,180 
8,562 
1,032 
143 


(1917) 

Value. 

25,532,433 

5,571,650 

445,335 
1,107,068 
8,505,335 
1,031,872 

155,731 


The  Federal  Government  was  compelled  to  place  cacao  on  a  restricted  basis, 
of  importation,  and  Venezuela  was  allotted  a  certain  share  of  this  product  for  in- 
troduction into  the  United  States.  The  following  table  gives  the  figures  reached 
by  our  exports  of  cacao  during  the  aforesaid  years  of  1916  and  1917: 


Countries.  Met.  Tons. 

United  States    5,305 

France   4,417 

Netherlands  325 

Spain 1,849 

Italy   258 

Trinidad   2,575 


CACAO — (Value  given  in  Bolivares). 
(1916) 


Bs. 


Value. 
8,477,333 
6,499,623 

455,776 
2,869,662 

408,925 
2,693,196 


Met.  Tons. 
8,417        Bs. 
5,472 

153 
2,656 

287 
2,713 


(1917) 

Value. 

10,886,837 

6,544,590 

169,320 
3,214,298 

340,279 
2,715,954 


As  regards  our  sugar  industry  which  has  been  developed  extensively,  with 
modern  methods  in  the  last  few  years,  we  were  not  so  fortunately  situated.  The 
restrictions  placed  on  this  commodity  made  it  imperative  that  the  product  be  sold 
at  a  certain  fixed  price  determined  by  the  Sugar  Board.  This  measure  and  also 
the  shortage  of  tonnage,  which  compelled  the  allotment  and  rationing  of  imports 


UNITED  STATES  EXPORTS 


TO  ILATIN*  AMERICA 

1913 


215.058. 


FARAC.UAY- 
SOLIVIA- — 

SALVADOR     *2.E70.964-. 
ECUADOR 

NICARAGUA.  *  2,886.026. 
CfUATAMALA. 
COSTARICA 
HONDURAS 
VENEXUELA. 
DOMJUrCAN  REPUBLIC 


UNITED  STATES  IMPORTS 


FROM  ItATlN*  AMBSIGA 


1313 


BOLIVIA.- 4  398. 

PARAO^M^C *  67. 220. 

HAITI #610.201. 

SALVADOR  *1,4TO. 
•NIGAKAGUA,  *1,668,4O3. 
URUQUAY     4  1,640. 609. 
HOKDURA.3   *3.31+. 
GUATAMAIiA, 

•  3,4-1 3, 51-*. 
COSTARICA. 

»  3, 456. 069. 
ECUADOR, 
DOMINICAN 

REPUBLIC 


TOTAL  TRADE  1913*743,618,699. 


PA*  AM£/?fCAfif  WQtf 


UNITED  STATES  EXPORTS 


TO  LATIN- AMERICA 

1918 


#700.59S.N 

OOSTA.K.1GA    *  2, 100^73.-^ 
SALVADOR 

ECUADOR        «4.17t,684.N\^ 
GUATAMALA.  *4;  Z4I.977. 
NICARAGUA     44.5O3.8O8, 
HONDURAS    45.033. 933.-*. 
BOLIVIA          45,E89,008 
VENEZUELA 
»  7, 161, 345. 

HAITI 

GOLOMBFA.    jf 

BOMrMlCAN  KEPUQLIG 


UNITED  STATES  IMPORTS 

FROM  LATIN"  AMEKJGA 

1918 


PARAQUAT  *  J  40, 275. 
BOLIVIA  —  *A51,932.  <\ 
KICARAQUA  *  A.  792.351 
HONDURAS  *5.E95.0a6 

HAITI  46,756,509. . 

GUATAMALAt  8,011.685.- 
dALVADOR*8,307.358:  ' 
DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC 

#8,464.500 
PANAMA*  3,757.403 
COSTARICA  . 
+  8,931,644-, 

ECUADOR 
VENEZUELA. 


TOTAk. TRADE.  1918  41,791,175,136. 


222  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

into  the  United  States,  created  a  difficulty  with  Venezuelan  sugar  planters,  because 
the  market  price  fixed  beforehand  by  the  Board,  all  but  wiped  out  a  reasonable 
margin  of  profit,  and  it  did  not  help  any  to  offset  the  higher  freight  rates  which 
weighed  very  heavily  on  our  sugar  by  reason  of  a  longer  ton-mileage,  as  compared 
with  the  short  freight  rates  that  applied  to  Cuba  due  to  her  proximity  to  the 
United  States. 

In  1916  we  exported  9,273  metric  tons  valued  at  $1,500,000  and  in  1917 
15,370  metric  tons  valued  at  $2,800.000. 

Hides  were  also  restricted  and  the  figures  show  a  decrease  in  the  last  two 
years. 

Asphalt  and  Copper  ore  were  also  a  considerable  item  in  our  exports  during 
1916  and  1917.  They  were  exported  as  follows: 

Metric  Tons.  Value. 

1916 Asphalt    44,621  $288,479 

1916 Copper  Ore   11,779  340,943 

1917 Asphalt    -, 48,844  327,146 

1917 Copper  Ore   34,353  561,406 

Venezuela  also  exports  Skins,  Balata,  Animals,  Castor-oil  Seeds,  Chicle  and 
other  gums,  Cocoa-nut  oil,  Copaiba,  Diyidivi,  Aigrettes,  Fertilizers,  Fish  Sounds, 
Gold,  Leather  (Sole),  Magnesite,  Maize,  Mangrove  Bark,  Meat,  Pearls,  Perl 
Shells,  Rubber,  Cebadilla,  Sandals,  Sernamby,  Tobacco,  Tonka  Beans  and  Wood. 

Our  imports  comprise  practically  every  commodity,  except  a  number  of  arti- 
cles, the  importation  of  which  is  prohibited  or  prohibitive  for  protective  reasons. 
The  most  important  items  making  the  bulk  of  our  imports  are :  Agricultural  imple- 
ments and  machinery,  Automobiles,  Bagging,  Butter,  Cement,  Flour,  Coal,  Cotton 
Knit  Goods,  Cotton  Textiles,  Drugs  and  Medicines,  Electrical  Apparatus  and 
accessories,  Engines  and  parts,  Tubing,  Glassware,  Hardware,  Lard,  Machinery  in 

feneral,  Kerosene,  Perfumery,  Railway  Material,  Rice,  Sardines,  Tanned  Skins, 
tearin,  Thread,  Wines,  Fence  Wire  and  Woolen  Textiles. 

In  closing  these  remarks,  permit  me  to  add,  from  personal  experience,  that 
it  is  very  encouraging  to  note  the  interest  taken  lately  by  the  Southern  States  of 
the  Union  in  Latin-American  Commerce.  This  interest  and  activity  have  been 
yielding  very  successful  results.  Venezuela  has  steamship  connections  with  the 
growing  and  progressive  port  of  New  Orleans,  and  our  trade  by  that  route  has 
undoubtedly  a  very  promising  future.  The  Venezuelan  Government  was  alert  in 
recognizing  the  importance  of  New  Orleans  as  a  great  stronghold  in  Pan-Ameri- 
can Trade,  and  taking  into  consideration  its  latent  possibilities,  recently  raised  our 
Consulate  there  to  the  category  of  Consulate  General,  at  par  with  the  one  estab- 
lished in  New  York  for  so  many  years. 

This  instance  is  demonstrative  of  the  keen  interest  displayed  by  the  Venezue- 
lan Government  in  Pan  American  matters,  for  it  speaks  very  highly  of  its  deep 
sense  of  appreciation  in  analyzing  the  present  outlook,  and  is  also  a  strong  evi- 
dence of  its  effective  cooperation  and  good  will  towards  the  United  States. 

At  the  present  time  Venezuela  is  entering  an  era  of  active  development  in 
various  fields  of  endeavor.  Mention  may  be  made  here  of  the  progress  attained 
there  in  the  manufacture  of  Cotton  Goods  of  fairly  good  quality,  Wrapping  paper, 
Glass,  Portland  Cement,  Cordage,  Laundry  Soap,  Candles,  Cigarettes,  Shoes,  San- 
dals, Sole  Leather  and  also  Furniture.  We  are  also  developing  our  oil  fields 
very  intensively. 

We  are  prosperous  today,  although  we  suffered  like  most  Neutral  Nations 
because  of  the  effects  of  the  War. 

The  condition  of  the  country  is  excellent  in  many  respects,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  Venezuela  should  not  be  an  ideal  country  for  the  investment  of  foreign 
capital.  No  better  proof  can  be  adduced  of  the  soundness  of  her  financial  system, 
based  on  the  gold  standard— of  the  fulfillment  of  her  foreign  obligations,  and  of 
the  guarantee  given  to  foreign  capital — than  the  establishment,  during  the  war, 
of  four  Foreign  Banking  Institutions  which  have  ^opened  branches  all  over  the 
country  and  now  are  engaged  in  a  healthy  competition  to  get  and  help  our  trade. 
These  facts  speak  for  themselves  and  defy  contradiction. 

It  is  my  earnest  desire,  Gentlemen,  that  the  observations  I  have  taken  the 
liberty  to  make  to  this  Conference,  which  are  inspired  solely  in  a  true  spirit  of 
Pan  Americanism,  may  be  scrutinized  with  the  same  friendly  feeling:  of  one.  who 
as  myself,  has  lived  among  you  for  19  consecutive  years  and  admires  your  great 
Institutions,  and  who  has  simply  endeavored  to  bring  his  mite,  however  small  as 
it  is,  to  the  Common  cause  of  Pan  America. 


X 

SHIPPING    AND    OTHER    TRANSPORTATION  223 

SHIPPING  AND  OTHER  TRANSPORTATION 

SHIPPING  NEEDS  FOR  PAN  AMERICAN  TRADE 

BY  EDWARD  N.  HURLEY,  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  SHIPPING  BOARD. 
(Delivered  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Members  of  the  Conference — It  is  under  favorable  auspices 
that  we  meet  for  the  promotion  of  trade  in  the  western  world.  Those  familiar  with 
the  splendid  work  of  the  Pan  American  Union  have  come  to  look  upon  it  as  a 
symbol  of  that  amity  and  good  will  which  so  happily  prevails  between  American 
nations,  and  as  the  efficient  instrument  by  which  international  cooperation  for 
mutual  benefit  along  economic  and  social  lines  has  been  made  really  effective.  To 
know  that  this  union  of  American  republics  stands  as  sponsor  for  a  movement 
is  to  be  assured  of  its  progressive  character,  and  to  have  a  guarantee  of  its  ultimate 
success. 

This  is  a  day  of  new  beginnings  in  all  fields  of  effort.  The  war  has  worked 
its  profound  changes  in  every  country,  and  as  peace  opportunities  beckon  we  have 
hardly  time  to  pause  and  take  our  bearings  before  launching  upon  courses  of  action 
which  will  give  a  new  bent  to  our  customs  and  relationships,  and  will  produce 
effects  reaching  far  into  the  future.  It  is  a  time  for  caution,  and  also  for  the 
boldest  initiative.  On  behalf  of  the  United  States  Shipping  Board,  I  invite  your 
counsel  and  assistance  in  one  of  the  greatest  problems  which  confronts  us  at  this 
time — that  of  restoring  the  broken  lines  of  ocean  transportation  and  of  creating 
shipping  facilities  that  shall  be  direct  and  adequate  to  the  expanding  needs  of 
Pan-American  trade. 

Combining  imports  and  exports,  one  finds  that  the  total  value  of  the  trade 
between  the  United  States  and  Latin  America  grew  from  $800,000,000  in  1914  to 
$1,750,000,000  in  1918.  This  vast  growth  of  nearly  one  billion  in  only  four  years 
put  the  United  States  not  merely  at  the  head,  but  made  its  Latin-American  trade 
greater  than  the  Latin-American  trade  of  all  the  rest  of  the  world  put  together. 
These  figures  probably  would  have  been  larger  if  adequate  shipping  facilities  had 
existed. 

You  all  know  what  this  implies  in  terms  of  finance  and  shipping.  To  supply 
this  rapidly  growing  trade,  the  need  of  ships  is  immediate  and  imperative — not 
tramps,  with  their  uncertain  sailings,  indifferent  accommodations  and  frequent 
delays,  but  liners,  with  definite  sailings,  offering  direct  and  quick  connection 
between  the  chief  ports.  Instead  of  depending  upon  foreign  ships  to  serve  the 
United  States-Latin  American  trades,  the  future  will  see  the  rapid  growth  of 
strong  North  and  South  American  lines,  carrying  American  goods,  and  promoting 
better  acquaintance  between  American  countries. 

Now  that  the  war,  with  its  interruptions  of  accustomed  trade  relations,  is 
happily  over,  the  keen  desire  of  Latin  American  merchants  for  the  renewal  of 
these  broken  shipping  connections  will  be  met  by  the  United  States  Shipping 
Board,  and  there  will  be  an  improvement  over  the  pre-war  standard.  Owing  to 
this  very  interruption,  exceptional  opportunities  will  offer  when  ships  of  the  right 
speed,  size  and  type  are  established,  as  they  soon  will  be,  in  direct  liner  service. 
Trade  expansion  is  here  to  stay.  All  forces  seem  to  be  pulling  for  the  establish- 
ment of  these  American  shipping  connections. 

The  sudden  development  of  the  merchant  marine  of  the  United  States  is  but 
the  beginning  of  larger  efforts  in  the  future.  At  this  favorable  moment  the  United 
States  acquires  some  of  the  best  ocean  liners  forfeited  by  Germany  as  a  result  of 
her  wanton  and  ruinous  war.  All  these  factors  are  playing  together  for  the 
building  up  of  these  lines  which  the  new  trade  needs  of  today  and  tomorrow 
demand.  As  ships  are  released  from  transport  and  relief  services,  and  as  the  new 
passenger  and  cargo  tonnage  becomes  available,  its  most  logical  use  is  to  be  found 
along  the  lines  which  geography  and  sound  economics  have  charted. 

The  United  States  Snipping  Board  is  laying  its  plans  to  respond  appro- 
priately to  this  call.  Already  226  ships  of  863,334  deadweight  tons  have  been  allo- 
cated to  Latin  American  trade.  What  is  more  important,  the  Board  is  now  sur- 
veying the  situation  in  order  to  promote  the  establishment  of  regular  American 
lines  between  the  United  States  and  South  America.  These  will  compare  favor- 
ably with  the  former  services  of  the  European  lines,  and  will  even  surpass  them. 


224  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Contemplated  plans  call  for  at  least  two  lines  from  New  York  to  serve  the  West 
Indian  trades,  one  of  them  covering  the  eastern  Caribbean  and  the  other  the 
western  Caribbean  with  canal  connections  at  Colon.  To  serve  the  swelling  com- 
merce of  the  west  coast,  a  line  will  be  maintained  connecting  Valparaiso  and  the 
other  western  ports  with  Mobile  or  New  Orleans.  We  have,  today,  a  passenger 
service  from  New  York  to  Valparaiso  which  is  9  days  shorter  than  existed  one 
year  ago.  As  soon  as  the  army  returns  our  American  transports,  we  will  have 
weekly  service  from  New  York  to  Valparaiso  on  fine  passenger  lines  through  the 
Panama  Canal. 

Good  liner  service  between  Valparaiso  and  Seattle,  with  calls  at  all  the 
important  Pacific  ports  and  also  between  San  Francisco  and  New  York  will  be 
assured,  and  American  lines  already  established  in  this  field  will  be  supplemented 
where  required.  Finally  and  most  important,  there  will  be  a  line  from  New  York 
to  the  ports  of  Brazil  and  the  River  Plate.  Modern  ships  of  the  passenger  cargo 
type  operated  over  these  lines  will  connect  the  great  centers  of  trade,  and  to  them 
will  flow  commerce  from  many  intermediate  points. 

It  is  realized  that  nothing  less  than  the  best  will  serve  to  satisfy  the  demands 
of  Latin  American  travelers  and  exporters. 

Therefore,  no  effort  will  be  spared  to  make  these  lines  conform  to  the 
highest  standards  of  modern  steamship  service.  It  is  hoped  to  have  them  specially 
designed  for  the  South  American  trade  annd  equipped  with  the  convenience  and 
luxuries  which  the  long  trips  in  tropical  seas  require.  The  passenger  ships  will 
have  ample  deck  space,  commodious  lounging  quarters,  complete  refrigerator  sys- 
tems to  supply  cool  air  in  staterooms,  and  adequate  bathing  facilities.  The  14 
ships  under  consideration  for  these  trades  are  of  about  18,000  gross  tons  with  a 
deadweight  of  about  12,000  and  with  accommodations  for  about  300  first-class 
passengers.  Being  combined  freight  and  passenger  ships  they  can  carry  mis- 
cellaneous cargoes  and  will  afford  just  the  accommodations  needed  for  the  coffee 
merchant  of  Brazil  who  wants  to  take  his  own  cargo  to  New  York  or  New 
Orleans  and  who  wishes  to  travel  on  the  same  ship  with  it. 

There  is  already  a  considerable  tourist  business  between  the  United  States 
and  South  American  countries  and  all  signs  point  to  a  rapid  growth  of  this  busi- 
ness in  the  near  future. 

Before  the  war  the  best  ships  in  direct  service  from  the  United  States  to 
the  eastern  ports  of  South  America  made  only  15  knots,  offered  only  fortnightly 
sailings  and  took  24  days  for  the  trip  from  New  York  to  Buenos  Aires.  Compare 
this  with  the  service  to  be  expected  in  the  immediate  future.  Three  magnificent 
ex-German  liners,  the  Mount  Vernon,  the  Von  Stueben,  and  the  Agamemnon  are  to 
be  remodeled  for  South  American  trade.  These  ships  make  23^  knots,  so  that 
the  trip  from  New  York  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  can  be  made  in  10  days  and  that  to 
Argentine  capitol  can  be  made  in  14  days.  There  will  thus  be  a  saving  of  at  least 
a  months  time  on  the  round  trip,  as  compared  with  the  present  or  prewar-service. 

A  very  important  benefit  that  will  flow  from  the  improvement  of  shipping 
connections  with  South  America  will  be  in  .the  mail  service.  Poor  mail  facilities 
have,  in  the  past,  proved  a  serious  handicap  in  the  way  of  increased  trade  relations 
between  the  United  States  and  Latin  America.  It  is  hoped  that  our  Congress 
will  change  the  laws  governing  carriage  of  mails  so  that  practically  every  ship 
capable  of  making  more  than  12  knots  an  hour  and  clearing  for  South  American 
ports  will  carry  mail.  By  using  both  passenger  and  cargo  lines,  it  will  thus  be 
possible  to  have  mail  service  three  or  four  times  a  week. 

As  things  now  stand,  the  mail  between  the  United  States  and  South  America 
is  carried  in  foreign  ships  with  slow  schedules,  and  this  involves  serious  delays. 
After  a  letter  is  mailed  it  may  wait  two  weeks  before  being  put  on  a  ship  and  this 
ship  will  take  20  to  24  days  to  reach  its  destination.  Thus,  it  might  take  5  weeks 
or  at  the  best  a  month  for  a  letter  to  go  from  New  York  to  Buenos  Aires.  Under 
the  new  service  with  fast  ships  sailing  once  a  week  and  with  intermediate  sailings 
on  slower  vessels,  a  letter  may  be  delivered  on  a  fast  ship  in  Buenos  Aires  15  days 
after  it  leaves  the  writer's  hands  in  New  York.  Within  a  month  the  New  York 
correspondent  may  have  a  reply  from  Buenos  Aires,  while  at  present  it  takes  about 
5  weeks  one  way. 

Heretofore  it  has  been  practically  impossible  for  many  American  firms  to 
conduct  business  efficiently  on  a  mail  basis,  and  uncertainty  about  arrival  of  com- 
mercial papers  has  caused  great  annoyance.  These  delays  will  now  be  eliminated, 
and  the  gap  which  has  long  separated  buyer  and  seller  to  the  disadvantage  of  both 
will  be  closed. 


SHIPPING    AND    OTHER   TRANSPORTATION  225 

The  parcel  post  will  show  an  improvement  commensurate  with  that  of  the 
mail  service.  Goods  suitable  for  light  packing  can  be  ordered  by  catalog  and 
delivered  in  a  South  American  country  just  as  packages  are  now  delivered  in  this 
country  by  mail  order  houses. 

When  this  new  liner  service  is  inaugurated  about  November  1st,  I  should 
like  to  arrange  an  introductory  cruise  on  the  Mout  Vernon,  the  palatial  liner  which 
formerly  flew  the  German  flag  under  the  name,  Kronprinzessin  Cecilie,  which  put 
into  Boston  early  in  the  war  was  later  seized  and  has  recently  become  a  permanent 
part  of  the  American  merchant  marine.  On  this  first  trip,  I  hope  to  see  a  dis- 
tinguished group  of  Americans — at  least  700  strong  including  government  officials, 
business  men  and  bankers,  of  this  country  and  particularly  the  officers  of  the  Pan 
American  Union  make  a  record-breaking  trip  to  at  least  three  of  the  South 
American  countries. 

Starting  on  Saturday,  November  1st,  and  sailing  direct  from  New  York 
to  Buenos  Aires,  the  Mount  Vernon  should  arrive  at  Buenos  Aires  on  Novem- 
ber 14th.  This  would  be  10  days  shorter  running  time  than  Jias  ever  been 
made  by  a  passenger  ship  going  from  the  U.  S.  to  an  Argentine  port.  This  would 
enable  a  stay  in  Argentine,  of  a  week.  From  there  the  party  could  make  the 
thirty-six  hour  rail  trip  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Valparaiso;  and  after  a  visit  to 
Chili,  the  party  could  return  to  Buenos  Aires  and  leave  for  Rio  de  Janeiro,  spend 
a  week  in  Brazil,  and  be  home  before  Christmas. 

In  the  coming  years,  American  shipyards  must  produce  vessels  swifter  and 
finer  than  those  to  which  the  South  American  trades  have  been  accustomed.  South 
American  steamship  companies,  as  yet  unborn,  may  build  in  North  American 
yards  the  nucleus  of  South  American  fleets  which  in  days  to  come  will  carry 
South  American  products  to  all  quarters  of  the  globe. 

During  the  last  few  months,  the  Shipping  Board's  program  of  construction 
has  been  subjected  to  thorough  revision  so  that  the  American  fleet  may  be ^  well 
balanced  and  may  adequately  serve  the  needs  of  peace  times.  In  this  revision, 
particular  attention  is  being  given  to  the  peculiar  needs  of  liner  service  with  the 
countries  to  the  south. 

Pan  Americanism  is  a  vital  factor  in  world  peace.  It  is  a  movement  solely 
for  international  cooperation  and  for  mutual  helpfulness.  Unity  of  ideals  has 
established  bonds  of  friendship  and  confidence  between  the  American  peoples. 
These  bonds  of  friendship  and  confidence  have  in  turn  laid  the  soundest  possible 
foundation  for  trade.  The  exchange  and  other  intercourse  which  rests  upon  such 
foundations  cannot  be  destroyed,  or  even  seriously  interrupted,  by  misunderstand- 
ings. Therefore  we  may  go  ahead  with  confidence  in  promoting  our  individual 
national  interests,  which  also  are  our  common  national  interests,  by  studying  how 
best  to  serve  one  another's  needs. 


NEW  ORLEANS  AND  LATIN  AMERICAN  SHIPPING 

BY  HON.  MARTIN  BEHRMAN,  MAYOR  OF  NEW  ORLEANS. 
(Delivered  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  You  noticed  that  no  New  Orleans 
delegate  asked  Mr.  Hurley  any  question.  You  cannot  discuss  Pan  America  or 
Latin  America  without  New  Orleans  being  considered  and  hence  it  was  not  nec- 
essary for  New  Orleans  to  ask  any  question  as  to  what  was  going  to  be  done  as 
far  as  the  port  of  New  Orleans  is  concerned,  because  it  is  natural  that  it  should 
be  considered — might  I  say  next  to  New  York?  Or  might  I  say  in  advance  of 
New  York?  You  know  these  New  Yorkers  talk  in  great  figures,  but  this  war 
has  taught  us  in  the  South  that  big  figures  do  not  stagger  us  any  more,  and  New 
Orleans  is  talking  big  figures  and  doing  big  things,  perhaps  a  little  bit  better  than 
those  who  formerly  talked  in  these  great  figures. 

A  port  city  naturally  must  not  only  be  a  port  city  in  name  but  it  must  so 
extend  its  facilities  that  they  may  be  used  in  the  best  advantage  of  all  those  who 
need  them.  You  know  we  folks  down  South  are  looked  upon  as  being  a  sort  of 
slow,  easy-going  people,  just  sort  of  marking  time  and  going  nowhere.  But  that 
is  no  longer  so! 

That  reminds  me  of  a  story  that  I  think  is  very  apropos  at  this  time,  of 
going  nowhere.  Up  at  Camp  Pike  where  our  boys  were  going  for  training,  there 


226  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

was  a  negro  sergeant  having  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with  his  soldiers,  teaching 
them  how  to  mark  time.  One  day  in  exasperation  he  said,  "You  niggers!  I'm 
a-goin*  to  beat  this  here  mark  time  into  your  haids  today.  If  you  don't  git  it, 
somebody's  a-goin'  to  quit  the  army  and  it  ain't  a-goin  to  be  me.  Mark  time 
ain't  nothin'  but  walkin'  and  goin'  nowhere.  Git  me?  Walkin'  and  goin'  no- 
where !" 

But  that  is  not  the  fact.  That  is  illustrated  by  another  story  they  tell 
of  another  negro  down  in  Georgia,  and  that  is  the  spirit  I  want  to  impress  you 
as  prevalent  in  New  Orleans  today. 

There  was  this  darkey  on  the  scaffold  about  to  be  hung,  goin'  right  square 
to  heaven  where  they  all  think  they're  goin',  begging  forgiveness  of  the  crowd, 
praying  for  forgiveness,  when  he  spied  the  wife  of  the  negro  he  had  killed,  and 
reaching  over  to  her  he  said,  "Sister,  you're  a-goin'  to  forgive  me  for  havin'  killed 
your  husband,  ain't  you?"  And  she  said,  "Git  hung,  nigger!  Git  hung!" 

That  is  the  way  we  are  moving — fast.     We  are  moving  along  in  fast  lines. 

Now,  my,  friends,  we  appreciate  in  New  Orleans  that  we  had  to  expand  our 
business  and  naturally  we  looked  to  the  countries  south  of  us  and  we  felt  we 
must  develop  this  port  to  its  fullest  extent  that  the  cargoes  handled  there  should 
be  handled  in  the  best  way  at  a  minimum  cost.  We  are  fortunate  in  owning  our 
own  port,  the  title  is  in  the  people  and  all  the  facilities  that  go  to  make  up  a  suc- 
cessful port  has  the  title  vested  in  the  people.  The  docks  that  we  have  there  are 
built  and  operated  by  the  people,  not  for  the  purpose  of  making  money  to  declare 
dividends  for  stockholders  but  for  the  benefit  to  the  commerce  itself. 

There  is  an  ideal  condition  there  and  those  of  you  interested  in  trade  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  South  and  Central  America  will  naturally  look 
forward  to  the  port  nearest  to  your  business  and  where  your  business  can  be 
handled  at  the  cheapest  cost.  Now,  we  have  built  this  magnificent  dock  and 
steel  sheds  where  mammoth  cargoes  can  be  accumulated  for  incoming  and  out- 
going vessels;  and  then  we  were  met  with  the  condition  that  no  matter  how  fine 
and  how  grand  and  how  safe  these  warehouses  would  be,  of  what  avail  would 
they  be  if  you  could  not  economically  reach  them?  Then  the  city  built  a  pub- 
licly owned  belt  railroad  and  we  handle  all  the  cars  of  all  the  roads  entering  New 
Orleans  at  a  minimum  of  cost.  We  connect  every  steamship  line,  every  industry 
and  every  dock  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans  and  there  you  have  the  efficiency  of 
quick  handling  of  business. 

I  can  pass  hurriedly  and  tell  you  that  we  own  our  own  grain  elevator,  we 
own  our  own  copper  warehouses,  and  what  I  want  to  call  your  especial  attention 
to  at  this  time,  my  friends,  is  the  great  industrial  canal  or  inner  harbor  that  is 
now  being  constructed  by  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans  to  connect  the 
Mississippi  River  with  Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  to  have  there  on  the  banks  of 
that  canal  land  available  for  all  sorts  of  industries,  having  the  advantage  of  the 
water  and  rail  route. 

A  very  important  thing  will  come  up  in  connection  with  this  canal  that  is 
of  interest  to  you  who  do  business  and  who  are  interested  in  Pan  American  trade. 
That  is  a  free  port.  We  are  anxious  to  have  located  at  New  Orleans  a  free 
port.  You  will  be  very  much  interested  in  what  a  free  port  is,  and  it  should  be 
the  aim  of  this  Conference  to  pass  resolutions  urging  upon  the  Congress  to  pass 
the  bill  providing  for  free  ports  not  in  one  city,  not  at  two  cities,  not  at  three 
cities,  but  such  cities  that  will  put  themselves  in  the  position  to  make  their  port 
available  for  that. 

I  want  to  read  to  you  just  a  few  lines  of  what  a  free  port  will  mean.  This 
is  from  an  address  I  delivered  at  the  Foreign  Trade  convention: 

"It  has  been  the  experience  in  every  instance  where  a  free  port  has  been 
established  that  following  the  abrogation  of  regulations  resulting  in  customs  in- 
terference and  customs  impediments,  cars,  ships,  warehouses  and  other  expedients 
for  collecting,  transporting,  sorting,  cleansing,  packing,  etc.,  are  brought  into  the 
most  intimate  relationship,  and  that  additionally,  there  has  been  a  corresponding 
saving  in  time  as  well  as  absence  of  the  annoyances  so  persistent  and  so  irritating 
in  existing  arrangements. 

"As  I  understand  it,  the  collection  of  duties  on  imports  entering  the  coun- 
try for  domestic  use  will  in  no  wise  be  affected  through  the  operation  of  the  free 
port  system;  for  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  only  where  such  imports  are  brought 
in  simply  to  be  manufactured  or  regraded  that  they  will  escape  duty.  The  bonded 


SHIPPING    AND    OTHER    TRANSPORTATION  227 

warehouse  system  is  practically  a  synonym  for  free  port.  Under  the  former,  im- 
ported goods  may  be  taken  from  the  wharf  to  the  warehouse  without  any  pay- 
ment of  duty  and  exported  at  any  time  within  three  years.  The  free  port  is  an 
interchangeable  term  for  additional  and  better  facilities,  giving  an  equal  chance 
to  all,  and  enabling  big  business  to  expand  without  injury  to  smaller  industries. 
The  free  port  would  manifestly  not  only  encourage  manufactories,  but  introduce 
into  our  establishments  a  most  versatile  and  efficient  class  of  foreign  labor,  thereby 
enabling  competition  in  many  directions,  and  among  peoples  with  whom  we  main- 
tain at- present  but  little  or  no  business  relations.  New  Orleans  is  especially  con- 
cerned in  the  trade  of  Latin  America,  which  just  now  is  dealing  almost  exclu- 
sively with  this  country,  and  very  largely  with  our  city,  which  is  closer^and  in 
many  respects  more  inviting  to  the  merchants  of  those  countries  than  any  other 
of  our  sister  cities. 

"In  August  last,  New  Orleans  was  visited  by  Mr.  D.  M.  Greer,  represent- 
ing the  Tariff  Commission,  who  was  anxious  that  the  Crescent  City  present  its 
claims  to  be  designated  as  one  of  the  new  ports  of  entry  provided  for  in  the 
Sanders  Bill.  This  first  Bill  I  referred  to  was  a  Bill  designating  three  ports — 
San  Francisco,  New  Orleans  and  New  York  as  a  place  where  a  free  port  may 
be  located.  I  understand  the  impending  Bill  will  give  the  states  and  municipali- 
ties, wherever  located,  authority  to  create  free  ports. 

"Mr.  Greer  reminded  our  people  that  we  would  have  to  show  superior  qual- 
ifications in  both  present  and  prospective  tonnage  for  export  trade;  would  have 
to  be  in  a  position  to  offer  the  largest  measure  of  cooperation  with  the  Federal 
Government,  and  the  least  operating  costs.  Among  other  requisites  mentioned 
were  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  port,  depth  of  water,  space  for  anchor- 
age, wharfage  facilities,  belt  lines  and  other  railway  service,  general  commercial 
possibilities,  materials  to  be  handled,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  possibility  of 
combining  foreign  and  domestic  materials  through  manufacture;  and  special  ad- 
vantages for  export  trade. 

"Inquiry  will  be  made  also  as  to  whether  wharves  and  warehouses  are  pub- 
licly or  privately  owned,  guaranteed  against  monopoly  of  wharfage;  whether  con- 
trol is  now  exercised  by  the  state  and  municpial  governments  over  the  manage- 
ment and  costs  of  all  functions  that  go  to  provide  for  port  facilities.  This  mat- 
ter is  receiving  the  attention  of  our  various  commercial  exchanges,  who  are  de- 
termined that  the  government  shall  have  in  its  possession  at  the  proper  time  all 
the  data  and  facts  necessary  to  arrive  at  an  intelligent  decision. 

"We  believe  we  can  come  as  near  compliance  with  these  requirements  as 
any  city  on  this  continent.  Believing  so,  we  shall  submit  pur  claims  with  faith  in 
their  justice  and  impartiality  and  with  confidence  that  in  the  end  we  shall  be 
awarded  the  distinguished  honor  we  so  earnestly  covet — not  for  ourselves  alone, 
but  that  we  may  through  this  means  be  the  better  able  to  render  an  unselfish  and 
patriotic  service  to  our  common  country." 

This,  gentlemen,  to  my  mind  is  one  of  the  important  things  that  this  Con- 
ference ought  to  lend  itself  to.  I  have  read  to  you  what  I  believe  to  be  the  im- 
portance of  a  free  port  and  those  of  you  who  are  engaged  in  foreign  trade,  which 
most  of  you  naturally  are,  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  you  give  this  your 
most  earnest  attention. 

I  thank  you  very  much,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  permission  to  be  here 
this  morning.  I  had  no  idea  that  I  was  on  the  program  until  I  came  into  the  hall 
yesterday,  when  my  good  friend,  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  presides  over 
these  deliberations,  invited  me  to  be  here.  He  is  a  good  friend  of  New  Orleans 
and  we  are  proud  to  be  a  friend  of  his. 


THE  NEEDS  OF  SOUTH  AMERICAN  SHIPPING 

BY  GROSVENOR  M.  JONES,  ASSISTANT  DIRECTOR,  BUREAU  OF  FOREIGN  AND  DOMESTIC 

COMMERCE 

(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

The  Department  of  Commerce  has  a  vital   interest  in  shipping.     Without 
ships  there  can  be  little  or  no  international  trade. 

Prior  to  the  war  the  Department  of  Commerce,  like  the  whole  country,  took 
comparatively  little  interest  in  the  development  of  Amerjcan  shipping.     Ships  of 


228  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

other  nations  were  available  to  carry  the  bulk  of  the  trade  we  then  had  and  the 
people  of  the  country  did  not  concern  themselves  about  the  nationality  of  the  ships 
which  carried  our  imports  and  exports. 

The  war  has  brought  home  to  all  Americans,  South  and  Central  Americans, 
as  well  as  North  Americans,  our  great  dependence  upon  ocean  shipping.  There 
is  not  a  single  Latin  American  Republic  that  has  not  suffered  serious  losses  through 
the  curtailment  of  shipping  during  the  war. 

Prior  to  August,  1914,  we  could  depend  to  a  large  degree  upon  the  ships  of 
European  countries,  principally  Great  Britain  and  Germany,  to  carry  the  trade  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  Latin  American  republics.  Now  we  must  rely 
almost  entirely  upon  the  merchant  marine  of  the  United  States  to  transport  this 
traffic.  Germany's  merchant  shipping  is  no  longer  a  factor,  while  the  ships  of 
Great  Britain  for  some  years  will  be  employed  very  largely  on  lines  operating  out 
of  British  ports  and  can  serve  in  only  a  limited  degree  the  trade  between  North 
and  South  America. 

Fortunately  at  this  critical  period  the  United  States  has  a  large  and  increasing 
merchant  marine.  The  establishment  of  a  shipbuilding  industry  and  a  large  mer- 
chant marine  are  two  of  the  few  real  benefits  we  have  derived  from  the  war.  With- 
out ships  of  the  United  States  the  trade  between  the  Americas  would  now  be  at  a 
low  ebb  and  in  such  a  situation  the  republics  of  Central  and  South  America  would 
suffer  quite  as  much  as  the  United  States,  since  the  latter  country  is  the  largest 
purchaser  of  many  of  the  principal  products  of  South  and  Central  America. 

Since  1914  the  volume  of  traffic  moving  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Latin  American  republics  has  increased  greatly.  The  total  tonnage  employed  in  this 
trade  in  1914  could  have  moved  only  60  per  cent  of  the  traffic  actually  moved  in 
1918.  Not  only  has  this  trade  expanded  greatly  but  doubtless  it  will  continue  to 
expand  with  the  development  of  the  extensive  and  varied  resources  of  the  Latin 
American  republics  and  with  the  increasing  dependence  of  the  United  States  upon 
these  countries  for  many  important  foodstuffs  as  its  population  grows,  and  for 
many  important  raw  products,  as  its  industries  expand. 

Direct  routes  are  a  prime  requisite  for  a  well-balanced  and  developing  trade 
between  the  countries  of  the  two  continents.  There  should  be  less  triangular  rout- 
ing than  was  the  case  before  the  war.  The  many  bottoms  that  bring  Brazilian 
coffee,  rubber  and  manganese,  Argentine  wool,  hides,  linseed  and  quebracho  extract, 
Chilean  nitrate  and  copper  and  Peruvian  copper,  vanadium  and  tungsten  ought  to 
be  available  for  return  cargoes  of  products  from  the  United  States.  Direct  ship- 
ping would  not  only  provide  for  return  cargoes  but  should  reduce  freight  rates, 
costs  of  insurance  and  time  in  transit  on  outbound  cargoes. 

The  shipping  routes  of  the  world  are  being  laid  out  on  new  lines,  largely  as 
a  result  of  the  shortage  of  shipping  caused  by  the  war  but  partly  also  as  a  result 
of  the  Panama  Canal.  The  Canal  was  opened  only  a  short  time  before  the  war 
broke  out  and  the  full  effects  of  the  changes  that  will  result  from  its  use  have  not 
yet  been  felt. 

Chairman  Hurley  of  the  Shipping  Board  has  recently  requested  the  Secretary 
of  Commerce  to  suggest  a  number  of  shipping  services  urgently  required  for  the 
maintenance  of  American  trade.  The  first  suggestions,  it  is  interesting  to  note, 
were  for  several  new  services  to  and  from  Latin  America. 

It  seems  to  me  that  in  addition  to  the  services  now  maintained  by  private 
companies  it  would  be  well  if  the  Shipping  Board  would  establish  at  least  one  fort- 
nightly freight  and  passenger  service  between  New  York  and  Venezuelan  and  Co- 
lombian ports,  one  fortnightly  freight  and  passenger  service  between  New  Orleans 
and  Venezuelan  and  Colombian  ports  via  Jamaica  or  other  islands  of  the  West 
Indies,  a  fast  monthly  freight  and  passenger  service  between  New  York,  Rio 
de  Janeiro,  Montevideo  and  Buenos  Aires,  and  a  slightly  slower  monthly  service 
between  New  York  and  Buenos  Aires  with  calls  at  Pernambuco,  Bahia,  and  Santos, 
as  well  as  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Montevideo.  The  steamers  employed  in  the  services 
to  Colombian  and  Venezuelan  ports  .might  well  be  of  the  "Turrialba"  class  of  the 
United  Fruit  line,  that  is  of  about  4,500  tons  gross  register  and  of  14  knots  speed 
and  built  especially  for  the  tropical  trade.  The  fast  steamers  employed  on  the 
New  York-Buenos  Aires  service  should  be  at  least  as  good  and  as  fast  as  the 
"Vauban"  type  of  the  Lamport  &  Holt  line,  with  which  they  would  have  to  com- 
pete. The  two  monthly  services  between  New  York  and  Buenos  Aires  should  be 
so  arranged  as  to  provide  fortnightly  sailings  out  of  New  York  and  Buenos  Aires. 

In  the  matter  of  a  through  passenger  service  to  the  West  Coast,  the  service 
instituted  by  W.  R.  Grace  &  Co.  during  the  war  should  be  extended  as  rapidly  as 


SHIPPING    AND    OTHER    TRANSPORTATION  229 

possible  so  as  to  provide  fortnightly  sailings  in  both  directions.  This  service  would 
not  interfere  with  that  offered  by  the  ships  of  the  Peruvian  and  Chilean  companies. 
There  would  be  sufficient  traffic  for  all  these  lines  and  the  trade  of  the  West  Coast 
countries  would  at  the  same  time  be  better  served. 

There  is  need  for  an  inter-island  service  in  the  West  Indies,  which  would 
make  it  more  convenient  for  travelers  to  go  from  Cuba  and  Santo  Domingo  to 
Porto  Rico  or  from  Porto  Rico  to  other  islands  in  the  West  Indies.  Travel  in  the 
West  Indies  would  be  greatly  facilitated  if  a  circular  inter-island  service  of  small 
steamers  were  instituted. 

It  would  be  very  desirable  also  if  the  principal  routes  between  United  States 
ports  and  those  of  South  America  were  made  to  cross  at  some  convenient  port  in 
the  Caribbean.  For  instance,  the  port  of  St.  Thomas  would  make  a  splendid  focal 
point  for  lines  between  New  York  and  East  C9ast  ports  and  for  those  operating 
between  New  York  and  Venezuelan  and  Colombian  ports.  Under  such  an  arrange- 
ment passegers  bound  for  Venezuela  or  Colombia  on  a  north  bound  steamer  from 
Buenos  Aires  could  transfer  at  St.  Thomas  to  a  south  bound  steamer  proceeding 
to  the  north  coast  countries  without  going  all  the  way  to  New  York,  as  is  neces- 
sary at  present. 

This  opens  up  a  big  field  for  discussion  and  it  is  impossible  in  a  brief  address 
to  do  more  than  to  call  attention  to  some  of  the  more  striking  phases  of  the  shipping 
situation.  Much  good  will  be  accomplished  if  the  exporters  and  importers  of  the 
Pan  American  countries  will  give  the  Shipping  Board  and  the  Department  of 
Commerce  their  views  as  to  desirable  services  and  routes.  I  am  confident  that  the 
discussions  of  this  session  of  the  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  will  yield 
many  valuable  suggestions  along  this  line. 


PAN    AMERICAN     SHIPPING     AND     COMMERCE 

BY  GEORGE  L.  DUVAL,  OF  WESSEL,  DtoVAL  &  Co.,  NEW  YORK 
(Delivered  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Pan  American  shipping,  meaning  transportation  facilities  for  Pan  American 
commerce,  is  a  segment  of  a  larger  subject  now  engaging  public  attention,  a  segment 
which  in  the  briefest  treatment  cannot  be  fairly  considered  apart  from  the  text, 
as  the  conditions  that  concern  shipping  in  general  bear  upon  its  integral  parts  and 
have  undergone  a  radical  change  in  the  course  of  the  war. 

The  Pan  American  service,  like  others,  has  hitherto  measurably  depended  on 
foreign  tonnage  for  transportation,  whereas  hereafter  American  tonnage  will  depend 
upon  Pan  American  and  other  commerce  for  employment.  The  problem  is  to  hold 
or  to  find  the  commerce. 

Ships  to  commerce  are  as  food  to  life,  yet  they  do  not  lead  but  follow ;  they 
are  servants,  not  masters.  During  the  dark  days  through  which  we  have  passed, 
while  the  extent  of  commerce  has  been  measured  by  the  ships  available  for  its 
transportation,  an  undue  prominence  has  attached  to  the  element  of  tonnage,  sub- 
ordinating and  often  ignoring  the  factors  upon  which  commerce  primarily  depends. 
Even  before  the  war  claims  were  made  in  favor  of  a  National  Merchant  Marine  on 
behalf  of  commerce  that  would  not  bear  analysis.  It  has  been  asserted  time  and 
again  that  our  foreign  commerce  languished  for  the  need  of  ships  of  our  own  to 
serve  it,  and  that  the  freight  paid  to  foreign  tonnage  was  an  economic  loss.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  there  was  no  dearth  of  shipping  for  the  world's  commerce  before 
the  war,  nor  any  undue  discrimination  against  ours.  It  is  true  that  our  outward 
business  was  subjected  to  higher  freight  rates  in  general  than  European  commerce 
incurred,  but  this  would  have  been  the  same  had  we  had  an  adequate  fleet  of  our 
own  as  free  as  other  fleets  in  its  operation,  since  there  is  no  sentiment  in  ships  or 
ship  owners  and  they  seek  the  most  profitable  employment  procurable.  Where 
tonnage  congregates  in  greatest  volume  competition  fixes  the  lowest  rates,  and  f  as 
Europe  has  offered  a  broader  and  more  constant  market  for  the  product  of  foreign 
countries,  homeward  tonnage  has  headed  that  way  and  been  more  available  there 
for  outward  voyages. 

The  economic  loss  in  freight  disbursement,  moreover,  is  not  the  payment 
made  for  the  service  but  only  that  which  remains  after  the  cost  of  operation  is 


URUGUAY 

F0REIGK  COMMERCE 1917 
TOTAL  *  134,918,000. 


UNITED  STATES 
11,009,000 


*ie,  376,000.  f>  14-,  734,000 


SHIPPING    AND    OTHER    TRANSPORTATION  231 

deducted,  for  it  is  clear  that  labor,  supplies  and  port  charges  pay  no  heed  to  the 
carrying  flag  and  in  normal  times  absorb  all  but  a  small  percentage  of  the  freight 
money,  the  margin  for  long  and  recurring  periods  being  expressed  in  red  ink;  in 
other  words,  a  minus  quantity.  Under  prevailing  conditions  and  under  the  pro- 
visions of  our  Navigation  Laws,  the  cost  of  operating  American  ships  has  been 
higher  than  the  cost  of  operating  foreign  tonnage,  so  that,  as  in  the  case  of  any 
commodity  that  we  need,  we  have  bought  freight  room  where  we  could  procure  it 
cheaper  than  we  could  provide  it  ourselves,  and  our  capital  otherwise  invested  has 
undoubtedly  brought  to  us  greater  tribute  than  we  have  paid. 

In  order  to  present  a  true  perspective  of  the  condition  that  confronts  us,  it 
is  important  to  quiet  these  fallacious  theories.  It  is  not  to  depreciate  the  value  of 
a  Merchant  Marine  of  our  own,  which  is  inestimable  as  an  adjunct  to  the  Navy 
and  in  times  of  stress  to  the  national  defense.  We  have,  moreover,  within  us  the 
elements  to  make  it  commercially  valuable,  but  the  possession  of  the  ships  or  the 
possession  of  the  ships  and  the  money  does  not  of  itself  provide  commerce  for  their 
employment.  Commerce  is  not  a  ready-made  quantity  but  the  fruit  of  long,  diligent 
and  consistent  effort  on  the  part  of  different  factors  working  together,  not  each 
for  itself,  but  mutually  helpful  in  organized  and  coordinated  form. 

"Trade  follows  the  flag"  is  the  slogan  of  laziness,  for  it  is  not  true  without 
the  "push"  behind  the  flag,  of  which  our  people  are  capable  when  determined.  It 
is,  of  course,  soothing  to  national  pride  for  merchants  engaged  in  foreign  com- 
merce to  see  its  subject  matter  carried  to  its  destination  under  our  flag,  but  it  is 
a  delusion  to  believe  that  its  value  is  enhanced  an  iota  thereby  or  that  buyers  are 
thus  made  more  eager  for  it. 

Presently,  and  as  a  result  of  the  war  activities  of  Government,  we  shall 
be  endowed  with  a  vast  fleet  of  vessels,  constituting  a  formidable  Merchant  Marine 
of  our  own,  with  a  still  vaster  potential  fleet  behind  it.  The  distinguished  Chair- 
man of  the  Shipping  Board,  at  present  controlling  the  ships,  has  said  that  the 
Government  looks  to  those  engaged  in  foreign  commerce — presumably  the  mer- 
chants who  have  established  their  branches  abroad — to  develop  employment  for  them, 
but  bricks  are  not  made  without  straw.  It  is  very  much  to  be  hoped  that  the  class 
upon  which  Mr.  Hurley  calls  will  multiply  their  number  and  give  fitting  represen- 
tation to  our  commerce  in  Pan  American  markets  and  elsewhere  to  correspond  to 
the  standard  of  representation  established  by  competing  countries.  We  may  rely 
upon  the  enterprise  of  our  people,  so  dominant  a  feature  in  the  national  character,  to 
fulfill  this  requirement  if  it  is  given  the  encouragement  and  aid  to  which  it  is  en- 
titled on  behalf  of  the  prosperity  of  the  entire  country,  but  let  such  expansion 
reach  the  ultimate  limit  and  even  then  the  combined  resources  of  the  merchants 
themselves  will  not  be  adequate  to  care  for  such  a  mjovement  in  commerce  as  our 
facilities  and  our  needs  oblige  us  to  look  for.  Merchants  must  have  the  cooperation 
and  very  active  assistance  of  manufacturers  and  bankers,  the  same  as  merchants  of 
other  countries  enjoy,  and  present  a  solidarity  of  effort  by  the  three  distinct  ele- 
ments, each  operating  within  its  own  function  and  displaying  an  esprit  de  corps. 

The  cooperation  of  the  manufacturer  is  essential  in  adapting  his  product  and 
the  details  of  shipment  to  the  requirements  of  the  markets  sought  and  to  bring  his 
costs  or  his  price  within  the  reach  of  foreign  competition.  He  should  realize  that 
outward  American  commerce  does  not  consist  of  any  one  item  or  restricted  group 
of  items,  but  of  all  that  our  industries  produce  in  excess  of  our  own  needs,  in 
order  to  maintain  in  activity  the  great  industrial  system  of  the  country.  The  sepa- 
ration of  any  important  product  from  the  rest  in  the  plan  of  distribution  is  to  injure 
the  others,  particularly  so  when  in  such  procedure  alien  merchants  are  put  upon  a 
preferential  or  even  upon  an  equal  footing  with  national  merchants,  which  is  not 
an  unique  procedure  of  our  manufacturers  in  their  haste  for  results.  The  alien 
merchant  so  favored  in  a  staple  non-competitive  American  product  uses  it  to  assist 
the  disposal  of  competitive  articles  of  national  origin  to  which  he  owes  allegiance, 
and  when  the  article  itself  comes  into  like  competition  the  discrimination  shown 
against  the  American  product  is  natural  and  to  be  expected. 

The  invasion  of  our  hearthstone  by  many  of  the  European  firms  which  have 
beguiled  our  manufacturers  in  foreign  markets  bodes  no  good  to  our  position. 
With  interest  centered  in  their  national  commerce  it  is  no  premium  on  prophecy  to 
predict  their  attitude  towards  ours  at  the  time  when  it  will  most  need  loyal  service. 
It  is  safe  to  say,  however,  that  it  will  not  tend  to  develop  burdensome  volume  or  a 
tax  upon  the  carrying  capacity  of  our  ships. 

To  the  banker  commerce  at  large  looks  for  the  facilities  which  are  due  to 
it  from  the  funds  of  which  he  is  the  custodian,  not  only  in  assisting  the  extension 


232  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

of  credit  on  the  shipments  of  our  merchandise  but  also  in  helping  healthy  enter- 
prises abroad,  both  public  and  private,  for  it  is  not  the  only  function  of  the  mer- 
chant to  cater  to  the  needs  of  his  foreign  clients,  but  also,  by  developing  reciprocal 
markets  for  their  products  and  by  encouraging  their  local  enterprises,  to  augment 
their  needs  and  purchasing  power  and  hold  their  good  will.  It  is  in  this  way  that 
our  principal  competitors  gained  their  ascendancy  and  hold  upon  foreign  commerce, 
and  it  is  only  in  this  way  that  we  can  shake  it  and  secure  for  ourselves  the  pro- 
portion that  we  are  entitled  to. 

In  professing  their  desire  to  help  foreign  commerce,  those  banks  and  financial 
institutions  that  either  establish  commercial  departments  of  their  own  or  make 
affiliations  with  distinctive  commercial  channels  for  exclusive  or  at  least  preferential 
access  to  their  funds  are  not  only  ultra  vires  in  procedure  but  inimical  to  the  cause. 
They  likewise  impair  their  own  fiduciary  standing  by  identification  with  outside  or 
"collateral  organizations,  and  thus,  reaching  for  extraneous  benefit,  disregard  the 
ethics  of  their  calling  and  reflect  upon  its  dignity. 

The  tendency  in  American  practice  to  ignore  precedent,  however  successful, 
and  to  hew  out  a  short  cut  or  an  easier  way  of  its  own,  serves  only  to  hamper 
and  delay  progress  in  developing  foreign  commerce,  and  unless  the  light  of  example 
shines  upon  its  procedure  and  it  takes  the  illuminated  road,  it  is  to  be  feared 
that  Pan  American  commerce  and  all  of  its  sisters  and  brothers  instead  of  seizing 
the  ships  as  they  are  available  and  clamoring  for  more  will  continue  to  languish, 
and  the  facilities  that  we  enjoy  will  be  doing  for  others  what  they  should  do  for  us. 

The  normal  balance  of  trade  largely  favors  the  South  American  Republics, 
but  instead  of  acquiring  credits  here  it  is  remitted  to  London  because  there  or  in 
other  parts  of  Europe  they  get  the  accommodations  they  need  in  their  process  of 
development.  The  significance  of  these  balances  is  lost  upon  our  magnates  of 
finance  while  shrewdly  appreciated  abroad.  The  depositary  enjoys  much  the  same 
advantage  that  our  banks  enjoy  from  balances  carried  by  their  clients  upon  which 
no  interest  is  paid,  but,  loaned  to  other  clients  and  often  to  the  depositors  them- 
selves, gain  the  market  rate  of  interest. 

These  balances,  coming  from  all  directions,  have  made  Sterling  the  world- 
wide stable  measure  of  value,  and  so  it  will  remain  while  these  conditions  con- 
tinue, and  impose  a  tax  upon  all  of  our  foreign  commerce  through  the  medium  of 
exchange. 

The  supremacy  of  Sterling,  menaced  during  the  war  by  the  enormous  credits 
established  in  England  and  the  drawing  power  they  furnished,  was  saved  by  an 
expedient  adopted  ffere  resulting  in  the  depreciation  of  our  own  currency  and  a 
surcharge  upon  all  of  our  imports.  To  indefinitely  subject  all  our  foreign  dealings 
to  a  Sterling  control  or  to  pay  a  perennial  tribute  to  it  is  intolerable,  yet  for  any- 
thing that  the  wisdom  of  our  financiers  has  yet  adopted  or  projected,  dollar  ex- 
change in  a  broad  or  practical  sense  is  but  a  pretty  and  alluring  figure  of  speech. 
There  is,  of  course,  more  exchange  in  dollars  than  there  was,  but,  save  in  rare 
instances,  it  involves  a  Sterling  conversion  and  the  wise  merchant  prefers  to  do 
this  for  himself  rather  than  leave  it  to  the  bank.  In  the  conduct  of  commerce,  and 
therefore  in  providing  employment  for  our  ships,  no  item  is  insignificant. 

In  ante-bellum  times  the  Pan  American  commercial  situation  was  sound  and 
progressive.  The  phenomenal  impetus  given  to  it  by  the  war  developed  propor- 
tions that  exceed  any  standard  of  expectation  for  the  future,  as  it  was  chiefly  due 
to  the  absence  of  competition.  It  has,  however,  given  our  friends  in  the  southern 
Republic  information  on  what  we  can  do  to  serve  them,  and  it  has  acquainted 
our  manufacturers  with  the  needs  of  our  Southern  friends  and  how  to  meet 
them.  We  may  accordingly  hope  that  with  enterprise  and  effort  to  match  that 
with  which  we  will  come  in  conflict  a  good  proportion  of  the  increase  may  be  held. 
We  may  certainly  feel  assured  of  the  good  will  of  our  Southern  neighbors  and  their 
earnest  desire  to  promote  closer  and  more  ample  commercial  relations  with  us. 

Polite  and  scrupulously  observant  in  the  amenities  of  intercourse,  they  are 
none  the  less  practical.  While  appreciative  of  fine  words  and  entertainment,  they 
look  to  us  to  express  our  disposition  in  deeds,  and  unless  we  meet  their  expecta- 
tion in  this  respect  we  shall  continue  to  be  spectators  of  the  march  of  events,  and 
the  holds  of  our  ships  will  gape  for  cargo  that  foreigners  alone  can  supply  because 
of  supineness  and  complacency  on  the  part  of  delinquent  members  of  our  body 
commercial. 


SHIPPING    AND    OTHER   TRANSPORTATION  233 

OCEAN  TRANSPORTATION 

/   • 

BY  SENOR  JOSE  RICHLING,  CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  URUGUAY  AT  LARGE,  NEW  YORK. 

(Delivered  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Tuesday,  June  3) 

In  the  process  of  development  of  the  foreign  trade  of  any  country  three 
main  or  basic  factors  must  be  taken  into  consideration.  By  order  of  precedence 
they  are:  (1)  Adequate  postal  and  telegraphic  communications ;  (2)  ocean  trans- 
portation; (3)  proper  banking  facilities  and  credits. 

It  is  of  importance  that  ready  means  of  communication  be  established  not 
only  by  means  of  cable  but  by  a  reasonable  fast  and  reliable  mail  and  passenger 
service. 

No  less  significant  are  adequate  banking  arrangements  which  should  allow 
the  exporter  and  importer  to  negotiate  his  commercial  paper  on  the  same  foot- 
ing and  equal  terms  with  his  foreign  competitors  and  at  the  same  time  should 
tend  to  stabilize  exchange  as  much  as  possible. 

But  in  the  actual  and  underlying  circumstances  of  Pan  American  trade 
expansion,  such  as  they  have  been  created  or  influenced  by  the  war,  I  consider 
ocean  transportation  to  be  the  pivot-factor  and  if  you  will  permit  me  I  shall 
make  a  few  remarks  on  the  subject. 

By  reason  of  the  emergencies  of  so  varied  and  complicated  a  nature  which 
have  arisen  from  the  war  I  have  been  compelled  to  take  a  greater  interest  in 
all  the  factors  which  constitute  international  trade  than  I  usually  do  in  normal 
times.  The  experience  thus  acquired  has  allowed  me  to  arrive  at  the  following 
conclusions. 

The  main  requirements  in  the  transportation  of  the  merchandise  contracted 
for  delivery  in  order  that  the  exporter  and  importer  may  develop  their  trade 
must  be,  I  believe,  assured  of  the  following: 

(a)  Regularity  and  frequency  of  shipping  opportunities  (sailings) ;  (b) 
stable  rates  to  permit  him  to  figure  his  business  ahead;  (c)  some  assurance  that 
his  cost  of  transportation  (freight  rates)  will  bear  as  close  a  parity  as  possible 
to  the  cost  of  transportation  of  like  goods  from  competing  European  countries. 

Regularity  and  frequency  of  service  is  assured  the  European  manufacturer 
and  exporter  by  reason  of  his  older  established  business  and  the  freight  lines 
which  have  been  built  up  through  this  long  established  export  trade.  With  the 
merchant  marine  built  in  the  emergency  caused  by  the  European  War,  which 
will  have  to  be  turned  into  commercial  service,  the  American  merchant  and  ex- 
porter has  a  better  opportunity  than  ever  before  for  a  regular  frequent  service 
and  if  advantage  is  taken  of  his  opportunity  to  establish  export  relations  with 
Uruguay  it  is  fair  to  say  that  his  transportation  facilities  will  come  nearer  equal- 
ing those  of  his  European  competitor's  than  ever  before. 

Excepting  in  abnormal  periods  in  the  shipping  business  of  the  world  the 
exporter  of  the  United  States  has  had  the  advantage  of  fairly  equal  rates  to 
those  enjoyed  by  his  European  competitor,  but,  during  abnormal  periods,  when 
the  world's  demand  for  ships  was  in  excess  of  the  supply,  the  American  merchant 
having  no  established  American  lines  such  as  those  in  effect  from  European  coun- 
tries was  to  a  greater  degree  dependent  on  what  is  known  as  tramp  tonnage  in 
his  trading  and  in  consequence,  in  these  abnormal  periods,  had  to  pay  freight 
rates,  which  in  effect,  made  him  bid  for  tonnage  in  the  open  market.  This,  in 
many  cases,  at  such  times  destroyed  the  equality  of  rates  from  America  and 
Europe.  With  the  avowed  intention  of  the  United  States  Shipping  Board  to  use 
the  tonnage  built  in  the  recent  emergency  for  the  development  of  regular  trade 
routes  the  American  exporter  will  be  placed  more  nearly  to  an  equal  position  to 
the  exporter  from  European  countries  in  that  his  transportation  lines  will  be  bet- 
ter established  and  more  likely  to  be  maintained  even  in  abnormal  times. 

Under  normal  conditions  freight  rates  from  European  countries  were  more 
stable  than  from  the  United  States  for  the  reason  that  the  shipping  lines  worked 
in  concert  to  maintain  a  tariff  of  rates  quoted  by  practically  all  of  the  competing 
lines.  I  believe  it  is  to  the  advantage  of  the  exporter  that  there  be  stability  in 
the  rates  quoted  by  competing  lines  from  the  United  States  and  this  can  only 
be  done,  I  think,  by  the  American  lines  working  in  concert  on  the  question  of 
freight  rates  and  some  form  of  working  agreement  between  lines  in  any  given 


234  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

trade  should  be  recognized  and  approved  by  governmental  authorities.  This  does 
not  mean  that  freight  rates  should  be  necessarily  set  or  controlled  by  govern- 
ment, as  any  attempt  to  fix  or  control  freight  rates  by  government  might  tend 
to  destroy  the  flexibility  in  rates  which  tends  to  assure  to  the  exporter  the  ben- 
efit of  equal  freights  with  his  European  competitor. 

With  regard  to  northbound  traffic,  conditions  are  somewhat  different.  The 
shipments  of  Uruguayan  raw  products,  wool,  hides,  etc.,  more  and  more  re- 
quired by  the  industries  of  the  United  States  are  dependent  on  world  market 
conditions  for  three  commodities  which  are  less  stable  and  subject  to  greater 
fluctuations  than  those  relating  to  manufactured  goods.  However,  with  the  in- 
creased service  southbound  requirements  of  the  northbound  trade  will  be  well 
provided  for  as  the  volume  of  merchandise  from  Uruguay  to  the  United  States 
is  much  less  than  that  from  the  States  to  Uruguay. 

I  believe,  gentlemen,  that  our  motto  should  be — ships,  ships  and  more  ships. 
If  we  succeed  in  securing  enough  tonnage  to  take  care  of  our  trade  everything 
else  will  be  settled  without  great  difficulties.  If  the  bottoms  are  there  at  our  dis- 
posal as  a  powerful  and  suggestive  invitation  for  the  expansion  of  inter-American 
trade,  I  know  that  you,  with  your  usual  push  and  energy,  will  see  to  it  that  they 
are  properly  and  efficiently  used  for  the  benefit  of  all  of  us. 


FREIGHT  CARGO 

SUGGESTIONS  MADE  BY   SR.  ALBERTO   ACUNA,  SHIPOWNER,  OF  VALPARAISO,  CHILE. 

I.  Steamships  for  South  America. —  (a)    Those   from  the   American  ports 
on  the  Atlantic  Ocean;   (b)  those  from  same  on  the  Pacific  Ocean.    These  ships 
should  be  iron  and  not  wooden,  with  modern  facilities  for  loading  and  unloading, 
but  with  a  daily  capacity  not  exceeding  500  tons  per  ship,  inasmuch  as  the  docking 
facilities  in  most  of  the  South  American  seaports  are  not  in  a  position  to  handle 
more  than  this  amount  at  present. 

II.  Sailing   Vessels. — Inasmuch   as  those  vessels   have  generally   favorable 
winds,  as  far  as  the  Panama  Canal,  it  would  be  advisable  that  the  United  States 
Government  should   see   that  a   fleet  be  stationed  at   Panama,  or  to   foment  the 
organization  of  American  private  owned  concerns  of  such  a  nature,  so  that  those 
sailing  boats  could,  under  their  care,  aid  them  when  necessary  during  any  part  of 
their  trip  to  the  different  South  American  ports  on  the  Pacific  Ocean.     But  if  this 
arrangement  could  not  be   feasible  at  present  for  any  reason,  it  should  then  be 
recommended  that  said  sailing  vessels  should  carry  special  gasoline  propellers  to 
be   used   for  any  emergency  caused  by   lack  of   favorable  winds.     These   sailing 
vessels  to  be  either  of  iron  or  wood,  but  well  built,  so  that  the  insurance  premium 
should  be  the  same  for  both  of  them. 

III.  Panama  Canal  Tolls. — The  present  duties  charged  by  the  United  States 
for  the  passage  of  ships  through  the  Panama  Canal  should  be  reduced  50  per  cent 
in  the  case  of  steamers  and  60  per  cent  in  the  case  of  sailing  vessels  engaged  in 
the  foreign  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  the  South  American  coun- 
tries, or  between  any  of  the  ports  of  these,  and  whatever  be  the  nationality  of  said 
steamers  or  sailing  vessels. 

IV.  Reduction  in  freight  tariffs. — At  present  the  U,   S.   Shipping  Board 
charges  a  fixed  price  per  ton  carried  on  ships  going  from  the  United  States  to 
South  American  ports  on  the  Pacific  side;  and  per  ton  for  those  coming  from  the 
South  American  ports  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  United  States.     It  should  be 
earnestly  recommended  that  a  reduction  of  30  per  cent  be  made  in  said  freight 
tariffs. 


AVIATION  235 

AVIATION 

AVIATION  AS  AN  AID  TO  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCE 

BY  AUGUSTUS   POST,   SECRETARY  OF  AERO  CLUB  OF  AMERICA. 

(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Commercial  aviation  has  started  by  leaps  and  bounds  to  exceed  the  tre- 
mendous development  made  during  the  time  of  war,  which  put  aeronautics  twenty 
years  ahead  of  where  it  would  have  been  without  this  extraordinary  necessity  and 
stimulus  to  inventive  genius-  The  strides  of  the  last  few  months  have  seen  the 
flying  boat  cross  the  Atlantic  ocean,  flying  3,925  miles  in  fifty-five  hours  and  thirty- 
three  minutes,  with  a  non-stop  flight  of  1,200  miles  from  Newfoundland  to  Horta. 
The  daring  Harry  Hawker  might  have  flown  directly  from  Newfoundland  to 
Ireland  if  he  had  not  made  a  slight  change  in  the  construction  of  his  motor.  Three 
British  teams  are  ready  on  the  shores  of  Newfoundland  to  make  this  flight  and 
there  is  no  reason  why  they  all  should  not  be  successful.  But  all  honor  to  Com- 
mander Read  and  his  splendid  crew  who  were  first  to  fly  across  the  Atlantic  and 
bring  the  glory  to  the  American  Navy. 

The  United  States  Army  .not  to  be  outdone  are  planning  a  trans-continental 
flight  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  flying  1,500  miles  without  a  stop  before 
crossing  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  complete  the  2,750  miles  from  coast  to  coast. 
Flights  have  been  made  by  British  Army  machines  from  London  to  India,  a  distance 
of  5,800  miles,  and  flights  are  projected  from  London  to  Cape  Town  via  Cairo,  and 
exploration  parties  are  already  laying  out  landing  fields  to  insure  the  success  of 
this  flight.  Other  machines  have  started  from  London  to  fly  to  New  Zealand  over 
the  islands  of  the  East  Indies  and  a  great  system  of  world  routes  have  been  laid 
out,  uniting  Europe  with  the  Orient,  and  plans  are  being  perfected  in  England  by 
the  builders  of  the  large  rigid  dirigible  «irships  by  which  every  important  section 
of  the  globe  will  be  within  ten  days  by  air  from  London. 

These  large  dirigibles  today  have  a  capacity  of  over  60  tons  and  can  cruise 
at  a  speed  of  nearly  70  miles  an  hour  for  a  distance  of  nearly  8,000  miles,  and  one 
of  them  remained  in  the  air  for  4  days,  8  hours  and  55  minutes.  This  is  the  type 
known  as  the  R-33  and  R-34,  built  for  the  British  Navy,  and  one  of  these  airships 
is  now  preparing  to  make  the  trans-Atlantic  voyage  from  England  to  the  United 
States.  Plans  have  already  been  projected  for  the  building  of  huge  dirigibles  that 
will  contain  ten  million  cubic  feet  of  gas,  be  a  thousand  feet  in  length  and  have  a 
cruising  radius  of  over  twenty  thousand  miles,  or  sufficient  to  carry  them  around 
the  world.  The  Vickers  Company  of  England  are  prepared  to  furnish  aerial  liners 
to  carry  140  passengers  across  the  Atlantic  at  a  cost  of  two  million  dollars  each, 
and  they  have  worked  out  the  entire  problem  of  operation  from  a  financial  stand- 
point. 

Besides  these  large  dirigibles  trans-atlantic  type  of  flying  boats  and  large 
aeroplanes  like  those  built  by  Handley-Page  in  England,  carrying  forty  passengers, 
Henri  Farman  in  France  and  Caproni  in  Italy,  who  is  building  machines  to  carry 
75  ^passengers,  there  are  splendid  types  of  flying  boats  and  landplanes  suited  for 
maintaining  regular  schedule  service  on  the  rivers  which  abound  in  the  Latin  re- 
publics of  Central  and  South  America,  and  for  flying  over  the  pampas  and  plains 
as  well  as  in  the  mountainous  district  along  the  Pacific  coast,  where  the  aeroplane 
will  perform  the  functions  of  an  incline  railway  or  elevator,  being  able  to  rise 
from  the  seacoast  to  the  cities  located  at  high  elevations  on  the  mountain  side. 

The  Curtiss  Aeroplane  Company  are  sending  Mr.  Orton  Hoover  with  flying 
boats,  who  will  make  a  trip  from  New  York  City  to  Buenos  Aires,  flying  down 
via  Florida,  Cuba  and  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies  along  the  coast  of  Venezuela, 
Brazil  to  Rio  Janeiro  and  then  on  to  Buenos  Aires.  The  actual  demonstration  of 
the  value  of  aeroplanes  is  the  most  convincing  argument  that  it  is  possible  to  make, 
and  in  countries  where  transportation  and  inter-communication  by  steamship  and 
railroad  are  difficult,  the  advent  of  aircraft  will  produce  changes  undreamed  of  in 
commercial  development,  and  we  must  realize  that  besides  being  of  inestimable 
value  for  mail  and  express  transportation  as  well  as  the  carrying  of  passengers,  they 
will  be  of  still  greater  value  for  commercial  and  scientific  exploration,  surveying, 
mapping  and  all  geodetic  work,  besides  being  an  unequalled  factor  for  sport  and 
pleasure. 


236  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

In  the  Second  Pan  American  Aeronautic  Convention  and  Exhibition  at 
Atlantic  City  which  has  just  closed  the  representatives  of  the  Latin  American  re- 
publics who  were  present  expressed  their  deep  appreciation  of  the  opportunity 
afforded  to  see  all  of  the  latest  developments  in  aeronautic  science,  including  radio 
direction  finding  apparatus,  radio  telephone  and  audio-frequency  communicating 
systems  as  well  as  the  latest  instruments  for  navigating  the  air,  including  the  Sperry 
automatic  pilot,  gyro-turn  indicator,  "aero  taximeter"  and  instruments  devised  by 
Prof.  Charles  Lane  Poor  for  computing  latitude  and  longitude  by  means  of  a  cir- 
cular slide  rule  instrument.  One  of  the  most  important  developments  for  the  pro- 
motion of  safety  in  aeronautics  was  a  series  of  parachute  contests  conducted  in 
order  to  Hemonstrate  the  practicability  of  the  use  of  parachutes  in  connection  with 
aeroplanes,  and  it  was  clearly  shown  that  there  are  several  splendid  types  of  para- 
chutes than  can  be  relied  upon  under  all  conditions. 

We  can  easily  foresee  that  within  ten  years  aircraft  will  be  the  most  powerful 
single  factor  in  developing  the  Latin  American  Republics  economically,  socially  and 
commercially.  The  tremendous  strides  forward  made  in  aeronautics  open  the  most 
wonderful  possibilities  for  the  employment  of  ingenuity,  genius  and  skill  and  busi- 
ness opportunities  as  great  as  have  ever  been  created  by  progress  in  important 
lines  of  human  endeavor.  There  are  problems  of  engineering  as  huge  as  have  been 
solved  by  Goethals  and  other  master  builders,  judicial  and  legal  questions  to  be 
decided  upon  as  stupendous  as  a  statesman  was  ever  called  upon  to  solve,  possi- 
bilities for  the  development  of  international  relations  greater  than  were  ever  con- 
ceived;  problems  of  transportation  to  be  solved  by  the  application  of  aircraft  as 
complex  as  have  ever  confronted  economists,  and  opportunities  to  gain  distinction 
dazzling  enough  to  satisfy  the  most  ambitious. 


THE  VALUE  OF  AIRCRAFT  IN  COMMERCE 

BY  CAPTAIN  CHAS.  J.  £LIDDEN,  AIR  SERVICE 
(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

It  has  been  my  privilege  in  life  to  have  been  actively  connected  with  the  de- 
velopment of  the  telegraph,  telephone,  automobile,  and  aeronautics,  and  with  your 
permission,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  briefly  that  the  development  has  exceeded 
man's  greatest  predictions,  before  taking  up  the  subject  of  aviation  I  will  cite  a 
few  incidents  in  which  I  was  particularly  interested. 

The  Telegraph. — When  the  British  cable  between  Vancouver  and  Australia 
was  completed  an  electric  circuit  of  communication  extended  around  the  world, 
His  Majesty,  King  Edward,  exchanged  congratulations  with  officials  in  Australia 
via  the  Atlantic  Cable,  the  land  wires  across  Canada,  and  the  New  ^  Pacific  to 
Australia,  but  did  not  send  the  message  around  the  world.  Thinking  it  a  rather 
unique  idea  to  send  a  message  to  myself  around  the  world,  I  did  so  from  my  home 
in  Boston  addressing  the  telegram  "Glidden,  Boston,  via  Vancouver  and  Australia." 
When  the  message  arrived  at  Vancouver,  the  cable  being  in  the  hands  of  the  con- 
tractors, it  was  delayed  twenty- four  hours  but  finally  sent  on  to  Australia;  thence 
sent  on  to  London  via  Suez  and  arrived  in  Boston  thirty-six  hours  after  it  had 
started.  This  was  the  first  message  sent  around  the  world  as  acknowledged  by  the 
Directors  of  Telegraph  of  Great  Britain.  Later  the  presidents  of  the  two  telegraph 
companies  in  the  United  States,  sitting  at  either  end  of  a  platform-  not  much  wider 
than  this,  sent  a  message  from  one  to  the  other  around  the  world  which  was  trans- 
mitted in  two  and  one-half  minutes'  time.  When  the  clock  struck  twelve  in  the  Fiji 
Islands,  December  31,  1906,  I  sent  a  telegram  of  Happy  New  Year's  Greetings  to 
the  Boston  Globe,  Boston,  Massachusetts— 8,000  miles  away— which  arrived  in  two 
and  one-half  minutes,  or  sixteen  hours  fifty-seven  and  one-half  minutes  before  it 
started,  on  account  of  the  difference  in  time. 

The  Telephone.— Forty-two  years  ago,  fifty-five  miles  from  Boston,  I  con- 
ducted a  successful  long  distance  talk  with  Prof.  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  inventor 
of  the  telephone;  later  obtained  the  first  subscriber  to  an  exchange  system  in  the 
world,  built  the  first  long  distance  line,  and  twenty-nine  years  afterwards  with 
1200  other  gentlemen  in  Boston  conversed  with  parties  in  San  Francisco,  the  articu- 
lations being  perfect. 

Motor  Transportation.— From  1901  to  1908,  eight  years,  I  devoted  nearly  all 
the  time  driving  the  automobile  twice  around  the  world — in  thirty-nine  countries, 


AVIATION  237 

over  46,000  miles.  South  American  countries  w.gre  on  my  program,  but  a  visit 
prevented  on  account  of  the  war,  and  these  countries  I  hope  to  visit  by  airplane. 
Transportation  in  nineteen  years  reached  a  perfect  stage  and  did  much  toward 
winning  the  war. 

Aeronautics. — In  1908  ballooning  was  the  greatest  of  sport  and  later  flying 
came  forward.  If  you  ever  knew,  you  may  have  forgotten  that  you  have  here  in  my 
friend,  Honorable  John  Barrett,  your  Director  General,  a  real,  live  aeronaut,  for  it 
was  my  privilege  to  pilot  him  on  a  balloon  ascension  from  Springfield,  Mass.,  in 
the  early  days  of  the  sport.  He  was  certainly  a  live  and  interested  passenger,  and 
when  he  visits  South  America  again  it  will  be  by  Airplane. 

The  Air  Service  of  Today. — The  Atlantic  has  been  crossed  by  Airplane ;  the 
American  Continent  by  the  southern  route — 2,321  miles — four  times,  once  in  19 
hours  and  15  minutes  flying  time;  and  will  be  again  soon  from  New  York  to  San 
Francisco  in  less  than  35  hours  with  probably  one  stop. 

Do  you  realize  that  while  the  fastest  trains  are  running  from  Chicago  to 
New  York  you  can  fly  from  Peru,  Ecuador,  Bolivia  and  all  points  north  of  the 
Amazon  to  points  in  the  United  States?  And  that  while  the  fastest  express  train 
is  running  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  New  York  you  can  fly  from  nearly  every 
important  city  in  the  South  American  Republics  to  the  United  States?  This  alone 
enables  you  to  partially  estimate  the  value  of  Aircraft  in  connection  with  commerce. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  AVIATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

BY  CAPTAIN  MAX  L.  MCCULLQUGH,  AIR  SERVICE,  U.  S.  A.  ^ 
(Delivered  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Mr.  Director  General,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  will  endeavor  to  be  very 
brief  indeed  on  account  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour  and  will  simply  limit  myself 
to  outlining  to  you  a  few  of  the  things  which  I  had  hoped  might  have  been  brought 
out  by  Major  General  Menoher,  Chief  of  the  Air  Service. 

Some  of  you  may  know,  as  I  know,  that  in  South  America  there  is  being 
carried  on  today  a  great  deal  in  the  line  of  commercial  aviation.  Already  in  some 
of  the  countries  mail  routes  have  been  established  and  in  some  of  the  larger  and 
more  important  countries  of  South  America  well  developed  schools  for  the  training 
of  aviators  are  now  in  progress. 

I  want  to  bring  out  today  and  give  you  for  your  consideration,  those  of  you 
especially  who  come  from  South  America,  the  thought  that  in  the  future  develop- 
ment of  aviation  in  your  country  you  may  very  well  look  to  the  United  States  as  a 
field  from  which  you  can  get  material  and  if  necessary  instructors  and  personnel  for 
carrying  out  this  great  work.  In  just  a  very  few  words  I  want  to  outline  the  de- 
velopment of  aviation  in  this  country  up  to  now. 

As  you  all  know,  some  fifteen  years  ago  the  first  flight  in  heavier  than  air 
machine  was  made,  an  American  invention,  and  some  three  years  later  the  first 
public  flights  were  celebrated  near  this  city.  They  were  successful.  The  plane  con- 
formed to  the  government  specifications  and  was  bought  and  paid  for  by  the 
United  States.  Then  occurred  a  very  surprising  thing,  as  we  look  at  it  now,  and 
that  is  that  in  the  next  eight  years  the  appropriations  of  this  government  for  avia- 
tion purposes  amounted  to  less  than  one  million  dollars. 

During  this  time  the  Governments  of  Europe,  seeing  the  military  possibilities 
in  the  airplane,  did  a  great  deal  to  advance  the  design  and  manufacture  of  the 
heavier  than  air  craft.  The  United  States  was  in  the  war  about  a  year  and  a  half. 
One  month  after  the  United  States  entered  the  war  ten  million  dollars  was  appro- 
priated for  aviation.  During  the  next  month  thirty  million  dollars  was  appro- 
priated and  during  the  next  month,  in  July,  1917,  one  hundred  sixty-four  million 
dollars  was  appropriated  for  aviation. 

I  have  not  time  to  go  into  any  detail  about  the  accomplishments  of  the  Army 
Air  Service  by  the  expenditure  of  this  money.  I  will  say,  however,  that  the  Air 
Service  of  the  Army,  when  the  armistice  was  signed,  was  composed  of  one  hundred 
ninety-thousand  men — ten  thousand  flyers  have  been  trained  in  this  country.  They 
had  flown  almost  one  million  hours  in  the  air  and  had  covered  approximately  sixty- 
five  million^  miles.  The  accidents  resulting  in  fatalities  were  lower  in  percentage 
than  those  in  any  other  country  in  the  war. 


238  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Sixteen  thousand  wonderful  high  powered  Liberty  airplane  motors  were 
manufactured  in  1918.  The  United  States  did  not  attempt  to  manufacture  on  a 
large  scale  the  small  single-seater  fighting  plane,  the  "scout"  plane  as  it  is  some- 
times called,  used  over  the  western  front,  but  it  did  go  in  and  specialize  on  the 
manufacture  of  the  larger  weight  carrying  machines,  machines  used  for  bombing, 
reconnoissance,  etc.,  in  time  of  war  and  which  now  are  the  type  of  machines  that 
are  useful  for  commerce. 

At  the  time  the  armistice  was  signed  twelve  hundred  of  the  delta vi land  Four 
machines  were  being  manufactured  per  month.  This  will  give  you  an  idea  of  some 
of  the  achievements  of  America  in  aviation  in  war  times.  A^  large  industry  has 
been  built  up,  many  hundreds  of  men  have  been  trained  in  design,  in  manufacture 
and  in  advanced  flying  itself. 

I  wish  to  bring  this  before  your  attention,  that  in  the  future  when  you  need 
aviation  material,  such  as  needed  to  establish  aerial  mail  routes,  passenger  routes, 
you  will  look  to  this  country  and  to  its  manufacturers  with  a  full  understanding  that 
they  have  already  developed  several  types  of  the  larger  machines  which  are  most 
useful  in  this  work.  I  think  that  I  can  say  on  behalf  of  the  Air  Service  that  the  Air 
Service  of  the  Army  is  in  favor  of  and  is  heartily  in  accord  with  the  development 
in  every  way  of  commercial  aviation,  and  looks  forward  to  the  time  when  sofrfe 
of  the  prophecies  spoken  of  by  Secretary  Post  may  be  true.  I  feel  sure  that  in 
the  coming  years  you  may  see  in  South  America  very  much  more  activity  on  £he 
part  of  the  Aircraft  Association  of  this  country  than  you  have  in  the  past. 

So  far,  as  a  country,  we  have  allowed  England  and  France  and  Italy  to 
take  their  airplanes  down  to  you  first  and  to  demonstrate  what  could  be  done  and 
naturally  you  will  turn  to  them  for  a  certain  amount  of  material,  but  I  feel  sure 
that  soon -our  own  manufacturers  will  be  there  with  their  representatives  and  with 
their  planes  and  will  be  able  to  offer  you  something  at  least  as  good  and  possibly 
better  than  any  of  the  countries  from  the  other  side. 


TRADING    METHODS  239 

TRADING  METHODS 

COMMERCIAL  ETHICS 

BY  DR.  BURWTELL  S.  CUTLER,  CHIEF,  BUREAU  OF  FOREIGN  AND  DOMESTIC  COMMERCE, 

DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

It  has  ever  been  true  that  no  community  of  action  can  be  brought  about  be- 
tween two  or  more  men  without  a  community  of  interest.  In  the  absence  of  an 
incentive  truly  mutual,  even  if  not  mutually  equal,  cooperation  lags  and  active  re- 
lationship between  the  two  parties  dies  out. 

Commerce,  defined  as  an  exchange  of  values,  does  not  eventuate  between  two 
traders  when  one  of  them  can  find  no  value  for  himself  in  the  transaction.  Or, 
having  chanced  a  trade  in  the  hope  of  finding  profit  and  then  being  disappointed, 
he  will  not  continue  to  trade  in  that  particular  direction.  Repeat  indentures,  whether 
between  individuals  or  between  nations,  depend  wholly  and  exclusively  upon  an 
equity  of  satisfaction  continuously  felt  and  frankly  acknowledged. 

Although  this  is  so  obvious  as  to  be  almost  trite,  yet  we  must  be  ever  and 
always  reminded  of  it  when  we  discuss  commercial  relations  with  other  nations  of 
the  great  Pan  American  Union,  because  traders  North  and  South  are  likely  to  be 
thinking  of  orders  only,  the  passage  of  merchandise  in  volume,  and  not  the  spirit 
which  creates  the  trade. 

There  is  a  belief  ^  amongst  the  cynical  ones  of  commerce  that  the  hungry 
buyer  will  favor  with  his  orders  any  business  house  or  nation  which  quotes  low 
prices  regardless  of  the  seller's  lack  of  known  reliability.  I  have  heard  it  said  that 
in  the  Far  East  particularly  only  commercial  speculators,  adventurers  or  pirates 
can  do  business  because  they  expect  to  capture  from  each  buyer  bne  order  only 
and  are  willing  to  quote  any  low  price  on  any  set  of  specifications  desired,  knowing 
perfectly  that  their  goods  are  inferior  and  will  be  a  disappointment  on  arrival;  in 
other  words,  it  is  the  policy  of  commercial  trickery.  The  cynic  who  thinks  such 
methods  are  necessary  in  any  part  of  the  world,  simply  because  its  people  want 
inexpensive  goods,  is  not  only  an  ignorant  of  economy  but  totally  deficient  in  sales- 
manship. As  for  his  morality,  he  might  just  as  well  propose  to  commit  perjury  in 
a  court  of  law;  one  deception  is  as  bad  as  the  other. 

But,  of  course,  we  are  to  think  primarily  of  the  well-established  business  man 
or  his  concern  whose  object  is  to  build  up  and  maintain  a  continuously  agreeable 
and  profitable  trade.  He  knows  instinctively  that  he  must  have  a  satisfied  customer 
all  of  the  time.  The  initial  expense  of  finding  the  reliable  customer,  whether  he  be 
buyer  or  seller,  frequently  adds  so  much  to  the  overhead  cost  of  the  first  transaction 
that  little  profit  remains,  and  yet  he  has  foreseen  this  and  is  prepared  to  accept  it  in 
favor  of  repeat  business  free  from  contingency.  Sometimes  adverse  conditions 
govern  for  a  long  preliminary  period ;  for  instance,  the  financial  state  of  a  foreign 
country  may  make  the  opening  of  trade  depend  on  financial  aid  to  the  buyer,  either 
in  the  form  of  loans  or  of  merchandise  consignments ;  for  a  year  or  more,  this 
concession  takes  at  least  six  per  cent  bodily  out  of  the  profits.  But  our  far-sighted 
merchant  consents,  when  able,  because  he  is  building  up  successful  frade  relations 
and  is  not  scheming  for  one  or  two  profitable  orders ;  he  is  not  making  a  raid  on 
the  market;  he  is  disposing  of  his  output  in  the  years  to  come. 

In  the  organization  of  their  sales  forces  the  largest  and  best  concerns  of  the 
United  States — and  this  is  equally  true  of  like  concerns  in  South  America — do  not 
demand  of  new  commercial  travellers  a  great  sjieaf  of  orders  on  their  first  trips 
regardless  of  consequences ;  what  they  do  require  is  a  showing  on  subsequent  trips, 
a  constantly  growing  clientele  on  the  firm  ground  of  satisfaction  and  confidence. 
Indeed,  I  have  known  salesmen  to  be  summarily  dismissed  by  such  concerns  for 
persistently  overstocking  customers,  on  big  orders  regular  in  every  way  but  too 
forcefully  stimulated. 

The  mere  writing  of  an  order,  even  if  great  ingenuity  and  energy  is 
required  to  overcome  competition  and  the  buyer's  reluctance,  is  not  in  itself  a  com- 
plete commercial  victory.  The  wisest  traders  make  sure  in  their  own  minds  that 
the  buyer,  if  he  be  a  dealer,  can  successfully  sell  the  goods  to  the  consuming  public, 
or  they  calculate  in  advance  the  consumer's  satisfaction  when  selling  direct.  Further, 
it  is  the  custom  of  some  expert  merchants  to  confer  with  the  customer's  bank  or 


VENEZUELA 

FOREIGN  COMMERCE  1917 
TOTAL-  *  46,094,000. 


UNITED  STATJE 
15,56^.000. 


TRADING    METHODS  241 

other  financial  supporters  for  the  frank  purpose  of  providing  against  any  possible 
chance  of  failure  to  meet  the  account  on  date  of  maturity.  This  is,  of  course, 
with  the  consent  of  the  buyer  whose  own  peace  of  mind  and  future  security  is 
thereby  safeguarded. 

I  do  not  advocate  such  a  measure  as  indispensable,  for  often  it  would  have 
the  air  of  being  too  patronizing;  it  is  called  for  only  when  both  sides  to  the  bargain 
agree  to  thus  co-ensure  their  joint  risk.  Not  long  ago  a  great  and  generous  South 
American  merchant  selling  to  one  of  his  best  customers  in  this  country  provided  in 
this  way  for  the  possible  extension  of  his  account  against  the  North  American  and 
thereby  saved  both  himself  and  customer  from  imminent  bankruptcy  when  the 
war-time  restraints  on  production  of  non-essentials  put  the  North  American  tem- 
porarily out  of  business.  It  serves  merely  as  another  proof  of  the  fact  that  the  great 
operators  of  Latin  America  have  no  superiors  anywhere  in  the  world  when  it  conies 
to  the  real  statesmanship  of  commerce.  Indeed,  we  North  Americans  have  some- 
thing to  learn  from  the  worldly-wise  veterans  of  the  southern  hemisphere. 

And  so,  as  Secretary  Redfield  said  yesterday,  order-taking  is  not  the  final 
word  by  any  means.  One  of  the  best  salesmen  that  1  ever  knew  almost  never 
wrote  an  order,  but  he  was  almighty  good  at  finding  out  what  his  friend,  the  buyer, 
actually  needed  in  the  way  of  machine  belting  and  then  inducing  the  buyer  to  write 
out  his  own  order  and  send  it  in  by  mail.  Many  times  he  procured  for  the  buyei 
belting  of  a  make  quite  different  from  the  one  turned  out  by  the  factory  which  he 
represented.  He  called  himself  "trade  developer"  and  his  concern  "the  service 
station."  When  the  conversation  opened  up  with  the  distracting  inquiry  "how 
cheap?"  he  usually  replied:  "Do  you  want  it  by  the  kilogram  or  the  meter  or  the 
texture — or  by  my  talk?  Any  way  suits  me,  but  not  my  texture  against  the  other 
fellow's  kilogram."  There  is  a  world  of  good  advice  in  that  to  any  Latin  American 
who  prefers  a  low  price  to  anything  else,  and  gets  it — but  gets  little  else. 

In  brief,  the  responsible  concerns  of  North  and  South  America  on  whom  we 
depend  for  Pan  American  solidarity  practise  a  far-sighted  system  of  foreign  trading 
designed  for  a  term  of  years  and  predicated  on  the  smiling  satisfaction  of  their  cus- 
tomers ;  speculative  order-taking  has  no  place  in  their  program. 

It  must  also  be  said  that  our  South  American  brothers  should  prefer  their 
trade  relations  with  North  American  houses  of  established  high  repute,  if  they  want 
the  certainty  of  fair  treatment.  For  those  concerns  only  are  the  ones  which  know 
they  must  protect  their  investment  and  their  good- will  by  judicious  settlement  of 
such  errors  of  practice  and  misunderstanding  as  may  inadvertently  occur.  It  is  the 
experience  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  in  its  role  as  volunteer 
mediator  of  Pan  American  trade  disputes  that  representative  North  American 
houses  are  zealously  eager  to  make  the  amend  honorable  every  time.  On  the  other 
hand,  irresponsible  commercial  pirates  regard  any  deal  as  closed  after  they  have 
secured  their  money,  and  they  avoid  adjudication  as  a  burglar  does  a  police  court. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  superabundance  of  information  about  any  man 
or  his  concern  when  we  are  dealing  with  him  for  the  first  time.  Nor  will  he  him- 
self refuse  to  report  his  whole  background  and  history,  unless  he  has  something  to 
conceal.  I  wish  that  the  habit  of  commercial  confession  on  which  North  American 
domestic  credits  are  based  might  be  emulated  in  Latin  American  countries  instead 
of  it  being  so  often  thought  a  species  of  impertinent  familiarity. 

Of  course,  there  is  no  morality  involved  in  a  transaction  when  two  trader's 
meet  each  other  fortuitously  for  the  secret  purpose  of  tricking  each  other.  When 
the  victim  of  "horse-trading"  cries  out  that  the  animal  he  received  for  his  spavined 
horse  vvas  even  more  spavined  and  also  foundered,  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Commerce  as  mediator  retires  from  the  paddock  with  a  smile  of  serene 
detachment.  The  Pan  American  deserves  just  what  he  gets  and  nothing  else. 

Please  do  not  for  even  a  moment  infer  from  this  discussion  that  we  find 
Pan  American  trade  relations  greatly  beset  with  complaints  or  difficulties  of  under- 
standing. As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  course  of  this  trade  for  several  years  back,  even 
during  troublous  war  conditions,  has  been  singularly  free  of  conflict.  Instead  of 
disputes  there  has  been  a  constantly  augmented  flow  of  warm  commercial  sym- 
pathy and  admiration.  The  official  correspondence  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  with  South  America  frequently  reads  like  the  billet  doux  of  la 
successful  courtship. 

But,  now,  that  we  have  learned  one  another's  ways  and  viewpoints,  what 
common  tenet  of  commercial  faith  may  be  found,  what  creed  of  ethical  value  to 
which  all  our  business  interests  may  adhere?  It  seems  to  me  that  we  ought  to 


242  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

have  a  standard,  a  touch-stone  by  which  our  mutual  trade  conduct  is  measured 
and  guided.  The  Home,  the  Church  and  the  State  acknowledge,  each  for  itself,  a 
platform  of  moral  declaration  by  which  it  appeals  for  support  to  the  peoples  of  the 
world.  In  different  lands  the  articles  of  faith  vary,  but  they  never  deviate  from 
the  supreme  purpose  of  inculcating  a  common  morality  in  accordance  with  the 
best  thought  of  the  land.  The  great  institution  which  we  call  "business"  deserves 
such  a  creed,  so  that  men  North  and  South  may  acknowledge  it,  just  as  most  of 
us  acknowledge  allegiance  to  the  ten  commandments  of  Moses ;  it  needs  a  creed  to 
which  the  guardians  of  economic  integrity — and  every  honest  business  man  is  such  a 
guardian — to  which  he  may  point  and  say  "You  may  count  upon  me  to  follow  that 
ideal  so  far  as  it  is  humanly  feasible."  It  would  then  be  possible  for  us  to  hold 
up  any  phase  of  business  conduct  to  the  creed  and  to  determine  how  far  it  followed 
that  ideal  or  departed  from  it.  It  would  mean  that  in  the  very  beginning  of  a 
transaction  the  several  parties  thereto  could  accept  the  guiding  principles  in 
which  they  concur  without  debate  and  thereby  clear  the  ground  of  any  basic 
misunderstanding  before  actual  trade  ensued.  It  would  mean  the  same  unity  of 
spirit  and  purpose  that  actuates  all  the  members  of  a  church  or  of  a  political  party. 
It  would  satisfy  the  intense  longing  of  the  honest  and  capable  business  men  within 
the  realm  of  the  Pan  American  Union  to  know  each  other  better  so  that  coordinated 
business  conduct  is  made  easy  and  habitual. 

Needless  to  say,  the  adoption  of  such  a  creed  would  automatically  exclude 
from  our  confidence  those  individuals  who  could  not  or  would  not  subscribe  to  its 
articles. 

Without  doubt,  there  exists  in  the  minds  of  most  good  business  men  a  list 
of  non-ethical  practices  which  are  known  to  commerce  and  abominated.  These 
frequently  take  the  form  of  prohibitions,  expressed  in  negative  terms,  such  as  a 
resolution  that  we  will  not  attempt  to  ruin  .another  man's  market  by  the  process 
of  selling  goods  below  cost  next  door  to  his  best  customer  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
injuring  him  and  his  customer  at  any  cost.  Likewise,  no  good  manage- 
ment will  throw  a  hard-pressed  dealer  into  bankruptcy  for  the  purpose  of 
stealing  his  business.  Neither  will  a  good  management  secretly  bribe  a  customer's 
purchasing  agent  to  take  goods  of  inferior  quality  at  high  prices.  No  good  man- 
agement should  deliberately  hire  away  the  valuable  employees  of  another  con- 
cern for  the  purpose  of  crippling  it ;  this  is  an  evil  which  is  too  prevalent  now  and 
would  be  abolished  if  there  could  be  an  agreement  on  its  unmoral  character.  No 
good  management  thinks  it  permissible  to  adulterate  the  goods  of  a  competitor  and 
then  sell  as  of  representative  value  in  order  to  damn  the  competitor  in  the  eyes  of 
his  trade.  Even  the  practice  of  selling  second  grades  or  so-called  job-lots  at  prop- 
erly reduced  prices  may  be  considered  justifiable  only  when  the  goods  are  indelibly 
marked  for  recognition  as  to  second  quality  by  the  consumer. 

There  is  no  need  to  recite  the  entire  list  of  tricky  practices  which  the  high 
minded  commercial  men  of  North  and  South  America  condemn  as  individuals. 
These,  however,  might  be  carefully  rehearsed  and  written  down  and  by  a  process 
of  studious  analysis  reduced  to  several  fundamental  prohibitions  in  principles  on 
which  Pan  American  agreement  could  be  expected.  I  would,  however,  be  in  favor 
of  an  explicit  and  detailed  exhibit  of  those  practices  as  the  first  step  in  formu- 
lation of  the  creed  so  that  the  underlying  principles  would  be  thoroughly  appre- 
hended by  those  people  who  need  daily  explicit  direction  in  the  same  way  that  the 
great  moralist  Moses  gave  it  to  them. 

Practically  all  instances  of  suspicion  directed  against  a  customer  or  com- 
petitor as  to  his  motives  would  disappear  if  we  knew  that  he  had  pledged  himself 
to  a  code  that  we  ourselves  support. 

Further,  let  me  say  that  business  should  explain  to  the  world  the  irresistible 
economic  laws  on  which  it  is  founded;  it  should  encourage  and  advertise  the  fine 
morality  of  its  directing  heads;  it  should  formulate  and  profess  a  code  of  honor 
appropriate  to  the  commercial  idealism  of  the  day;  and  it  might,  with  great  profit, 
define  a  code  of  business  honor  which  good  business  everywhere  would  gladly  em- 
brace for  its  own  protection. 

At  this  particular  juncture  of  world  affairs,  when  we  may  count  the  loss  by 
war  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  billions  of  dollars'  worth  of  accumulated  credit,  rep- 
resenting the  earnings  of  millions  of  people  during  the  last  century,  we  must  look 
forward  to  commercial  operations  based  on  future  earning  capacity.  The  credits 
and  the  negotiable  values  which  were  available  to  us  in  July  of  1914  for  the  last 
time  have  been  diverted  to  other  uses  or  have  completely  disappeared.  This  is 


TRADING    METHODS  243 

primarily  true  of  Europe,  but  its  effects  are  even  now  being  directly  felt  in  the  New 
World.  From  now  on  commercial  credits  and  confidence  will  be  based,  to  a  large 
degree,  on  the  future  earning  power  of  the  people  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Those 
countries  which  have  been  wholly  occupied  in  warfare  will  be  called  upon  to  re- 
deem the  inflated  currency  issued  by  their  governments;  they  will  be  called  upon 
to  produce  raw  materials  and  finished  commodities  in  such  volume  that  a  surplus 
over  their  own  normal  needs  will  accumulate  and  be  translated  into  financial  credits. 
In  other  words,  only  a  part  of  a  nation's  fiscal  strength  will  be  found  in  values  now 
existing.  Since  our  dependence  for  the  resumption  and  expansion  of  commerce  will 
rest  very  largely  on  the  future  ability  of  peoples  to  earn  an  excess  livelihood,  and 
since  we  must  accept  promises  to  pay  at  a  future  date  instead  of  demanding  imme- 
diate delivery  of  gold,  we  are  in  the  position  of  relying  on  the  moral  courage  and 
integrity  of  business  interests  everywhere  to  make  good  their  promises.  Could  any 
time,  therefore,  be  more  propitious  for  the  formulation  of  moral  values  in  business 
and  for  a  complete  comprehension  and  acceptance  of  a  code  of  honor  binding  us 
closer  together  and  making  of  the  peoples  within  the  realm  of  the  Pan  American 
Union  an  economic  unit  working  for  their  common  salvation? 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  BRANDED  ARTICLES  IN  LATIN  AMERICAN  MARKETS 

BY   E.   T.    SlMONDETTI,   OF  JOHN    W.    THORNE  &   Co.,    NEW    YORK 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

To  gain  the  good  will  of  everybody  present  I  am  going  to  be  brief,  taking  up 
only  one  specific  phase  of  merchandising  in  Latin  America :  the  distribution  of 
articles  of  general  use  sold  in  packages  and  under  a  special  brand. 

The  small  package,  making  possible  the  general  home  and  personal  use  of 
articles  that  before  were  sold  in  bulk,  represents  a  distinctively  American  develop- 
ment of  modern  merchandising.  Being  founded  on  convenience  and  sanitation  the 
small  package  will  be  received  and  accepted  all  over  the  world  with  the  same  in- 
creasing favor  which  is  finding  in  the  United  States.  That  is,  if  American  manu- 
facturers, who  are  pioneers  in  this  method  of  selling,  will  apply  to  their  export 
business  the  same  good  common  sense  that  has  made  them  successful  at  home,  and 
will  realize  that  people  are  governed  by  the  same  fundamental  impulses  everywhere. 

To  develop  successfully  a  Latin  American  market  for  branded  articles,  the 
manufacturer,  in  my  opinion,  must  be  willing  to  follow  his  goods  not  only  from  the 
factory  to  the  shipping  port  but  also  through  the  foreign  channels  of  distribution 
until  they  reach  the  ultimate  consumer  and  are  'really  and  finally  sold.  At  present, 
too  often  the  filling  and  shipping  of  an  order  from  a  foreign  buyer  or  agent  marks 
the  end  of  the  manufacturer's  activity.  Too  often  the  manufacturer  is  even  ignorant 
of  the  manner  in  which  his  goods  are  being  distributed  and  the  price  at  which  they 
are  Being  sold,  thus  being  unable  to  correct  those  errors  which  render  impossible 
the  full  development  of  the  market. 

Rather  than  to  point  out  specifically  all  the  errors  that  have  come  under  my 
observation,  I  prefer  to  outline  the  various  successive  steps  which,  in  my  opinion 
based  on  actual  experience,  the  manufacturer  of  branded  articles  should  take,  in 
order  to  secure  a  real  worth-while  export  business. 

First :  The  manufacturer  should  employ  the  services  of  an  export  depart- 
ment either  organized  for  his  own  exclusive  use,  or  organized  for  the  use  of  various 
manufacturers  of  allied  and  similar  lines.  This  department  must  be  directed  by  men 
possessing  knowledge  of  modern  merchandising  as  practiced  in  the  United  States 
and  knowledge  of  foreign  markets.  Through  this  organization  selling  agents  must 
be  appointed  for  the  various  markets  as  determined  by  facilities  of  communications, 
which  may  mean  one  or  more  agents  for  each  country. 

Second :  The  selling  agent  must  be  a  selling  representative  in  the  real  sense 
of  the  word,,  one  that  may  and  generally  should  carry  stock,  but  not  a  dealer  with 
a  store,  whether  a  jobber  or  a  retailer.  The  manufacturer  who  appoints  a  jobber 
as  selling  representative  limits  his  sales  from  the  outset  to  the  restricted  number 
of  retailers  which  that  jobber  controls  through  established  trade  and  mainly  through 
the  carrying  of  accounts  for  long  terms.  Other  jobbers  will  not  buy  from  that 
competitor,  neither  are  retailers  controlled  by  them  allowed  to  buy  from  that  com- 
petitor. Thus  the  giving  of  an  agency  to  a  jobber  serves  only  as  a  stimulus  to 


244  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

other  jobbers  to  seek  agencies  of  competitive  lines,  to  the  detriment  of  all  of  them. 

A  selling  representative  openly  recognized  as  such,  even  though  carrying 
stock  in  his  warehouse,  is  free  from  jealousies  and  can  sell  freely  to  all  jobbers  and 
retailers.  This  is  particularly  important  during  the  initial  period  of  missionary 
work  when  the  agent  must  first  distribute  directly  to  the  retailers  in  small  quantities 
to  establish  easily  available  sources  of  supply  and  develop  a  demand  which  later 
will  induce  the  jobbers  to  place  orders  for  large  amounts. 

Third :  The  manufacturer  must  not  assume  that  the  representative  abroad  is 
able  to  plan  and  execute  a  regular  selling  campaign,  but  through  his  export  de- 
partment, although  taking  in  consideration  the  recommendations  of  the  agent,  must 
plan  and  direct  the  campaign,  employing  with  proper  adaptation  to  each  market 
those  methods  through  which  he  has  been  successful  at  home. 

The  first  thing  that  his  plan  must  contemplate  is  the  price  at  which  the 
package  is  to  be  sold  to  the  ultimate  consumer,  this  price  to  allow  a  profit  for  the 
jobber  as  well  as  for  the  retailer  besides  the  agents'  commission.  To  establish  this 
price  there  must  be  taken  in  consideration  the  cost  of  freight  insurance  and  duty 
to  each  market,  thus  arriving  first  at  the  cost  of  goods  delivered  to  the  agent's 
warehouse.  With  rare  exceptions  the  respective  profits  for  jobbers  and  retailers 
can  be  figured  at  30  per  cent  for  the  former  and  33%  per  cent  for  the  latter.  An 
important  point  is  to  see  that  the  agent  will  not  allow  any  retailer  the  jobber's  dis- 
count and  thus  shut  himself  out  of  their  trade  later  on.  This  of  course  does  not 
apply  to^  those  exceptional  cases  in  which  it  is  found  advisable  for  the  selling  agent 
to  distribute  at  all  times  directly  to  the  retailers  eliminating  entirely  the  jobbers. 

While  there  will  always  be  a  certain  amount  of  price  changing  on  the  part 
of  retailers  everywhere,  the  price  to  the  ultimate  consumer  can  be  maintained 
''fairly  regularly  by  consistent  and  judicious  consumer's  advertising. 

This  advertising  as  well  as  the  dealer's  promotion  work  must  be  directed  by 
the  manufacturer's  export  department  availing  itself  of  the  cooperation  of  the 
selling  agent  to  the  extent  only  to  which  the  agent  can  usefully  cooperate  and  in 
proportion  of  his  knowledge  of  modern  merchandising  methods.  This  knowledge 
of  course  can  be  constantly  increased  by  the  intelligent  and  sympathetic  assistance 
that  an  efficient  export  department  must  give  the  foreign  selling  agents  who  should 
be  considered  as  an  integral  part  of  the  manufacturers  organization. 

The  whole  question,  after  all,  resolves  itself  into  this:  A  manufacturer  of 
branded  articles  of  general  use  must  not  abandon  his  goods  the  moment  they  are 
Delivered  on  board  a  steamer  at  a  United  States  port,  but  must  follow  them  through 
the  various  channels  into  the  hands  of  the  foreign  consumer  with  the  same  solicitude 
and  intelligence  with  which  he  follows  them  into  the  hands  of  the  domestic  consumer. 


SELLING  METHODS 

BY  C.  A.  MCQUEEN,  CHIEF,  LATIN  AMERICAN  DIVISION,  BUREAU  OF  FOREIGN  AND 
DOMESTIC  COMMERCE,  DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE,  WASHINGTON. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

Mr.  Barrett  this  morning  in  the  session  on  transportation,  made  the  remark 
that  communication  is  the  first  essential  of  trade.  That  is  obviously  true,  and  it 
occurred  to  me  when  he  made  that  remark  that  in  the  session  this  afternoon 
someone  should  point  out  the  fact  that  knowledge  is  the  great  essential  to  proper 
methods  of  trade — if  not  knowledge,  at  least  the  possession  of  a  source  whence 
knowledge  may  be  obtained.  I  have  chosen  this  topic  because  it  is  brought  home 
to  me  every  day  in  conducting  the  work  of  the  Latin  American  Division  of  the 
Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce. 

Our  duty  is  the  promotion  of  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  with 
Latin  America.  Incidentally,  we  promote  the  commerce  of  Latin  American  coun- 
tries with  our  own  country.  The  Pan  American  Union  of  course  is  a  cooperative 
organization  of  the  American  republics.  I  shall  have  to  speak,  however,  as^  an 
officer  of  the  United  States  Government,  entrusted  with  the  promotion  of  American 
trade. 

To  go  back  to  the  topic  of  knowledge,  I  wish  that  all  of  you  who  are  in- 
terested actually  in  trade  could  come  and  see  the  beginnings  made  in  the  Bureau 


TRADING   METHODS  245 

of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  for  the  collection  of  all  sorts  of  economic 
information  on  Latin  America. 

In  talking  this  noon  with  a  well  known  gentleman  here  present  who  has 
recently  returned  from  Argentina,  he  made  the  remark  that  conditions  as  they 
exist  at  present  in  South  America  have  not  been  covered  in  any  publication  that 
has  come  to  his  attention  nor  in  any  of  the  speeches,  as  excellent  as  they  have  been, 
which  he  has  so  far  heard  at  the  Conference.  He  made  the  remark  that  no  one 
in  this  country  realizes  the  tremendous  changes  that  have  taken  place. 

The  people  who  are  going  to  do  business  with  Latin  America  must  post 
themselves  on  those  things.  They  will  find  our  Bureau  at  their  disposal.  By 
means  of  the  trade  information  supplied  us  through  the  consular  service  and 
through  our  own  offices  in  Latin  America,  we  get  reports  on  economic  conditions. 
Through  all  the  important  newspapers  published  in  Latin  America,  we  are  posted 
on  what  is  happening,  not  in  the  way  of  news  but  in  matters  of  trade,  statistics, 
production  of  native  materials  and  special  opportunities  that  arise  for  the  invest- 
ment of  capital  or  the  more  active  promotion  of  export  sales.  In  various  other 
ways  we  are  supplied  with  a  fund  of  knowledge  which  we  really  wish  we  could 
disseminate  with  greater  facility. 

Since  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  we  have  supplied  some  five  thousand  five 
hundred  business  firms  with  more  or  less  important  trade  information  regarding 
Latin  America  either  by  letter  or  by  personal  interviews.  I  suppose  that  allowing 
for  repetition  we  may  safely  say  that  we  have  supplied  information  to  three  thou- 
sand five  hundred  separate  concerns  in  this  country — manufacturers,  banks  and 
exporting  and  importing  houses. 

A  great  many  of  those  firms  were  entirely  new  to  Latin  American  trade, 
for,  just  as  soon  as  most  of  the  manufacturers  could  get  their  bearings  after  the 
signing  of  the  armistice,  they  began  to  look  around  for  foreign  markets  and 
Latin  America  was  one  of  the  fields  in  which  they  were  chiefly  interested.  I  would 
like  to  review  the  ways  we  have,  the  different  channels  we  have  of  directing  the 
efforts  of  those  people  toward  Latin  American  business,  but  the  purpose  of  this 
session  is,  I  understand,  to  discuss  trade  methods. 

Including  selling  through  commission  houses  and  direct  sales  and  all  other 
forms  of  promotive  effort,  I  find  that  there  are  six  different  ways  of  getting 
Latin  American  business — six  different  systems  of  handling  the  business,  and  the 
knowledge  that  you  must  obtain  of  Latin  America  before  you  attempt  to  do  busi- 
ness there  will  guide  you  to  one  of  those  six  systems  which  you  must  adopt. 

Through  Commission  Houses.  Secretary  Redfield  in  his  opening  speech 
of  Tuesday  morning  said,  that  before  the  war  our  products  were  largely 
sold  in  Latin  America  by  foreign  merchants  and  were  shipped  there  in  foreign 
vessels.  Now,  that  is  true,  as  every  one  who  has  traveled  in;  Latin  America 
knows.  I  myself  have  seen  in  Buenos  Aires  the  warehouses  of  German  firms 
filled  with  American  specialties  such  as  gasoline  engines,  barbed  wire,  wind  mill 
supplies,  machinery  and  a  number  of  other  things  which  are  known  as  American 
specialties — kitchen  ware,  office  supplies,  filing  cabinets,  petroleum  products,  lubri- 
cating oil,  leather  shoe  findings  and  other  things — those  were'  sold  practically 
entirely  through  the  commission  houses  of  this  country  and  they  carried  the 
burden  of  the  country's  Latin  American  commerce.  I  presume  it  may  be  safely 
estimated  that  they  did  70  per  cent  to  75  per  cent  of  this  country's  Latin  Ameri- 
can business. 

American  firms  can  do  their  business  through  commission  houses  in  two 
ways.  One  is  without  effort  on  their  part,  simply  selling  the  commission  house 
as  they  would  a  domestic  customer.  That  has  been  done  to  a  great  extent.  I 
know  a  great  many  important  manufacturing  concerns  who  make  things  like  build- 
ing hardware,  anvils,  and  similar  metal  specialties  who  every  month  receive  very 
nice  orders  from  the  New  York  commission  houses,  and  they  have  no  further  in- 
terest in  Latin  American  trade  because  they  are  satisfied  with  what  they  are 
getting.  That  was  especially  the  case  before  the  war.  That  is  the  first  way  of 
doing  export  business  with  Latin  America,  but  I  don't  think  you  should  consider 
those  people  in  the  export  business  strictly  speaking,  because  they  make  no  effort 
to  get  it  and  the  mere  fact  that  their  products  go  to  Latin  America  is  not  im- 
portant to  them;  they  simply  accept  the  business. 

The  second  way  of  exporting  to  Latin  America  involves  more  exertion  on 
the  part  of  the  manufacturer.  That  is  through  inducing  sales  by  means  of  adver- 


246  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

tising  or  by  sending  salesmen  to  a  foreign  country  and  soliciting  orders  to  be 
placed  through  a  New  York  commission  house.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  adopt  in  the 
case  of  special  industrial  equipment.  Industrial  equipment,  of  course,  is  not  sold 
in  any  great  volume  in  Latin  America.  As  a  rule  there  are  a  few  very  large 
factories  in  certain  lines  and  a  manufacturer  has  to  study  how  those  factories  buy 
their  equipment.  They  are  usually  tied  up  with  some  local  importing  and  export- 
ing concern  which  supplied  the  capital  for  the  beginnings  of  the  business.  You 
could  not  give  those  factories  any  machinery,  it  has  to  be  bought  through  that 
commission  house,  which  insists  on  remaining  the  channel  for  the  supplies  of  the 
industrial  organization  so  that  where  the  number  of  possible  customers  is  limited, 
it  is  best  to  ascertain  just  how  each  factory  buys  its  equipment  and  then  work 
through  those  channels.  You  may  have  to  go  to  a  firm  in  Paris.  I  have  known 
of  cases  where  a  large  factory  in,  Buenos  Aires  would  place  its  orders  through  a 
local  house  who  would  forward  the  order  to  Paris;  that  house  would  then  send 
it  to  New  York  for  execution,  but  the  business  was  originally  sold  by  the  salesman 
of  the  American  manufacturer. 

Those  are  the  two  forms  of  doing  business  through  commission  houses. 
With  the  changes  brought  about  by  the  war,  the  relative  volume  of  Latin  Ameri- 
can exporting  done  in  that  way  is  less  than  it  has  been  in  the  past. 

There  are  four  ways  of  doing  business  in  a  direct  manner  and  they  are 
receiving  the  close  attention  of  American  manufacturers.  (1)  I  would  take  as  an 
example  a  manufacturing  concern  which  has  an  export  department  in  this  coun- 
try, employing  a  man  who  knows  how  to  get  Latin  American  business  and  sending 
salesmen  to  call  on  customers  through  Latin  America,  just  as  they  would  on  busi- 
ness houses  in  this  country.  That  is  done  very  successfully  by  a  number  of  highly 
reputable  firms  in  this  country  who  have  thereby  created  a  very  steady  demand 
and  a  good  sale  in  Latin  America  for  their  goods. 

The  second  way  of  selling  direct  is  that  of  an  export  organization  on  a 
broader  plan  with  perhaps  branch  houses  in  some  important  parts  of  Latin 
America  and  resident  agents  in  other  sections.  That  is  going  into  business  on  the 
scale  of  large  petroleum  and  steel  companies. 

The  third  way  of  doing  business  directly  is  that  of  mail  order,  selling  to 
the  individual  or  to  small  dealers  as  in  the  case  of  the  large  general  merchandise 
mail  order  houses.  There  has  lately  been  a  development  of  that  kind  of  selling 
and  a  few  large  dealers  and  merchandisers  are  getting  out  catalogs  in  very  fine 
shape  which  show  all  the  thousands  of  articles  they  have  for  sale.  Much  of  this 
business  is  done  for  cash  and  the  American  houses  do  business  on  such  a  scale 
that  the  prices  induce  a  large  volume  of  sales. 

The  fourth  way  of  doing  business  direct  is  that  of  combining  with  other 
manufacturers.  That  is  a  subject  which  ought  to  be  discussed,  of  course,  by  a 
man  who  has  studied  the  Webb-Pomerene  Bill.  It  has  been  our  experience,  how- 
ever, that  so  far  as  Latin  America  is  concerned  only  a  few  Webb-Pomerene  con- 
solidations have  been  effected.  Of  the  consolidations  or  cooperative  sales  organi- 
zations with  which  I  am  acquainted,  the  majority  are  composed  of  firms  which 
are  non-competitive.  They  will  have  a  complete  line  of  textiles  combined  with 
hardware  and  almost  any  branch  of  merchandise,  but  they  really  don't  come  under 
the  Webb-Pomerene  Bill.  Nevertheless,  it  is  an  excellent  plan  to  follow  for 
selling  merchandise,  whose  volume  of  sale  is  not  quite  large  enough  to  warrant 
going  to  great  individual  expense. 

Now,  speaking  mostly  to  those  absent  because  all  you  men  here  are  familiar 
with  the  export  business,  I  would  say  that  you  must  get  the  knowledge  of  Latin 
America  which  is  so  necessary,  get  it  through  organizations  which  supply  it  such 
as  the  Pan"  American  Union,  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce, 
the  American  Manufacturers  Export  Association  and  other  bodies.  You  must 
determine  what  plan  you  are  to  follow,  get  a  conviction  about  how  you  want  to 
do  business  and  then  get  busy. 

The  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  the  Latin  American  Divi- 
sion; is  always  at  your  disposal  for  any  assistance  you  may  want  on  any  specific 
matters  of  trade. 


TRADING    METHODS  247 

THE  WEBB  LAW,  ITS  SCOPE  AND  OPERATION 

BY  DR.  WILLIAM   NOTZ,  EXPORT  DIVISION,  FEDERAL  TRADE  COMMISSION. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

In  connection  with  the  lively  interest  displayed  by  American  business  men  in 
new  situations  which  have  developed  in  international  trade  as  a  result  of  the  world 
war,  the  so-called  Webb  law  is  receiving  a  noticeable  share  of  attention. 

Excluding  all  merely  temporary,  war-time  legislation,  it  is  the  most  im- 
portant piece  of  legislation  enacted  by  Congress  during  the  war  for  the  promotion 
of  American  export  trade.  Together  with  the  Federal  Reserve  Act,  and  the  act 
authorizing  the  War  Finance  Corporation  to  furnish  credits  to  finance  foreign 
trade,  the  Webb  law  represents  a  noteworthy  forward  step  in  the  consummation 
of  an  American  foreign  trade  policy.  Already  a  literature  of  considerable  volume 
has  grown  up  on  the  Webb  Act,  and  one  of  our  large  law,  schools  has  included  a 
study  of  this  law  in  one  of  the  courses  of  its  curriculum. 

Moreover,  interest  in  the  Webb  law  is  not  confined  exclusively  to  this  country. 
The  provisions  of  the  Act,  and  its  operation,  have  been  the  subject  of  numerous 
articles  in  foreign  publications.  With  one  or  two  exceptions,  the  comments  on  the 
Taw  which  have  appeared  in  the  foreign  press  have  not  voiced  any  unfavorable 
criticism.  On  the  contrary,  the  Act  has  been  pointed  to  as  a  model  statute. 

Attention  has  been  called  particularly  to  the  fact  that  the  Webb  Act  repre- 
sents the  first  effort  involving  compulsory  registration  of  trade  combinations  and 
a  certain  degree  of  control  of  the  activities  of  such  combinations  by  a  Government 
agency  under  a  special  law.  A  similar  plan  for  government  control  of  cartels  and 
syndicates  was  advocated  at  different  times  in  Germany  and  also  in  Austria,  in 
connection  with  official  cartel  enquetes  in  the  years  1902  to  1908.  In  Great  Britain  this 
method  has  apparently  strong  support  in  the  British  Board  of  Trade.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Commercial  and  Industrial  Policy  After  the  War,  in  its  final  report 
(London,  1918,  pp.  62  and  63),  recommended  that  "it  should  be  a  legislative  re- 
quirement that  all  international  combinations  or  agreements  to  which  British  com- 
panies or  firms  are  parties,  made  for  the  regulation  of  the  prices  of  goods  or 
services,  or  for  the  delimitation  of  markets,  should  be  registered  at  the  Board  of 
Trade  by  the  British  persons,  firms  or  companies  concerned,  with  a  statement  of  the 
names  of  all  the  parties  thereto,  and  of  the  general  nature  and  object  of  the  com- 
bination or  agreements  and  all  adhesions  and  withdrawals  should  also  be  notified." 

As  to  combinations  or  agreements  between  British  firms,  the  Committee  recom- 
mended that  it  should  be  optional  for  the  parties  to  register  at  the  Board  of  Trade, 
but  that  any  price  or  other  marketing  arrangements  or  agreements  registered 
should  be  enforceable  at  law  as  between  the  parties  thereto.  Lastly,  the  Com- 
mittee recommended  that  the  Board  of  Trade  should  have  power  to  call  upon  in- 
dividual consolidations  or  combines  to  furnish  such  information  as  it  may  require. 

The  newly  created  Canadian  Trade  Commission  apparently  favors  new  legis- 
lation along  similar  lines  regarding  the  future  treatment  of  combines  in  Canada, 
"which  shall  proceed  upon  the  broad  principle  that  there  is  an  aspeqt  of  such 
movements  which  requires  encouragement,  while  other  aspects  require  repressive 
measures." 

Both  in  this  country  and  abroad  the  Webb  law  has  attracted  attention  by 
reason  of  still  another  fact.  The  laws  of  a  number  of  countries  approach  the  prob- 
lem of  trade  combinations  with  the  evident  purpose  of  repressing  the  excrescences 
of  syndication.  They  plainly  indicate  a  tendency  to  restrict  the  free  formation  as 
well  as  the  free  operation  of  syndicates  or  combines.  The  Webb  law  in  a  way 
represents  a  departure  "from  this  policy.  It  is  looked  upon  by  many,  and  this  was 
brought  out  clearly  in  the  debates  and  hearings  on  the  Webb  bill  in  Congress,  as 
an  indication  of  a  change  in  our  traditional  policy  concerning  trade  combinations 
and  their  economic  utility  in  so  far  as  export  trade  is  concerned.  A  similar  shift- 
ing in  governmental  attitude  towards  combinations  took  place  several  years  ago 
in  connection  with  the  German  potash  law,  followed  somewhat  later  by  similar 
laws  elsewhere.  The  whole  movement  has  received  a  strong  impetus  during  the 
war,  particularly  in  the  countries  economically  most  highly  developed. 

Most  of  the  discussions  of  the  Webb  l£w  at  meetings  of  trade  associations 
and  of  various  commercial  organizations,  as  well  as  in  the  press,  confined  them- 
selves either  to  certain  legal  problems  or  to  the  numerous  advantages  expected  to 
result  from  use  of  the  powers  provided  by  that  act.  It  is  now  over  a  year  since  the 


248  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Webb  Act  was  placed  on  the  statute  books  of  the  United  States,  having  been  ap- 
proved April  10,  1918.  This  is,  of  course,  too  short  a  time  to  permit  of  any  final 
conclusions  as  to  the  operation  of  the  Act.  Nevertheless,  a  survey  of  the  general 
working  of  the  Act  during  the  past  15  months,  from  a  legal  as  well  as  an  economic 
point  of  view,  may  show  in  how  far  the  expectations  of  those  who  advocated  the 
enactment  of  the  present  law  have  been  realized  up  to  the  present  time.  In  ad- 
dition to  this,  certain  trends  of  development  can  be  readily  observed  which  open 
up  a  number  of  interesting  new  phases  in  the  history  of  trade  combinations,  and 
in  a  wider  sense  of  international  trade.  Then,  too,  an  analysis  of  the  form  of 
organization,  and  of  the  agreements  of  export  associations  purporting  to  operate 
under  the  Webb  Act,  will  prove  of  interest  in  several  ways. 

Under  Sec.  5  of  the  Webb  Act  every  association  which  at  the  time  when  the 
law  was  enacted  was  engaged  solely  in  export  trade,  as  well  as  every  association 
formed  after  the  passage  of  the  act  shall,  under  penalty  of  fine  for  failure  to  do 
so  within  a  prescribed  time,  file  certain  statements  with  the  Federal  Trade  Com- 
mission. These  verified  written  statements  shall  set  forth  the  places  of  business, 
officers,  stockholders  or  members,  and  shall  include  in  the  case  of  a  corporation  a 
copy  of  its  articles  of  incorporation  and  by-laws,  and  if  the  association  is  unincor- 
porated, a  copy  of  its  contract  of  association.  Special  forms  for  making  this  first 
report  are  provided  by  the  Federal  Trade  Commission. 

Up  to  the  present  time  95  concerns,  with  well  over  800  stockholders  or 
members,  have  filed  statements  with  the  Federal  Trade  Commission.  It  appears,1 
however,  that  among  these  associations  there  are  a  .number  whose  articles  of  asso- 
ciation contemplate  the  transaction  of  business  other  than  that  of  solely  exporting 
to  foreign  nations,  whereas  section  2  of  the  Act  exempts  from  the  Sherman  law 
such  associations  only  which  are  entered  into  for  the  sole  purpose  of  engaging  in 
export  trade. 

Twenty-eight  of  the  associations  which  purport  to  be  engaged  solely  in  ex- 
port trade  under  the  Webb  law  comprise  well  over  300  stockholders  or  members. 
Among  the  latter,  however,  are  several  trade  associations,  each  with  a  large  mem- 
bership of  their  own,  so  that  the  actual  underlying  number  of  individual  concerns 
which  appear  to  be  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the  Act  easily  aggregates  a  thousand. 
The  plants  operated  by  the  member  concerns  of  these  28  associations  number  318, 
and  are  distributed  over  39  States  of  the  Union. 

The  diversity  of  industries  in  which  these  export  associations  have  been 
formed  is  illustrated  by  the  following  list  of  products  which  the  associations  pur- 
pose to  export  to  foreign  nations :  Bunker  coal,  canned  fruit,  carbonate  of  magnesia, 
chemicals,  clothes-pins,  condensed  milk,  copper,  doors,  elastic  and  non-elastic  web- 
bing, fertilizers,  flax,  hardware,  hides,  iron  and  steel  products,  laths,  locomotives 
and  spare  parts  thereof,  lumber,  meats,  metal  accessories,  moldings,  office  equipment, 
pharmaceutical  blocks  of  carbonate  of  magnesia,  phosphate  rock,  pickets,  plaster, 
shingles,  skins,  silk,  soap,  staves,  tallow,  vegetable  oils,  wool. 

In  how  far  have  developments  subsequent  to  the  passage  of  the  Webb  law 
justified  the  argument  that  cooperative  selling  agencies  or  associations  among 
American  exporters  are  needed  in  order  that  the  latter  may  meet  foreign  rivals 
on  foreign  soil  on  equal  terms?  The  Federal  Trade  Commission  called  attention 
to  foreign  combinations  competing  with  American  exporters  in  a  special  report. 
Therein  it  recommended  properly  safeguarded  declaratory  legislation,  permitting 
concerted  action  by  American  business  men  in  export  trade.  President  Wilson  on 
several  occasions  emphasized  the  need  of  making  it  possible  and  legal  for  our  ex- 
porters to  combine,  allowing  them  "to  manage  their  export  business  at  an  ad- 
vantage instead  of  a  disadvantage  as  compared  with  foreign  rivals."  Likewise,  the 
Committee  on  Interstate  Commerce  of  the  U.  S.  Senate  (64th  Congress,  2d  Session, 
Feb.  14,  1917),  in  its  report  recommending  an  amended  form  of  the  Webb  law 
for  passage,  stated  as  its  belief  that  "it  is  necessary  to  permit  our  business  men  to 
form  organizations  or  associations  so  as  to  enable  them  to  meet  foreign  competitors 
on  a  more  equal  footing." 

While  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  export  combinations  existed  to  a  limited 
extent  prior  to  the  war  in  various  foreign  countries,  nevertheless,  it  must  be  said 
that  their  number  and  strength  has  been  frequently  exaggerated  by  over-enthusi- 
astic writers  and  speakers.  As  a  result  of  this  the  importance  of  foreign  export 
cartels  and  combinations  as  competitive  factors  in  international  trade  before  the  war 
came  to  be  somewhat  over-estimated  in  the  minds  of  many,  both  here  and  abroad. 

1Federal  Trade  Commission,  Foreign  Trade  Series  No.  1,  1919,  page  6. 


TRADING   METHODS     •  249 

However,  in  the  world-wide  drive  for  export  markets  which  set  in  during  the  war, 
cooperation  in  export  trade  has  been  advocated  and  put  into  actual  operation  with 
an  ardor  and  on  a  scale  which  easily  outdistanced  all  previous  efforts  of  this  kind. 
The  universal  tendency  towards  consolidation,  so  characteristic  of  commerce  and 
industry  during  the  war,  crystallized  itself  to  a  marked  extent  in  the  form  of  com- 
binations for  the  control  of  prices  and  production  in  domestic  market  and  also  in 
export  trade.  Where  before  the  war  there  was  a  limited  number  of  export  combina- 
tions, chiefly  in  Germany,  we  now  find  them  in  large  numbers  in  all  the  leading 
countries  of  the  world.  In  Great  Britain  their  formation  is  being  actively  encour- 
aged by  .the  British  Board  of  Trade.  The  Canadian  Trade  Commission  has 
strongly  recommended  cooperation  among  Canadian  manufacturers  for  export 
trade.  The  Japanese  Government  is  fostering  the  exports  of  that  country  by  aiding 
export  combinations  through  subsidies  and  in  other  ways.  Looking  at  competitive 
conditions,  then,  as  they  exist  in  international  trade  today,  the  fact  cannot  be  dis- 
regarded that  organized  groups  have  replaced  very  largely  the  individual  enterpriser, 
and  that  future  development  seems  to  tend  in  the  same  direction.  There  is  this 
marked  difference,  however,  that  whereas  in  the  absence  of  any  government  control 
more  or  less  secrecy  enclouds  the  organization  and  operation  of  foreign  export 
combines,  American  export  associations  operating  under  the  Webb  Act  must  comply 
with  specific  legal  regulations  and  are  subject  to  a  certain  supervision  by  the  gov- 
ernment so  as  to  safeguard  fair  competition  and  high  business  standards. 

Shortly  after  the  Webb  law  was  passed  by  Congress  one  or  two  instances 
of  unfavorable  comments  appeared  in  the  foreign  press,  to  the  effect  that  under 
the  Webb  Act  our  foreign  customers  might  be  made  the  victims  of  trust  evils,  such 
as  wilful  restraint  of  trade  and  the  cornering  of  markets. 

Efforts  were  made  at  once  by  representative  American  manufacturers  to  set 
at  rest  any  misapprehension  which  might  have  arisen  and  apparently  no  further 
unfavorable  comments  on  the  Webb  law  have  appeared  in  the  press  abroad.  As 
stated  above,  the  foreign  press  and  leading  spokesmen  of  foreign  governments  have 
on  several  occasions  given  evidence  of  a  very  favorable  attitude  towards  the 
Webb  law.  However,  in  view  of  the  above-mentioned  criticism  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  point  out  certain  provisions  of  the  Webb  law,  as  well  as  other  considera- 
tions which  have  a  bearing  on  the  subject. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  to  be  noted  that  section  4  of  the  Webb  Act  makes  the 
prohibition  against  unfair  methods  of  competition  and  the  remedies  provided  for 
enforcing  that  prohibition  contained  in  section  5  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commis- 
sion Act  of  Sept.  26,  1914,  applicable  to  unfair  methods  of  competition  used  in 
export  trade  against  competitors  engaged  in  export  trade.  Furthermore,  section 
4  of  the  Webb  law  expressly  gives  extra  territorial  jurisdiction  to  the  above-men- 
tioned provision  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  Act  against  unfair  methods  of 
competition.  The  law  supplementary  to  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  Act,  gen- 
erally known  as  the  "Clayton  Law,"  specifies  certain  "unfair  practices,"  including 
certain  forms  of  price  discrimination  and  so-called  "tying  contracts." 

The  fact  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  that  export  trade  combinations  have 
been  formed  in  all  important  commercial  countries  of  the  world,  but  that  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  alone  require  American  associations  to  register  with  a  gov- 
ernment agency  which  has  wide-reaching  powers  under  the  Webb  Act  to  check 
unfair  practices  of  competition.  If  certain  practices  on  the  part  of  export  combina- 
tions should  grow  up  which  would  prove  objectionable  and  would  be  detrimental  to 
"fair  play"  in  international  trade,  it  would  become  a  matter  for  international  action.1 

Looking  at  the  Webb  law  from  the  foreign  purchaser's  point  of  view,  a  num- 
ber of  benefits  accruing  to  them  as  a  result  of  the  operation  of  that  law  merit 
attention.  The  greater  diversity  of  goods,  as  well  as  the  increased  volume  of 
American  manufactures  which  are  likely  to  flow  to  over-sea  markets  in  consequence 
of  more  American  manufacturers  engaged  solely  in  export  trade  participating  in 
export  business  would  seem  to  involve  considerable  benefits  to  customers  in  foreign 
lands.  Export  associations  are  in  a  position  to  pay  much  better  attention  to  the 
needs  of  a  foreign  market  than  the  average  individual  exporter,  jobber,  etc.  The 
saving  in  over-head  expenses,  etc.,  possible  under  a  joint  selling  arrangement, 
makes  possible  a  reduction  in  price.  And  finally,  to  mention  but  one  more  ad- 


1See  article  by  W.  B.  Colver,  on  "Recent  Phases  of  Competition  in  Inter- 
national Trade,"  in  the  Annals  of  the  Am.  Academy  of  Pol.  &  Social  Science,  May, 
1919,  pp.  233  fol. 


250  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

vantage  of  the  Webb  law  to  foreign  customers,  the  facilities  for  merchandising  of 
well  organized  and  financially  sound  export  associations  will  stimulate  competition 
in  foreign  markets. 

It  may  be  interesting  for  you  to  know  that  within  the  week  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission  has  ordered  issued  its  first  formal  complaint  under  the  Webb  law. 
This  matter  had  to  do  with  exportation  of  American  made  goods  to  Mexico,  such 
goods  being  labeled  as  though  manufactured  in  a  European  country. 

The  law  of  Mexico  against  such  misbranding  will  be  collaterally  upheld  by 
the  enforcement  of  the  Webb  law  and  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  law  against 
unfair  competition. 

To  sum  up,  it  seems  clear  that  the  miotive  which  actuated  Congress  in  pass- 
ing this  law  was  to  promote  American  export  trade  along  fair  and  legitimate 
lines,  not  to  seek  an  organized  advantage.  Our  leading  statesmen,  economists, 
lawyers  and  business  men  appear  to  be  in  accord  that  if  the  letter  as  well  as  the 
spirit  of  the  law  is  lived  up  to  by  associations  which  operate  under  it,  the  Act  will 
be  found  helpful  not  only  to  the  business  interests  of  the  United  States  but  in  a 
wider  sense  also  to  international  trade.  Its  ultimate  success  or  failure  will  rest 
very  largely  on  our  own  business  men.  If  it  is  to  serve  selfish  interests,  as  a  ve- 
hicle for  unscrupulous  exploitation  of  either  the  domestic  or  the  foreign  market,  or 
both,  the  expectations  of  the  high-minded  and  broad-visioned  men  who  were  its 
sponsors  would  be  shamefully  thwarted  and  foiled.  And  besides,  let  us  not  forget 
that  the  Webb  Act  has  teeth  in  it.  Under  the  terms  of  that  law  the  United  States 
government  declares  itself  in  unmistakable  terms  as  insisting  on  fair  and  honorable 
business  methods  in  export  trade,  and  it  now  becomes  the  duty  of  those  who  wish 
to  qualify  under  this  law  to  keep  the  escutcheon  of  American  honor  and  integrity 
stainless  and  to  uphold  in  the  future  the  enviable  reputation  which  our  industrial 
and  commercial  pioneers  in  export  trade  have  established  in  the  past. 

It  is  particularly  fortunate  for  the  smooth  administration  of  the  law  that 
the  Federal  bodies  exercising  supervisory  powers  over  it  are  sympathetic  and 
earnest  in  their  desire  that  it  be  of  real  value.  As  reports  of  associations  are  to  be 
made  to  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  we  quote  the  following  abstract  from  a 
speech  by  Mr.  John  Walsh,  chief  counsel  for  the  commission,  at  New  Orleans,  Janu- 
ary 13  of  this  year : 

"On  account  of  the  interest  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  in  the  develop- 
ment and  enactment  of  the  law,  it  can  be  assumed  that  the  Federal  Trade  Commis- 
sion will  administer  the  powers  and  authority  given  it  by  the  law,  in  sympathetic 
interest  and  with  liberal  interpretation  of  its  provisions,  but  with  a  constant  aim  to 
justly  protect  competitive  conditions,  both  at  home  and  abroad." 

The  above  suggests,  at  least,  assurance  of  a  liberal  policy  in  the  application 
of  the  law. 


THE  WEBB  LAW  IN  ACTION 

BY  BENJAMIN  CATCHINGS,  COUNSEL  TO  THE  EXPORT  TRADE  DIVISION,  FEDERAL 

TRADE  COMMISSION. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Fellow  Conferees: 

June  weather  such  as  ours  today  no  doubt  hastened  the  signers  of  our 
Declaration  of  Independence  into  a  speedier  accomplishment  of  their  immortal 
act  on  July  4,  1776.  That  thought  of  Independence,  liberty  and  idea  of  self  gov- 
ernment has  been  spreading  and  bids  fair  to  spread  over  all  creation.  If  the  heat 
of  the  weather,  the  warmth  of  our  fellowship  and  welcome,  and  the  very  important 
facts  laid  before  us  are  to  lead  us  into  acts  which  may  emancipate  our  commerce 
and  give  its  freedom  of  growth  and  action,  we  must  carry  on  without  too  tedious 
detail. 

Therefore  I  leave  with  you  a  printed  memorandum  on  the  "Webb  Law  in 
Action"  prepared  for  the  Chicago  convention  in  May.  One  prefers  to  think  of 
those  who  may  desire  to  read  it  as  comfortably  seated  before  an  electric  fan, 
smoking  a  good  cigar,  in  the  comforts  of  a  private  office  and  nothing  much  else 
to  do.  While  I  prefer  this,  yet  the  paper,  if  rolled  carefully,  makes  a  good  cigar 
lighter,  and  so  I  le^ve  it  with  you  to  be  consumed  or  absorbed  at  your  option. 


TRADING    METHODS-  251 

What  I  tried  to  say  in  that  paper  was  chiefly  this,  that  every  phrase  and 
every  paragraph  in  the  Webb  Export  Trade  Act  could  be  improved  upon  and 
made  more  definite,  more  certain,  but  if  we  try  to  get  it  amended  as  to  details 
we  may  not  recognize  the  law  at  all  when  it  comes  out  of  the  Legislative  mill. 
It  is  a  good  law,  and  broadly  speaking,  its  self-corrective  powers  should  be  used 
to  the  point  of  exhaustion  before  seeking  amendments.  In  other  words,  if  there 
is  doubt  as  to  whether  Bunker  coal  is  export  coal,  the  Philippines  a  territory,  or 
importing  a  necessary  incident  of  exporting,  the  provisions  of  paragraph  2  of 
section  5  should  be  set  in  motion  and  a  definite  answer  from  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission  obtained. 

The  provision  in  this  Act,  which  requires  the  Commission  to  summon  an 
export  association  before  it  whenever  it  appears  to  be  violating  the  law  to  receive 
suggestions  from  the  Commission  as  to  how  its  business  should  be  conducted  in 
order  to  conform  to  the  law,  is  unique  in  anti  trust  legislation.  The  Sherman 
law  had  no  such  provision  and  business  has  been  stumbling  around  for  nearly  30 
years  in  a  maze  of  confusion  as  to  just  what  acts  were  legal  and  what  were  illegal. 
Here  we  have  a  guiding  hand  to  make  the  channels  and  highways  of  foreign  trade 
definite  and  certain. 

The  method  of  using  it  is  extremely  simple.  The  Export  Association 
habitually  draws  up  a  declaration  of  its  business  methods  and  policy.  This  declara- 
tion may  state  that  the  methods  and  acts  described  have  been,  are  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be  effective,  unless,  and  until  the  Commission  suggests  a  modification 
thereof  to  conform  to  the  law.  A  copy  of  this  should  be  sent  to  the  Attorney 
General  with  notice  of  filing  with  the  Commission.  This  declaration  will  precipi- 
tate action.  If  no  action  results  then  the  association  could  expect  the  courts  and 
any  jury  of  laymen  to  turn  down  any  collateral  attack. 

During  the  war  the  Allied  governments  pooled  their  buying  orders  and 
invited  bids  on  wood  screws.  The  specifications  were  so  large  that  only  the 
American  Screw  Co.  could  bid  on  the  whole.  To  provide  competition  one  inde- 
pendent mill  bid  planning  to  spread  the  order  over  the  other  mills.  The  order  was 
refused  him  because  his  capacity  was  insufficient.  Then  the  independent  screw 
manufacturers  rushed  from  pillar  to  post  to  find  some  department  of  the  Govern- 
ment who  could  tell  them  that  they  could  legally  combine  for  the  very  purpose, 
not  of  destroying  competition,  but  of  providing  competition  on  these  tremendous 
buying  orders.  They  found  in  fact  why  pillars,  posts,  stone  walls  and  silence. 
This  shows  the  difference  between  an  hide  bound  penal  statue  and  a  supervisory, 
"go  as  far  as  you  like,"  but  will  go  with  your  arrangement  if  it  works  out  as  was 
planned  by  the  Congress. 

Now  I  wish  to  get  away  from  the  technical  down  to  the  practical  things  that 
can  be  done  in  the  export  trade.  Heavy  advertising  must  be  done.  To  protect 
this  advertising,  export  manufacturers  can  pursue  a  resale  price  maintenance  policy 
on  foreign  sales.  If  they  want  ships  they  can  build  them  or  cooperate  with  other 
export  associations  in  providing  them.  There  is  some  doubt  as  to  whether  an 
Export  association  can  both  send  a  ship  across  and  bring  it  back.  This  can  be 
met  by  erecting  a  shipping  corporation  to  operate  on  a  service  at  cost  basis  founded 
for  shipping  as  a  university  is  for  education.  We  are  in  an  age  of  big  things. 
America  is  in  the  foreign  trade  and  she  is  there  to  stay.  If  ocean  freights 
hinder  and  retard  her  shipments,  then  the  combined  export  associations  can 
endow  a  shipping  corporation  with  funds  to  write  off  and  operate  without  charge 
adequate  ships.  We  can  bridge  the  ocean  on  the  same  basis  we  build  a  public 
road.  Export  associations  may  agree  under  the  law  to  figure  2  per  cent  or  more 
on  their  export  sales  as  a  steady  flow  of  funds  to  provide  transportation  facilities. 
This  applies  also  to  terminal  warehouses  here  and  abroad  and  to  modern  facilities 
for  handling  our  products.  The  old  football  slogan  used  to  be :  "Boys,  we're  going 
over,  around  or  through,  lets  go." 

.Today  we  can  say  to  our  friends  abroad  "America  has  gone  over,  she's  there, 
she's  with  you  today,  tomorrow  and  forever,  what's  the  next  job.  Lets  get  at  it." 

Some  of  our  high  brow  economists  have  said  that  the  Webb  law  was 
unethical,  that  America  was  permitting  to  be  done  abroad  what  she  would  not 
permit  at  home.  This  cry  was  expedited  on  its  way  by  every  "hun"  in  South 
America  and  by  our  other  commercial  rivals.  Certain  newspapers  in  Argentina 
and  Brazil  took  it  up.  Let  us  climb  up  on  the  grand  stand  and  look  down  on  the 
cock  pit,  the  arena  of  foreign  trade,  and  see  how  silly  and  nonsensical  this  is. 

First,  I  will  say  that  the  very  papers  who  published  these  criticisms  buy  this 
paper  from  a  Webb  Law  Association  and  prefer  to  do  this  because  they  can  get 


252  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

"what  they  want  when  they  want  it"  in  better  shape  and  a  steady  supply  than  they 
can  from  unorganized  independents  who  regard  the  foreign  field  the  place  for  only 
intermittent  cultivation  Regulation. 

A  bear,  gentlemen,  in  his  wild  state  is  dangerous,  but  with  airing  in  his 
nose  and  led  about  by  a  keeper,  he  is  quite  harmless. 

The  elephant  in  the  field  runs  amuck,  but  mounted  by  a  keeper  armed  with 
a  goad  is  a  useful  beast  of  burden. 

A  stallion  with  his  fire  and  go  is  unsafe  when  left  at  large,  but  under  pro- 
cesses of  regulation  he  becomes  a  mere  horse,  a  beast  of  burden,  and  bridled, 
lives  a  life  of  service. 

A  bull  in  the  arena  is  met  only  by  skilled  matadores,  but  under  regulation 
becomes  a  steer  under  yoke  and  reins. 

So  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  by  the  Webb  Law,  has  not  made  a 
difference  as  to  foreign  trade,  but  has  said  to  those  Americans  who  wish  to  do 
that  they  may  submit  themselves  to  public  regulations,  and  so  long  as  they  follow 
the  guidance  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  they  may  cooperate  in  foreign  trade. 

Now  by  this  regulation  the  American  Public  is  protected,  competitors  are 
safeguarded,  and  it  is  understood,  of  course,  that  if  American  Combinations  abuse 
their  privileges  in  foreign  markets  that  they  will  be  regulated  by  the  countries 
in  which  they  do  business  or  else  will  find  their  customers  then  buying  from  other 
countries. 

In  the  arena  of  foreign  trade  we  see  large  transactions,  large  buyers,  large 
competitors  from  other  countries  and  we  deal  with  big  business.  The  foreign 
buyer  will  prefer  to  deal  with  and  would  find  it  to  his  advantage  and  the  great 
mass  of  American  Manufacturers  through  these  associations  may  actually  bid  for 
their  business. 

The  combination  which  goes  forth  to  exploit  and  hold  up  the  foreign  buyer 
has  but  a  short  life  ahead  of  it. 

And  we  believe  that  by  cooperation  the  American  manufacturer  will  be  able 
to  present  in  foreign  markets  that  same  spirit  of  doing  things  which  the  American 
boys  displayed  when  they  were  enabled  to  lead  the  forces  of  Liberty  and  Humanity 
"over  the  top"  to  the  everlasting  destruction  of  autocracy  on  the  battlefields  of 
France  and  Flanders. 


SCIENTIFIC  PACKING 

BY  CAPTAIN  H.  R.  MOODY,  CHIEF,  PACKING  SERVICE,  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 
(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

In  the  past  there  has  been  a  decided  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  Amer- 
ican manufacturer  to  treat  the  containers  used  to  convey  his  merchandise  as 
a  necessary  evil.  However,  at  the  present  time  there  are  symptoms  of  a  great 
awakening  to  the  realization  that  the  containers  are  a  very  important,  if  not 
one  of  the  most  important,  factors  in  the  proper  shipment  of  goods.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  shipments  for  export,  because  of  the  many  hazards  to 
which  the  packages  are  subjected  in  overseas  shipping.  The  day  when  the  con- 
tainer was  considered  a  small  matter  upon  which  the  greatest  economy  should 
be  practiced,  is  past  and  it  is  rapidly  assuming  its  proper  position  wherever  the 
question  'of  shipments  comes  up. 

When  the  United  States  entered  the  war,  it  entered  at  the  same  time  what 
was  to  become  the  greatest  export  business  that  the  world  has  ever  seen  and 
it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  great  majority  of  manufacturers  had  no  con- 
ception whatever  of  how  goods  should  be  packed  for  overseas  shipment  and 
many  weird  containers  were  offered  for  delivery.  If  it  had  not  been  so  near  the 
tragic,  it  would  have  been  extremely  comical.  The  War  Department  found  it 
necessary  to  establish  a  packing  service  whose  business  it  was  to  supervise 
all  packages  and  containers  for  army  use.  The  Navy  and  Marine  Corps  also 
established  similar  services.  The  duties  of  these  departments  covered  the  sci- 
entific treatment  of  boxes,  crates,  bales,  etc.,  with  all  the  ramifications  pertain- 
ing thereto.  It  was  found  that  the  great  tendency  was  to  use  wood  much  too 
thin  to  stand  the  strain  of  hard  handling  and  many  failures  occurred  from  this 
defect.  A  great  deal  of  difficulty  was  experienced  from  improper  nailing — the 


TRADING    METHODS  253 

great  tendency  being  to  put  too  few  nails  to  properly  hold  the  sides,  top  and 
bottom  of  a  box  to  the  ends,  and  also  to  use  too  small  and  light  a  nail.  It 
was  also  found  that  from  certain  sections  of  the  country,  too  small  pieces  of 
wood  were  used  for  the  sides,  top  and  bottom,  and  a  very  serious  fault  was 
the  location  of  the  joints  of  the  ends.  When  this  construction  occurred  and 
the  box  was  subjected  to  a  violent  fall,  it  was  found  that  the  entire  box  was 
split  in  half  or  at  the  point  where  the  joints  occurred,  which  caused  the  fail- 
ure of  the  entire  container.  Another  serious  defect  was  the  improper  appli- 
cation of  strapping  cases  owing  to  the  tendency  of  the  case  to  shrink  away  from 
the  iron  strapping. 

When  the  importance  of  proper  packing  is  fully  understood  by  the  man- 
ufacturers they  will  undoubtedly  establish  a  section  in  their  shipping  depart- 
ments for  the  purpose  of  carefully  inspecting  and  prescribing  all  packages  leav- 
ing their  plants.  Let  us  for  instance,  follow  an  improperly  packed  shipment 
from  the  factory.  This  shipment  is  loaded  on  the  cars  and  a  clean  bill  of  lading 
is  received.  This  to  a  large  extent,  relieves  the  manufacturer  of  the  responsi- 
bility of  damage  to  the  goods  and  should  the  damage  occur  while  in  the  cus- 
tody of  the  railroad  company,  a  claim  must  be  made  and  the  railroad  company 
must  settle  the  damage.  The  fact  is  lost  sight  of  that  these  claims  amount  to 
enormous  figures  at  the  end  of  the  year,  and  that  ultimately  the  freight  must 
be  assessed  to  cover  these  losses.  Let  us  go  further  and  assume  that  the  ship- 
ment arrives  at  the  steamship  dock  in  good  condition.  The  steamship  company 
gives  a  clean  bill  of  lading  for  the  merchandise.  Again  we  are  confronted  with 
the  possibility  of  damage  on  shipboard  where  any  claim  must  be  made  against 
the  steamship  company  and  where  again  we  are  faced  with  the  fact  that  these 
losses  must  be  made  good  by  increased  freight  rates.  This  is  inevitable  and 
the  manufacturers  and  shippers  of  goods  have  to  stand  the  burden  of  the  losses 
caused  by  improper  packing.  When  the  shipment  arrives  at  the  foreign  port  of 
entry  in  good  condition,  it  has  still  ahead  of  it  the  hardest  part  of  the  handling 
— namely  the  unloading  from  the  ship  to  the  wharf  or  lighter  and  from  the 
lighter  to  the  wharf,  thence  to  the  custom  house  stores,  from  there  to  a  truck, 
and  finally  to  its  destination.  If  the  container  is  of  such  quality  as  to  stand  all 
of  these  hazards,  well  and  good,  but  unfortunately,  except  for  goods  shipped 
from  certain  corporations  which  maintain  a  large  and  comprehensive  packing 
service,  there  is  invariably  more  or  less  serious  damage  to  the  merchandise. 

Let  us  consider  the  situation  in  which  the  foreign  merchant  is  placed. 
Usually  after  an  expensive  campaign  of  advertising,  possibly  followed  by  a  still 
more  expensive  campaign  of  personal  solicitation,  the  manufacturer  has  been  suc- 
cessful in  securing  an  order  from  the  foreign  merchant.  It  may  be  that  this  is  a 
sample  order  and  the  future  dealings  of  the  merchant  with  the  American  manufac- 
turer depend  upon  the  quality  and  condition  in  which  this  sample  order 'is  deliv- 
ered. Furthermore,  the  merchant  is  anxious  to  have  these  goods  delivered  so  that 
he  may  place  them  on  sale  within  a  reasonable  length  of  time.  The  packages  are 
delivered  and  upon  examination  it  is  found  that  owing  to  faulty  packing,  more 
or  less  damage  (unfortunately  it  is  generally  more)  has  occurred  to  the  mer- 
chandise. This  sets  up  an  immediate  prejudice  in  the  mind  of  the  merchant 
because  he  is  prevented  from  placing  these  goods  on  sale  and  because  of  the 
necessity  of  making  a  claim  for  the  damage.  It  also  instills  in  his  mind  the 
conviction  that  when  he  needs  similar  goods  in  a  hurry  for  some  particular 
order  or  sale,  he  cannot  depend  upon  the  American  manufacturer  to  deliver  the 
goods  to  him  in  salable  condition. 

Take  for  instance  the  case  of  a  local  merchant — if  he  purchases  goods 
from  a  wholesale  house  and  they  are  delivered  to  him  in  a  damaged  condition, 
he  is  put  to  a  great  deal  of  annoyance  and  incidentally  loss,  even  if  the  claim 
is  settled  in  f ull>  and  his  attitude  is  more  or  less  hostile  to  the  house  that  per- 
mits carelessness  in  its  methods  of  delivery.  This  applies  to  the  foreign  mer- 
chant, only  to  a  larger  degree,  because  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of  purchasing 
a  great  deal  of  his  merchandise  from  European  manufacturers  who  pay  close 
attention  to  the  details  of  packing  and  delivery. 

The  old  saying  that  a  chain  is  no  stronger  than  its  weakest  link  is  par- 
ticularly applicable  to  this  situation,  for  it  makes  no  difference  how  much  quality 
is  put  into  goods  or  how  attractive  the  merchandise  may  be,  if  it  is  delivered 
in  a  damaged  condition,  it  is  unsalable,  and  it  is  easily  seen  that  the  weak  link 


254  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

in  the  chain  of  our  overseas  shipments  at  the  present  time  is  carelessness  in 
packing.  This  has  been  confirmed  by  practically  the  unanimous  opinion  of  our 
foreign  trade  commissioners  and  commercial  agents  all  over  the  world.  The 
American  manufacturers  have  been  scolded  for  years  for  this  defect  but  no 
constructive  criticism  has  been  offered,  and  it  is  the  object  of  this  talk  to  place 
before  the  manufacturers  of  this  country  practical  suggestions  for  the  better- 
ment of  their  packing  methods  and  to  insure  to  a  larger  degree  the  security 
of  their  goods  for  both  local  and  foreign  delivery. 

There  is  one  very  important  factor  connected  with  the  proper  packing  of 
goods  for  export  and  that  is  the  saving  of  tonnage  space.  This  is  particularly 
applicable  to  goods  that  are  bulky  rather  than  heavy  and  where  the  steamship 
company,  exercising  what  is  known  as  "ships  option,"  assesses  the  freight  by 
cubic  measurement  or  cubic  ton — namely,  40  cubic  feet.  A  very  startling  in- 
stance of  this  occurred  during  the  Summer  of  1918,  when  in  the  course  of  the 
shipment  of  army  supplies  an  order  was  placed  for  26,000  rolling  kitchens.  These 
were  of  vital  importance  to  the  fighting  units  of  the  army  as  they  were  used  for 
the  supply  of  food  to  the  front  line  forces.  The  design  of  a  crate  was  submitted 
by  the  manufacturers  of  these  kitchens  for  the  approval  of  the  packing  service 
of  the  War  Department.  After  careful  consideration  this  design  was  re-drawn 
and  it  was  found  that  by  scientific  treatment  of  the  crate,  whereby  the  contents 
were  condensed  and  the  ultimate  amount  of  waste  space  on  the  interior  of  the 
crate  was  eliminated,  a  saving  of  22,500  cubic  tons  was  effected,  on  this  ship- 
ment of  kitchens  alone.  It  is  fully  appreciated  that  this  is  an  enormous  ship- 
ment and  that  the  figures  of  saving  are  very  large,  at  the  same  time  it  shows 
nearly  a  cubic  ton  per  crate,  or  40  cubic  feet.  This  is  certainly  worth  while 
from  the  standpoint  of  economy  in  the  shipment  of  goods  to  our  foreign  cus- 
tomers. 

The  statement  has  been  made  to  the  writer  on  several  occasions  that  the 
foreign  merchant  has  to  pay  the  freight  so  the  question  of  the  saving  of  ton- 
nage space  and  the  effecting  of  economical  methods  is  not  of  interest  to  the 
American  merchant.  This  would  appear  to  be  a  very  foolish  statement—Hshort- 
sighted  viewpoint  when  it  is  realized  that  the  merchandise  must  stand  all  of 
the  costs  and  charges.  If  there  is  no  consideration  given  to  economy  on  freight 
rates,  when  the  goods  arrive  and  the  costs  and  charges  are  loaded  on  to^  the 
merchandise,  the  selling  price  of  our  merchandise  when  placed  in  competition 
with  goods  that  are  economically  packed,  must  necessarily  be  higher  than  the 
competitive  goods.  So  even  if  the  first  cost  of  our  merchandise  is  smaller,  if 
we  do  not  pack  and  ship  economically,  we  have  destroyed  our  advantage.  This 
has  been  proved  to  be  a  very  important  factor  and  has  led  to  the  loss  of  a 
great  deal  of  trade.  The  attention  of  the  American  manufacturer  is  earnestly 
invited  to  the  serious  consideration  of  all  methods  that  will  tend  to  economical 
packing  with  the  idea  of  condensing  the  package  to  the  smallest  possible  size. 

There  are  several  important  points  to  be  considered  in  the  matter  of  the 
proper  packing  of  goods  for  overseas  shipments.  These  are  divided  into  several 
sub-divisions.  For  instance,  in  the  use  of  boxes  as  containers,  great  care  should 
be  taken  to  see  that  the  proper  wood  is  used  so  that  the  container  will  trans- 
port the  goods  safely.  The  Department  of  Agriculture  has  issued  a  bulletin 
showing  the  comparative  values  of  various  woods  that  may  be  easily  procured 
by  shippers  for  manufacture  into  cases. 

The  second  point  is  the  proper  nailing  of  the  box.  A  great  deal  of  diffi- 
culty has  been  experienced  by  the  War  Department  in  cases  tendered  for  de- 
livery, where  the  nailing  was  entirely  insufficient,  both  as  to  the  size  of  nails 
and  the  number  used  to  fasten  the  case.  In  a  large  number  of  cases,  no  side 
nailing  was  attempted,  that  is,  the  top  and  bottom  were  not  nailed  to  the 
sides.  This  should  always  be  done  where  the  thickness  of  the  sides  is  suf- 
ficient to  receive  the  nail,  as  it  tends  to  make  a  firm,  rigid  package  and  prevents 
the  top  and  bottom  from  springing  and  loosening  the  nails  which  hold  them  to  the 
ends.  Another  point  that  the  War  Department  has  insisted  upon  has  been  the  use 
of  nothing  but  cement  coated  nails,  as  it  has  been  found  from  experiment  that 
cement  coated  nails  have  a  very  much  greater  holding  power  than  the  ordinary 
box  nail  (approximately  60  per  cent.). 

Another  point  is  the  question  of  proper  strapping.  The  War  Department 
has  insisted  that  all  cases  going  overseas  shall  be  strapped,  but  to  devise  a  thor- 


TRADING    METHODS  255 

oughly  efficient  means  of  strapping  has  been  one  of  the  greatest  problems  of  the 
Packing  Service,  because  it  was  found  in  using  flat  strapping,  and  nailing  it 
around  the  ends  and  over  the  sides, .  top  and  bottom,  that  the  natural  shrinkage 
of  the  wood  caused  these  straps  to  festoon  and  destroy  the  purpose  of  the  straps. 
The  difficulty  in  using  the  nailless  strap  or  wire  strap  has  been  the  inability  to 
set  up  enough  tension  on  the  metal  to  bite  the  strap  into  the  wood  so  as  to  off- 
set the  shrinkage ;  for  when  shrinkage  occurs  with  the  nailless  strap  or  wire 
that  is  not  properly  sunk  into  the  wood,  the  straps  loosen  and  eventually  fall 
off  the  box.  Another  fault  with  this  last  mentioned  system  was  the  tendency 
to  place  all  straps  at  different  angles  on  the  box.  A  means  has  been  devised 
particularly  in  the  case  of  the  wire  strap,  to  place  the  wire  at  right  angles  to 
the  ends  of  the  box  and  to  apply  a  proper  tension.  A  new  device  has  also  been 
perfected  for  tying  a  knot  with  this  wire.  This  is  tied  in  a  form  similar  to  the 
linesmen  knot  used  on  telegraph  wires  and  when  properly  applied  makes  as  per- 
fect a  binding  as  can  be  procured. 

Experiments  have  been  carried  on  with  the  idea  of  recommending  that  a 
third  strap  or  wire  be  used  on  all  overseas  shipments  and  this  method  has  been 
found  to  be  very  satisfactory.  It  is  now  recommended  that  two  straps  be  bound 
around  the  sides,  top  and  bottom,  close  to  the  ends  and  a  third  strap  lengthwise 
of  the  case  binding  the  ends  to  the  top  and  bottom.  This  tends  to  make  a  very 
much  more  rigid  and  compact  package  than  the  old  system  of  depending  upon 
only  two  straps,  and  the  extra  cost  is  very  small. 

The  Packing  Service  has  paid  close  attention  to  the  interior  packing  of 
all  containers,  and  has  insisted  that  the  goods  packed  in  cases  or  boxes  should 
have  the  minimum  amount  of  play  on  the  interior  of  the  case.  About  one-eighth 
inch  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  allow  for  the  shrinkage  of  the  cases,  and  cases 
that  are  not  packed  in  this  manner  are  subject  to  serious  damage  to  the  con- 
tents. The  use  of  thin  veneered  boxes,  bound  together  with  wire  or  in  some 
similar  manner,  has  been  found  very  unsatisfactory,  except  in  the  case  of  small 
boxes  carrying  light  weights.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  writer  that  these  cases 
should  not  be  used  except  in  packages  not  to  exceed  35  pounds. 

In  ordinary  packing  boxes,  the  wire  system  of  strapping  greatly  reduces 
the  liability  of  pilferage  as  knots  can  only  be  made  with  a  patented  machine  and 
the  wire  cannot  be  removed,  without  cutting,  nor  be  replaced  without  the  use 
of  this  machine.  As  these  machines  are  all  numbered  and  registered,  it  is  a  very 
difficult  matter  to  open  the  case  and  reseal  it.  The  question  of  pilferage  is  a  very 
serious  one,  .and  I  have  made  a  number  of  experiments  toward  perfecting  as  far 
as  possible,  a  preventive  against  this  evil  and  believe  that  in  the  very  near  future, 
we  shall  be  able  to  ship  packages  with  a  greatly  reduced  chance  of  the  loss  of  any 
of  the  contents. 

In  the  matter  of  crates,  a  great  deal  of  care  should  be  taken  to  see  that 
the  bracing  is  properly  applied.  A  great  many  manufacturers  build  the  frame 
of  the  crate  in  a  strong  substantial  manner,  but  overlook  the  very  important 
item  of  cross  bracing,  which  is  the  binder  that  holds  the  fabric  together.  Ini 
applying  diagonal  cross  braces,  they  should  always  be  fastened  not  only  to  the  top 
member  of  the  crate,  but  cut  so  as  to  fit  and  be  fastened  to  the  upright  member. 
This  will  help  distribute  the  strain  should  the  crate  be  subjected  to  a  fall  or 
violent  blow.  Another  point  in  crate  building  is  the  application  of  what  is  known 
as  the  three-way  corner,  that  is  the  fastening  of  the  horizontal  and  upright  mem- 
bers so  that  they  will  be  nailed  three  ways  instead  of  two. 

In  crating  heavy  machinery,  skids  should  always  be  used  under  the  sides 
of  the  crates.  The  Army  specifications  provide  that  the  centre  of  gravity  of 
the  crate  and  its  contents  shall  be  marked  with  a  white  line  and  the  skids  notched 
equally  distant  from  this  line,  so  that  when  the  sling  lines  are  put  under  the 
crate  they  will  fit  in  the  notches  and  when  the  crate  is  lifted,  it  will  always  ride 
on  an  even  keel,  obviating  the  possibility  of  slipping  out  of  the  slings  and  greatly 
decreasing  the  chance  of  striking  a  corner  on  the  hatch-combing  or  edge  of  the 
dock. 

One  of  the  most  important  features  taken  up  by  the  Packing  Service  was 
the  item  of  space  saving,  and  methods  of  economy  were  devised  and  applied  to 
nearly  all  goods  passing  through  this  branch  of  the  war  work.  Sometimes  only 
an  inch  to  a  box  was  saved,  but  more  often,  particularly  in  large  cases,  the  sav- 
ing ran  from  a  cubic  foot  to  the  base,  up  to  forty  and  forty-five  cubic  feet. 


256  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

Many  machines  are  packed  today  completely  set  up.  These  could  be  partly 
dis-assembled  and  a  saving  of  from  forty  to  fifty  cubic  feet,  according  to  the 
size  of  the  crate  or  box,  could  be  effected,  without  in  any  way  impairing  the 
salability  at  the  point  of  destination.  This  point  is  strongly  commended  to  your 
attention  as  the  Packing  Service  has  spent  a  great  deal  of  time,  and  is  of  the 
firm  opinion  that  thousands  of  tons  of  ship  space  can  be  saved  if  the  manufac- 
turer will  pay  attention  to  this  point. 

In  the  matter  of  the  proper  packing  of  goods  for  export,  I  think  that  the 
case  can  be  summed  up  in  a  very  few  words.  If  the  manufacturer  receiving  the 
order  from  the  foreign  customer  will  invariably  follow  to  the  letter,  the  cus- 
tomer's instructions  which  always  accompany  the  order,  a  great  deal  of  diffi- 
culty experienced  in  the  past,  will  be  obviated.  In  other  words,  pack  the  goods 
the  way  the  customer  wants  them  packed,  for  you  may  rest  assured  that  when 
he  specifies  the  system  of  packing  which  may  be  unknown  to  you,  he  has  some 
good  reason  for  so  doing,  and  he  certainly  has  the  right  to  expect  that  you  will 
follow  his  instructions  in  packing  as  closely  as  you  will  his  instructions  in  pre- 
paring the  goods  contained  in  the  package. 

A  very  great  improvement  in  packing  over  that  which  existed  two  years 
ago  is  noticeable  and  we  feel  that  the  manufacturer  is  anxious  to  take  advantage 
of  every  means  possible  to  procure  the  right  package.  To  prove  that  it  pays,  I 
would  like  to  add  that  up  to  the  time  that  I  was  relieved  as  Chief  of  the  Pack- 
ing Service  Branch  it  has  been  estimated  that  this  Packing  Service  which  is  a 
very  small  unit  of  the  army  organization,  had  saved  for  the  Government  between 
400  and  500  million  dollars  by  proper  packing  and  space  saving.  As  to  details, 
I  shall  be  very  glad  to  cooperate  with  manufacturers  in  this  important  matter 
at  any  time. 

No  more  startling  economy  was  effected  than  in  the  matter  of  the  baling 
of  all  equipage  supplies — the  system  which  was  worked  out  in  the  Baling  Plant 
at  Brooklyn.  This  baling  method  showed  a  saving  of  approximately  100  million 
dollars  over  the  old  method  of  boxing. 

Does  it  not  seem  as  though  we  were  cheating  a  customer  just  as  much  by 
neglecting  his  packing  as  by  not  putting  into  the  package  what  he  has  ordered 
and  paid  for?  Let  us  build  our  commercial  fabric  on  the  same  firm  foundation 
that  our  Government  is  built  upon  and  keep  the  faith  with  our  foreign  cus- 
tomers by  giving  them  a  square  deal  in  packing. 


COMMERCIAL  INTEGRITY  IN  LATIN  AMERICA 

/ 
BY  FRANCIS  B.  PURDIE,  R.  G.  DUN  AND  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK. 

(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Delegates  must  have  noted  that  the  thought  uppermost  in  the  minds  of 
the  principal  speakers  before  this  convention  has  been  that  the  relations  between 
the  peoples  of  South  America  and  the  United  States  of  North  America  must  be 
established  on  a  basis  conceding  equally  of  rights  before  there  can  be  that  inter- 
change of  commodities  which,  carried  along  to  the  extent  which  we  all  appear 
to  be  hoping  for,  will  eventuate  in  such  a  community  of  interests  as  will  be  of 
great  and  lasting  profit  to  all  the  Republics  in  this  hemisphere.  I  refer  you  par- 
ticularly to  the  addresses  made  by  Messrs.  Redfield,  Hurley,  Gondra,  Rojo,  Van- 
derlip,  Schwab,  Villanueva  and  others. 

It  is  useless  to  deny  that  there  was  a  time,  not  very  far  distant,  when  Latin 
America  was  considered  by  us  as  a  field  for  exploitation.  Such  ideas  as  equality 
of  rights,  community  of  interests,  and  equal  opportunities  were  not  apparently 
meant  to  apply  to  the  peoples  of  the  countries  south  of  us.  There  may  be  a  few 
United  States  concerns  today  who  will  try  to  do  business  in  the  old  way,  but 
they  are  passing  from  the  field ;  their  day  is  practically  over. 

We  need  Latin  American  trade  and  the  products  of  Latin  America  quite 
as  much  as  they  need  our  trade  and  our  products,  and  we  have  learned  here 
from  the  lips  of  some  of  our  greatest  industrial  leaders  and  financiers  that  full 
recognition  of  this  has  at  last  come,  and  we  can  now  go  to  work  together.  Latins 
and  Anglo-Saxons,  if  I  may  for  simplification  so  term  our  people,  and  build  up 


TRADING    METHODS  257 

trade  until  we  create  that  condition  where  both  North  and  South  America  become 
an  economic  unit  which  is,  as  I  believe,  the  condition  which  should  exist. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  have 
adopted  a  different  method  of  procedure  when  pushing  sales  in  Latin  American 
countries,  than  has  been  their  custom,  and  is  their  custom,  at  home.  There  are 
exceptions,  of  course,  but  I  am  speaking  generally.  In  the  United  States  is  it  not 
true  that  although  the  manufacturer  sells  to  the  jobber  or  to  the  retail  merchant, 
he  has  almost  invariably,  and  all  the  time,  the  ultimate  consumer  in  his  mind. 
You  have  only  to  read  the  advertising  matter  in  the  newspapers  and  magazines, 
to  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of  what  I  say.  If  it  is  any  article  that  is  to  be  used 
or  consumed  by  the  individual  citizen,  man,  woman  or  child,  the  individual  is 
appealed  to.  His  or  her  needs  are  studied,  and  in  this  way  is  created  the  demand 
which  produces  the  sales,  to  the  dealers. 

Are  we  doing  this  in  Latin  America?  To  a  very,  very  large  extent  we  are 
not.  The  people  themselves  are  not  being  studied.  Our  manufacturers  approach 
the  importers,  and  when  assured  of  their  financial  ability  to  meet  obligations,  the 
appeal  is  made  to  them,  and  all  the  arguments  are  addressed  to  them,  instead  of, 
as  we  do  at  home,  to  those  for  whose  use  or  consumption  the  article  is  intended. 

Why  is  this?  It  is,  I  think,  largely  because  we  have  not  taken  the  trouble 
to  study  the  peoples  of  Latin  America  and  have  not  bothered  our  heads  very 
much  to  ascertain  what  their  individual  needs  may  be.  We  think,  apparently, 
that  we  can  leave  that  question  to  the  merchants  down  there  who  have  been  ca- 
tering to  their  wants  for  generations,  forgetting,  meanwhile,  that,  as  a  whole,  the 
people  are  in  ignorance  of  what  we  can  supply  them  that  may  better  suit  their 
needs  and  add  more  to  their  comfort  and  happiness  than  they  have  deemed  possi- 
ble. I  think  I  may  have  said  sufficient  to  indicate  to  United  States  manufacturers 
that  it  is  "up  to  them"  to  think  of  the  trade  of  Latin  America  as  they  think  of  the 
trade  at  home,  and  to  create  demand  where  it  does  not  now  exist,  by  practically 
the  same  methods  as  they  employ  at  home. 

May  I  say  a  few  words  on  a  subject  which  has  not  been  fully  understood, 
and,  which,  from  my  own  experience,  has  been  too  frequently  slighted  even  when 
attempts  have  been  made  to  explain  it.  I  refer  to  commercial  integrity,  or  honor, 
as  the  Latins  more  frequently  term  it.  You  will  readily  understand  that  in  my 
business,  the  moral  risk  of  the  subject  we  investigate,  is  of  more  consequence 
than  the  financial.  That  is  true  here  at  home,  where  we  have  had  expressions 
from  the  greatest  financial  authority  of  our  generation,  I  refer  to  the  late  Mr. 
J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  that,  in  his  estimation,  the  moral  side  of  a  risk  was  of 
the  first  importance.  He  is  even  credited  with  having  said  that  he  would  risk 
more  on  moral  character  than  he  would  on  financial  strength.  This  is  infinitely 
more  true  in  Latin  America  than  it  is  with  us,  for  there  is  a  code  of  honor  down 
there,  and  when  I  say  a  code  of  honor,  you  must  understand  me  as  saying  that 
it  is  a  code  and  not  an  incidental  thing. 

A  few  of  us  who  have  taken  the  trouble  to  study  the  Latin  Americans  un- 
derstand this,  but,  as  a  rule,  according  to  my  observation,  it  is  not  understood, 
and  as  I  consider  it  of  the  first  importance,  I  would  beg  of  you  to  try  to  under- 
stand it.  It  will  more  often  that  not,  give  you  ease  of  mind  and  it  will  greatly 
facilitate  your  commercial  intercourse,  even  if  you  do  not  follow  up  the  inter- 
course on  the  social  side,  where  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  you  comprehend 
the  code. 

Without  entering  into  the  subject  at  length,  I  will  say  that  the  majority  of 
the  Latin  American  peoples  are  descended  from  races  which  inhabited  their  con- 
tinent before  the  European  knew  that  it  existed.  I  mean  civilized  races,  and  you 
know  that  the  distinctions  in  civilization  are  questions  largely  of  environment. 
Even  the  terms  barbarious  and  civilized  are  not  absolute  terms,  they  are  relative, 
and  again  are  questions  of  environment.  Those  of  us  who  have  studied  the  early 
American  civilization  know  that  they  had  reached  a  marvelous  development,  par- 
ticularly when  you  consider  their  isolation  from  the  rest  of  the  World,  and  one 
of  the  most  striking  features  of  the  civilized  state  was  the  regard  in  which  the 
spoken  word  or 'promise  was  held.  A  pledge  made  was  sacredly  carried  out,  and 
we  have  every  evidence  that  this  faith  in  verbal  contracts  has  been  transmitted 
down  through  the  generations  to  the  living  descendants  of  the  old  civilized  peoples. 

Spanish  honor  is  proverbial ;  under  most  conditions  of  life,  it  is  taken  for 
granted.  No  matter  how  we  commercially  minded  moderns  may  differ  in  our 


258  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

opinions  of  the  Spaniard,  we  are  at  one,  either  consciously  or  sub-consciously,  in 
granting  that  the  World  has  been  justified  in  holding  to  the  belief  that  Spanish 
Honor  does  exist  as  a  living  thing  and  has  its  highest  exemplification  in  the 
Spaniard's  regard  for  his  spoken  pledge.  Well  then,  if  with  the  blood  of  the 
ancient  people  has  been  infused  the  blood  of  the  Spaniard,  have  we  not  the  right 
to  expect  a  greater  degree  of  safety  in  our  dealings  with  this  combination  than 
we  have  any  historic  justification  for  expecting  among  any  other  people.  I  think 
we  have.  And  these  are  the  two  points  I  wish  to  make  clear  in  order  to  help 
you  to  a  surer  way  of  cementing  relations  of  business  and  frendship.  Study  the 
wants  of  the  people  themselves,  study  their  history  and  know  with  whom  you  are 
dealing. 


DIRECT  SALES 

BY  CHARLES  B.  WILLIAMS,  UNDERWOOD  TYPEWRITER  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y. 

My  remarks  on  this  subject  can  only  be  general  inasmuch  as  the  manufac- 
turer will  have  to  determine  his  own  method  of  propaganda  and  sales.  As  a  general 
proposition  we  should  select  high-grade  representatives  with  a  knowledge  of  both 
Spanish  and  Portuguese ;  this  representative  must  have  a  thorough  technical  knowl- 
edge of  the  article  he  is  presenting  ^and  should,  if  possible,  be  a  man  who  has 
actually  lived  in  and  gained  his  experience  from  those  countries,  and  on  the  theory 
that  both  the  manufacturer  and  his  product  are  unknown  in  that  market,  the  per- 
sonality of  this  representative  must  be  such  as  to  inspire  confidence.  I  believe  that 
the  initial  work  of  getting  a  product  started  in  the  Latin  Americas  should  be  done 
by  a  man  on  whose  judgment  we  can  rely  in  every  way,  necessarily  one  of  tact  and 
real  willingness  and  desire  to  give  to  the  trade  there  just  what  they  require;  he 
should  be  a  high-salaried  man,  because  when  sending  out  representatives  working 
on  a  purely  commission  basis  there  is  always  the  tendency  for  them  to  overstock 
the  purchaser  or,  possibly,  not  making  a  connection  with  a  firm  which  would  ulti- 
mately prove  highly  satisfactory,  because  of  the  fact  that  some  other  firm  for  the 
moment  might  be  induced  to  place  a  larger  order.  We  must  not  overlook  the  fact 
that  the  Latin  American  merchant  has  been  purchasing  goods  for  a  great  many 
years,  largely  European,  and  when  we  go  after  those  markets  we  have  to  show  him 
that  our  proposition  is  clean-cut  and  of  positive  value.  The  representatives  of 
competitive  European  firms  will  naturally  take  part  in  thoroughly  digesting  our 
propositions. 

Now,  suppose  that  we  do  not  have  available  a  man  who  has  the  qualifica- 
tions I  have  just  enumerated,  or  that  he  does  not  have  a  knowledge  of  Spanish  or 
Portuguese!  Send  him  down  there  anyway  so  that  he  can  get  first-hand  informa- 
tion on  the  requirements  of  the  market;  let  him  make  sure  of  the  ultimate  de- 
sirability of  the  firms  with  whom  he  does  his  first  business  and  then  when  he  re- 
turns here  foster  that  account  and  give  it  the  assistance  of  a  representative  who 
knows  local  conditions  of  the  country  down  there  and  speaks  the  language,  but  not 
necessarily  English.  I  cannot  impress  upon  you  too  strongly  the  importance  of 
sending  to  do  the  initial  work  men  on  whose  judgment  you  can  absolutely  rely  and 
do  not  expect  to  get  into  that  market  without  risking  the  expense  of  sending  a  good 
high-grade  man.  Only  recently  I  was  approached  by  a  group  of  bankers  on  the 
Pacific  Coast  who  told  me  they  were  contemplating  sending  a  man  to  Central  and 
South  America  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  business  of  their  clients ;  I  asked 
them  what  salaried  man  they  contemplated  sending;  the  reply  was  "a  $3.000  man." 
The  position  I  took  with  them  was  that  a  $3,000  man  would  in  turn  get  in  touch 
with  $3,000  men  down  tfiere,  but  if  they  wanted  to  make  a  success  they  would 
find  a  $10,000  man  would  be  much  the  cheaper.  The  Latin  American  merchant  is 
shrewd  and  he  is  reliable,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  failures  in  comparison  with  those 
of  our  own  country ;  you  cannot  expect  to  break  him  away  from  products  which 
have  made  his  business  a  success  unless  you  give  him  a  tangible  benefit ;  I  neither 
believe  in  his  prejudice  against  American  goods  nor  his  unselfish  d.esire  to  purchase 
American  goods;  price,  quality  and  reliability  are  what  will  appeal  to  him  but 
these  must  be  presented  in  the  same  businesslike  way  that  we  would  go  about  it 
to  sell  a  first-class  concern  here  in  the  United  States;  it  is  not  an  office  boy's  job, 
and  if  you  send  office  boys  down  there  in  an  attempt  to  get  business  you  will  find 
that  his  Latin  brother  has  just  as  m'any  aunts,  cousins  and  grandmothers  dying 


TRADING    METHODS  259 

with  the  attendant  necessity  of  going  to  the  funeral  as  ours  here;  he  will  also  find 
his  brother  Latin  American  equally  skilled  in  all  his  games  and  with  pockets  as 
capable  and  bulging  as  ours  here,  and  just  as  frequently  going  home  with  the  bacon 
as  our  boys  here ;  in  time  they  graduate  from  office  boys  and  go  on  up  the  ladder 
until  we  find  them  successful  and  shrewd  businessmen  just  like  we  have  here  but 
it  would  be  naturally  very  unsatisfactory  for  the  manufacturer  to  await  this  period 
of  evolution  in  order  to  get  his  goods  before  the  market. 


SHOULD  WE  MAKE  GOODS  "TO  SUIT"  THE  LATIN  AMERICAN  MARKET? 

BY  WALTER  C.  KRETZ,  OF  JOHN  A.  ROEBLING'S  SONS  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK. 
(Read  at  the  Morning  Session,  Friday,  June  6) 

Several  of  our  Latin  American  friends  have  raised  the  point  in  their  speeches 
that  American  manufacturers,  to  gain  a  hold  on  South  and  Central  American  trade, 
must  supply  merchandise  exactly  as  the  buyer  demands  it,  and  they  have  let  it  be 
inferred  that  substitutes  are  offered  for  no  very  good  reason,  and  merely  due  to  lack 
of  a  desire  to  be  accommodating. 

Now  I  should  like  to  state  the  manufacturers  side  of  the  case,  and  these 
words  are  addressed  specifically  to  the  representatives  of  the  Southern  Republics 
who  may  be  here. 

Let  me  ask  in  the  first  place  just  exactly  what  is  meant  by  the  request  that 
we  must  make  goods  to  suit  "the  market."  Perhaps  the  best  way  to  drive  home 
the  point  of  this  question  is  by  means  of  a  specific  example.  I  shall  select  a 
simple  article,  namely,  insulated  wire,  which,  as  you  all  know,  is  used  to  carry 
electric  current,  and  the  market  which  I  shall  chose  is  Chile.  What  are  the  con- 
ditions there?  These: 

In  Iquique,  American  sizes  and  types  are  standard ;  in  Santiago  and  Val- 
paraiso, German  sizes  and  types  are  standard ;  and  in  Talcahnano,  British  sizes 
and  types  are  standard.  These  are  all  different.  Will  somebody  kindly  tell  me 
what  the  "Chilean"  market  demands? 

The  answer  to  this  might  be,  that  we  should  make  all  three  kinds,  and  ship 
to  each  locality  what  they  are  accustomed  to. 

The  question  then  arises,  can  we  do  this?  Yes,  we  can,  but  the  party  who 
would  lose  by  it  is  the  buyer. 

If  you  will  glance  at  the  map  in  this  room,  you  will  see  that  the  total  imports 
into  all  Latin  America  are  only  slightly  more  than  one-third  of  the  total  imports 
into  the  United  States,  which  means  that  they  are  quite  small  in  comparison  with 
the  total  value  of  merchandise  actually  manufactured  and  consumed  in  the  United 
States.  Even  if  then  our  manufacturers  should  succeed  in  garnering  the  entire 
South  American  import  trade,  this  would  take  a  small  portion  of  their  production. 
The  greater  part  of  their  product  is  made  to  suit  the  American  market,  and  all 
tools,  patterns,  dies,  jigs,  etc.  are  designed  to  turn  out  this  product  cheaply  and 
efficiently.  In  a  great  many  cases  these  tools  cannot  be  used  to  make  anything 
but  our  standard  material. 

To  return  to  our  example:  It  would  require  new  wire-drawing  dies  and 
various  other  changes  in  machinery,  to  make  sizes  and  types  different  from  our 
own,  and  if  we  did  it,  and  sent  imitation  British  wire  to  Talcahnano,  and  imitation 
German  wire  to  Santiago,  what  would  the  buyer  gain?  Absolutely  nothing,  for 
these  other  types  are  not  one  bit  safer  or  better  than  American  wire,  and  the 
German  is,  in  fact,  not  as  good.  Besides  which,  these  imitations  are  bound  to 
cost  more  than  our  standard  material,  for  the  new  tools,  and  the  extra  trouble 
must  be  paid  for. 

And  what  is  true  of  insulated  wire  is  equally  true  of  wearing  apparel  and 
machinery,  and  drugs  and  any  number  of  other  articles. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  Latin  American  markets  have  as  standards 
those  articles  which  happen  to  have  been  first  imported ;  if  they  came  from  Eng- 
land, then  British  standards  are  accepted,  and  if  they  came  from  Germany,  then 
that  type  is  right,  and  if  they  came  from  the  United  States,  then  our  goods  suit. 

Now  I  ask,  is  this  blind  adherence  to  "what  father  used"  progressive? 
Must  shoes  always  have  a  long  narrow  toe  because  that  is  the  Spanish  or  the 
French  last?  Can  we  not  walk  just  as  well  in  a  different  shape,  and  do  we  not 


260  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

gain  something  if  we  can  buy  that  other  shape  made  out  of  equally  good  leather, 
at  a  cheaper  price? 

And  that  is  why  we  North  American  manufacturers  try  to  induce  the  Latin 
Americans  to  accept  goods  as  we  make  them  for  our  own  people  in  large  quanti- 
ties— because  we  know  that  our  goods,  when  once  tried,  give  satisfaction,  and 
because  we  can  sell  them  cheaper  than  imitations  of  what  are  often  inferior 
articles.  We  realize  full  well  that  in  the  beginning  the  merchant  finds  little 
difficulty  in  introducing  new  types  to  his  customers,  but  we  believe  that  this 
difficulty  is  more  apparent  than  real  and  that  the  effort  devoted  to  such  educa- 
tional work  will  find  its  reward  in  the  ultimately  greater  satisfaction  of  the  con- 
sumer. 


PRICE  FIXING  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EXPORT  TRADE  TO   LATIN 

AMERICA 

BY  LANGWORTHY  MARCHANT,  EXPERT  ON  BRAZIL  AND  PORTUGUESE  TRANSLATOR  OF 
THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

The  question  of  price  is  too  important  a  one  to  be  overlooked  by  manu- 
facturers engaged  in  trading  with  Latin  America.  By  the  term  price  in  this  con- 
nection I  mean,  not  the  net  price  at  which  goods  leave  the  plant,  but  the  net  price 
with  all  additions  accumulated  during  the  journey  to  the  foreign  buyer. 

It  seems  to  be  established  at  the  present  time  that  European  manufacturers 
will  not  be  able  for  a  long  time  to  come  to  supply  the  Latin  American  countries 
with  goods  at  the  comparatively  low  prices  at  which  they  did  so  before  the  war. 
They  will  be  prevented  by  the  increased  cost  of  living  and  wages,  as  well  as  by  a 
deficiency  of  raw  material  and  the  generally  disorganized  conditions  of  their  indus- 
tries. There  is  therefore  an  outlook  for  a  period  of  parity  between  the  cost  of 
manufacturing  in  the  United  States  and  Europe,  and  consequently  a  greater 
facility  on  the  part  of  American  manufacturers  to  compete  on  equal  terms  in  the 
markets  of  Latin  America.  It  is  observed,  however,  that  this  equilibration  applies 
to  the  trades  of  the  two  sources  considered  in  the  whole.  It  is  clear  that  on  either 
side  individual  manufacturers  may  be  able,  through  special  efficiency,  to  land  their 
output  in  Latin  America  at  a  lower  figure  than  others  who  may  be  less  efficient — 
may  not  command  the  same  sources  of  raw  material  or  whose  management  may  be 
less  economical.  Consequently  there  is  always  room  for  competition  in  the  mar- 
ket, both  among  manufacturers  on  one  side  or  between  those  on  different  sides  of 
the  Atlantic. 

I  do  not  wish  to  minimize  the  importance  of  other  factors  in  the  trade  with 
Latin  America,  such  as  advertising  methods,  credit  system,  and  the  manner  of 
dealing  which  the  manufacturer  pursues  with  regard  to  his  Latin  American  cus- 
tomer. All  these  things  are  immensely  important,  much  more  so  than  they  are 
in  relations  of  a  manufacturer  with  his  domestic  buyers.  But  the  fundamental 
questions  which  have  so  long  obstructed  the  free  expansion  of  American  export 
trade  are  now  in  a  fair  way  to  a  satisfactory  adjustment.  For  instance,  in  the 
manner  of  financing  shipments,  manufacturers  are  now  able,  through  the  aid  of 
the  _  National  Banks,  the  War  Finance  Corporation,  and  other  general  agencies,  to 
avail  themselves  of  great  facilities  in  the  working  out  of  a  credit  system  which 
frees  them  from  the  embarrassment  which  hindered  their  movements  in  the  past. 
A  great  deal  of  progress  is  also  being  made  by  manufacturers  in  the  acquisition  of 
experience  regarding  appropriate  methods  of  advertising  and  approaching  Latin 
American  customers.  With  the  clearing  away  of  these  and  other  difficulties,  the 
question  of  prices  stands  out  more  prominently  in  the  problem.  It  has  not  become 
more  important  in  the  absolute,  but  it  has  increased  in  relative  importance,  and  is 
destined  to  exert  a  great  deal  of  influence  in  determining  the  success  of  manufac- 
turers in  the  Latin  American  field. 

Up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  Europe  such  American  goods  as  found  a 
market  in  Latin  America  did  so  on  the  strength  of  their  intrinsic  merits.  They 
were  articles  of  a  superior  order,  which  had  not  been  produced  elsewhere  in 
exactly  the  same  kind  or  quality.  Consequently  they  stood  in  the  market  as 
privileged  goods,  and  their  manufacturers  enjoyed  a  'Corresponding  degree  of 
freedom  in  fixing  their  price,  being  governed,  only  by  considerations  of  margin 


TRADING    METHODS  261 

between  cost  and  net  price,  and  of  the  paying  capacity  of  the  Latin  American 
market.  In  other  lines  of  goods,  however,  such  as  could  be  produced  in  Europe 
of  as  good  a  quality  as  in  the  United  States,  American  industries  were  represented 
but  sparingly  and  in  many  cases  not  at  all.  The  prime  reason  of  this  is  clearly 
that  American  manufacturers  could  not  compete  with  the  lower  cost  of  produc- 
tion in  Europe  except  by.  appealing  to  the  argument  of  superior  quality  for  their 
own  products.  It  is  true  that  American  manufacturers  had  not  made  any  particu- 
lar efforts  to  engage  the  Latin  American,  or  any  other  foreign  market,  being  con- 
tent with  the  trade  afforded  by  the  home  consumption ;  but  this  circumstance  is 
in  reality  included  in  the  statement,  since,  if  the  foreign  markets  had  afforded 
scope  for  profit,  American  manufacturers  would,  in  obedience  to  a  natural  law, 
have  adapted  themselves  of  such  conditions,  developing  the  necessary  efficiency  in 
order  to  secure  the  corresponding  advantages. 

In  these  general  lines  the  only  competition  upon  which  Europeans  had  to 
count,  except  as  among  themselves,  was  that  of  the  rising  industries  of  the  Latin 
American  countries.  These  native  industries  have  now  attained  some  degree  of 
development,  chiefly  in  Mexico,  Brazil  and  Chile.  But  whatever  progress  they 
have  shown  is  due  in  a  great  measure  to  the  tariff  regime  instituted  to  protect 
them.  Prior  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  these  high  duties  acted  chiefly  as  a  curb 
on  imports  from  Europe.  They  affected  American  imports  in  a  lesser  degree,  for 
the  same  reason  which  enabled  them  to  resist  the  conditions  of  the  lower  cost  price 
of  the  European  article — that  is,  owing  to  their  superior  quality  and  the  corres- 
ponding prestige  which  they  held  in  the  mind  of  the  Latin  American  public. 

At  the  present  time,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  American  articles  which 
are  favored  in  the  tariff  law  of  Brazil,  European  and  American  producers  stand 
on  about  the  same  footing  with  regard  to  the  native  competition  of  Latin  Ameri- 
can countries. 

It  is  well  to  notice  in  this  matter  of  native  industries  that  not  all  of  them 
utilize  native  raw  materials.  Under  the  protection  of  the  law  some  industries 
flourish  which  do  not  utilize  raw  material  at  all,  but  partly  finished  products 
imported  from  other  parts  of  the  world  including  the  United  States.  This  con- 
dition of  course  affords  an  opportunity  to  American  manufacturers  of  partly 
finished  materials  and  machines  utilized  by  these  native  industries.  On  the  other 
hand  it  may  be  remarked  that  these  native  plants  are  not  as  a  rule  prepared  to 
turn  out  the  highest  grade  of  products.  They  are  calculated  to  satisfy  the  wants 
of  the  poorer  classes  and  some  of  those  of  the  better  classes,  who  cannot  always, 
but  sometimes  can  and  do,  afford  the  luxury  of  the  imported  article. 

In  some  lines  it  may  be  convenient  for  American  manufacturers  to  produce 
high  class  articles  and  price  them  accordingly,  just  as  was  the  case  before  the  war. 
This,  however,  can  no  longer  constitute  a  general  policy,  for  it  would  curtail 
Amerian  trade  without  affording  any  compensating  advantages.  The  higher  price 
obtained  in  the  limited  trade  would  not  balance  the  returns  obtained  from  a 
large  volume  of  trade  in  cheaper  lines.  What  I  mean  is  that  manufacturers  should 
get  rid  of  the  idea  they  must  send  to  Latin  America  only  the  highest  grade  of 
their  output.  On  the  contrary  it  is  best  for  all  parties  concerned  for  them  to 
supply  the  Latin  American  importers  with  several  grades,  just  as  they  do  with 
regard  to  the  home  market.  It  is  well  to  remember  that  in  the  Latin  American 
markets,  as  in  any  other  market,  for  that  matter,  the  consumer  often  finds  it  con- 
venient to  buy  an  article  which  he  knows  to  be  of  middling  grade,  because  he 
cannot  afford  to  pay  the  higher  price  demanded  for  the  better  one.  In  doing  this 
it  is  his  object  to  save  money  at  the  expense  of  durability  while  looking  after  the 
appearance,  and  he  pays  the  lower  price  well  aware  that  his  purchase  will  not  last  so 
long  as  the  article  left  on  the  shelf,  but  that  while  it  does  last  it  will  serve  his  pur- 
pose equally  well.  Please  note  that  I  am  not  advocating  anything  like  the  wholesale 
dumping  into  the  Latin  American  markets  of  a  mass  of  half  worthless  stuff  such 
as  made  up  a  considerable  portion  of  the  trade  of  the  Germans  before  the  war. 
I  do  not  recommend  anything  tending  to  bring  discredit  on  the  American  industry 
by  the  flooding  of  the  Latin  American  markets  with,  inferior  American  goods. 
In  fact  everything  you  ship  should  be  of  a  quality  which  you  need  not  be  ashamed 
to  recommend.  What  I  suggest  is  only  that  you  send  out  a  series  of  grades  just 
as  you  do  for  the  home  market  in  order  to  consult  the  limitations  of  the  con- 
sumer's purse,  and  thus  avoid  forcing  him  to  supply  himself  elsewhere  with  goods 
which  may  possibly  please  him  less  than  yours.  With  such  an  arrangement  of 
grades  the  manufacturers  can  construct  a  corresponding  scale  of  prices  which  will 


262  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

enable  him  to  secure  a  large  amount  of  trade  lying  between  the  limits  of  qualities 
and  grades  supplied  by  competitors  of  all  sorts. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  can  be  seen  that  American  industries  as  a  whole 
have  now  before  them  in  Latin  America  an  infinite  variety  of  opportunities,  of 
which  they  will  avail  themselves  or  not  according  to  their  willingness  to  adapt 
themselves  to  conditions  as  indexed  by  the  prices  of  competing  concerns.  Here  is 
room  for  each  manufacturer  to  study  the  prices  as  he  finds  them  in  the  market 
which  he  proposes  to  enter,  and  scale  his  own  prices  so  as  to  consult,  better  than 
his  competitors,  the  multiple  requirements  of  his  customers,  bearing  in  mind  that 
American  goods  will  bring  higher  prices  than  the  native  articles  of  the  same  class, 
but  that  the  difference  must  lie  within  the  bounds  of  the  customer's  budget. 

As  was  said  a  moment  ago,  in  all  the  present  considerations,  reference  is 
had  to  the  price  of  the  goods  as  they  reach  the  importer,  that  is  including  c.  i.  f. 
rates  and  duties.  The  adjustment  of  quotations  to  the  consumers  is  a  matter  per- 
taining to  the  local  market.  It  stands,  however,  on  the  basis  of  the  average  prices 
which  the  general  body  of  wholesalers  pay  for  their  stock. 

The  question -now  presents  itself:  Is  it  possible  for  a  manufacturer,  say  at 
Dayton,  Ohio,  to  control  the  price  at  which  a  shipment  of  his  goods  will  reach  an 
importer  in  Rio  de  Janeiro?  Not  in  the  absolute,  since  the  problem  rests  in  part 
on  conditions  over  which  he  has  no  dominion;  on  general  economic  conditions  in 
this  .country  and  in  the  world  at  large  governing  the  cost  of  labor,  raw  material, 
transportation,  insurance,  customs,  duties,  etc.  In  a  relative  sense  he  can,  owing 
to  the  choice  it  is  in  his  power  to  make  of  the  agencies  employed  in  carrying  on 
his  trade.  It  is  clear  that  if  a  manufacturer  does  his  advertising  and  carries  on 
his  dealings  with  his  Latin  American  customers  through  representatives  who  are 
bound  by  stipulations  as  to  price ;  employs  express  and  forwarding  agencies  whose 
functions  are  confined  to  this  capacity,  or  does  his  own  forwarding,  he  will  be  in 
a  position  to  control  his  outlay  for  c.  i.  f.  rates  and  at  the  same  time  protect  the 
importer  as  regard  proper  classification  of  the  goods  in  the  Rio  custom  house  by 
attending  directly  to  the  packing  and  invoicing.  If,  however,  he  should  deal 
through  export  commission  houses — excellent  institutions  in  their  way,  and  often 
convenient  and  necessary — he  cannot  exert  any  control  on  any  one  of  the  con- 
ditions which  govern  the  price  at  which  the  goods  will  reach  the  importer  except- 
ing of  course  the  net  price  at  which  they  leave  the  plant,  or  at  most  the  f.  o.  b. 
Neither  can  he  do  so  if  he  does  his  selling  through  local  dealers  to  whom  he  has 
granted  an  agency  with  exclusive  territory  unless,  of  course,  he  has  made  some 
very  stringent  stipulations  with  the  latter  in  the  matter  of  price  limits.  This  is 
true  in  general  terms  in  dealing  through  local  buying  agents.  In  this  regard  the 
conditions  are  in  a  manner  the  same  as  those  obtaining  when  the  trade  is  carried 
on  through  export  commission  houses.  The  manufacturer  is  necessarily  placed 
in  the  background,  not  being  able  to  govern  his  trade  in  the  matter  of  prices  any 
more  than  he  is  able  to  come  in  direct  touch  with  his  customers,  popularize  his 
name  and  brands  and  stabilize  his  position  in  the  market. 

Besides  these  elements  of  price-fixing,  which  depend  more  or  less  on  the 
manufacturer  and  the  way  in  which  he  goes  about  laying  his  plans  of  merchan- 
dising, there  are  others  of  a  more  general  nature  which  depend  for  their  solution 
rather  on  organized  action  than  individual  effort.  These  include  matters  of  ship- 
ping, importation  of  raw  material  and  foodstuffs  and  a  number  of  complex  sub- 
jects of  special  discussion  in  other  parts  of  the  program  of  this  Conference,  and 
need  not  be  dwelt  upon  within  the  limits  of  this  paper. 

From  the  premises  outlined  above,  we  are  able  to  draw  the  following  con- 
clusions : 

The  question  of  price  assumes  more  importance  at  the  present  time  owing 
to  the  approaching  adjustment  of  other  questions  which  have  embarrassed  manu- 
facturers in  the  past. 

American  manufacturers  enjoy  opportunities  to  supply  an  infinite  variety 
of  lines  and  grades,  provided  they  conform  with  the  price  conditions  obtaining  in 
the  Latin  American  markets. 

The  best  method  by  which  a  manufacturer  can  control  his  price  to  importers 
is  doing  his  own  exporting,  and  dealing  with  his  customers  through  representa- 
tives bound  by  stipulations  or  through  branch  houses  of  his  own. 


TRADING    METHODS  263 

^  LATIN  AMERICAN  HETEROGENEITY  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  TRADE 

BY  C.  GRAND  PIERRE.  MANAGER  TRADE  DEVELOPMENT  WORK,  F.  C.  LUTHI  &  Co.,  INC., 

NEW  YORK  CITY. 

"Se  connaitre,  c'est  s'aimer" — (To  know  one  another  is  to  love  one  another.) 

This  is  an  unusual  beginning  for  a  speech  on  business,  yet  the  Honorable 
Minister  of  Haiti,  Mr.  Charles  Morovia,  quite  rightly  expressed  the  thought  that 
knowledge  creates  sympathy — sympathy  breeds  interest — interest  stimulates  study — 
and  study  is  one  of  the  essential  elements  of  successful  commerce. 

The  wonderful  papers  we  have  heard  and  the  discussions  we  have  enjoyed 
have  manifested  an  intense  desire  on  the  side  of  all  members  of  the  Conference 
to  learn.  Yet  they  have  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  the  North  American 
delegates  are  as  yet  ignorant  of  many  things,  the  knowledge  of  which  is  essential 
if  we  want  not  only  to  bring  about,  but  maintain,  the  intimacy  of  Pan  American 
commercial  relations  of  which  we  are  dreaming  and  which  we  all  desire  so  much 
and  the  realization  of  which  the  Pan  American  Union  has  been  working  for  so 
many  years, 

One  of  the  most  common  mistakes  of  North  America  exporters  is  to  con- 
sider "Latin  America"  as  a  unit — as  one  single  field  or  market;  in  fact,  there  is 
probably  no  large  part  of  the  world  or  no  continent  composed  of  as  many  hetero- 
genous  elements,  whether  we  look  upon  that  continent  from  a  geographic,  ethnic 
or  a  commercial  point  of  view. 

From  a  distance  this  "Latin  America"  may  seem  to  us  sufficiently  alike  in 
all  of  its  parts  to  appear  as  a  unit;  however,  as  soon  as  we  near  one  of 'its  sides 
we  soon  discover  that  there  is  between  Latin  Americans  as  great  differences  as 
between  Europeans  from  the  North  and  from  the  South. 

Let  us  first  look  at  the  racial  composition  of  Latin  America.  Beginning  at 
the  southernmost  end  of  the  continent  we  first  find  the  pure  blood  Indians  of 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  then  white  oasis  in  the  Province  of  Magellan  of  Chili,  and  then 
again  vast  territories  sparsely  populated  with  pure  blood  Patagonian  Indians,  and  a 
smattering  of  pure  whites. 

The  rest  of  Argentina  and  Uruguay  is  practically  pure  white,  and  the  white 
population  of  both  of  these  countries,  although  of  Spanish  civilization  and  speaking 
the  Spanish  language,  is  at  least  three-fourths  of  non-Spanish  blood,  of  recent 
immigration. 

Crossing  the  Andes  into  Chile  we  find  a  large  proportion  of  Indian  and 
mixed  blood,  and  a  very  much  smaller  proportion  of  recent  white  immigration, 
but  a  larger  percentage  of  old  non-Spanish  immigration,  mainly  Irish,  English  and 
German,  which  has  already  been  thoroughly  assimilated  for  three  or  more  gener- 
ations. 

These  differences  of  racial  origin,  much  more  than  the  differences  of  climatic 
conditions,  account  for  the  vastly  different  character  of  the  population  of  these 
three  countries,  and  for  the  difference  in  their  business  methods. 

Paraguay  is  an  entity  by  itself.  Besides  a  small  number  of  pure  whites  and 
Indians,  the  majority  is  of  mixed  blood,  which  has  already  been  so  thoroughly 
amalgamated  that  the  Paraguayans  can  hardly  be  called  "meztizos,"  but  indeed  have 
become  a  race  by  itself. 

Bolivia  occupies  a  unique  ethnic  position  in  the  Southern  hemisphere ;  the 
majority  of  the  population  of  the  Highlands  and  of  the  Northwest  slope  of  the 
Andes  is  of  almost  pure  Indian  blood ;  on  the  other  hand,  that  of  the  Southeast  ter- 
ritories is  almost  pu^e  white. 

Unlike  in  Peru  and  Brazil,  for  instance,  the  upper  class  of  Bolivians  counts 
among  its  most  influential  members  a  considerable  number  of  pure  blood  Indians, 
who  in  culture  do  not  in  any  way  stand  second  to  their  white  co-citizens.  The 
majority  of  the  population  of  Peru  is  of  mixed  and  Indian  blood,  but  there  we  rhid 
what  our  patrician  American  Southerner  would  call  "poor  white  trash,"  and  a 
somewhat  numerous,  yet  highly  cultured,  pure  white  patrician  class,  almost  aristo- 
cratic, which  has  not  forgotten  the  royal  grandeur  of  Peruvian  vice-regal  types. 

It  is  impossible  to  speak  of  Brazil  as  of  an  ethnic  entity.  Its  three  Southern 
States  are  pure  white,  or  nearly  so,  with  a  strong  recent  immigration,  mainly 
German.  Sao  Paulo  is  also  white,  but  about  half  of  its  population  is  of  recent 
Italian  origin. 


264  SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

The  farther  North  we  travel  in  Brazil,  the  darker  becomes  the  skin  of^the 
population,  until  we  reach  almost  pure  Indian  or  negro  blood,  with  only  a  sprink- 
ling of  highly  cultured  white  in  the  cities. 

The  populations  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela  have  a  strong  admixture  of 
negro  blood  in  the  Atlantic  Coast  regions,  but  in  inland  provinces  there  is  very 
much  less  of  an  admixture  of  Indian  and  white  blood  than  in  other  Latin  American 
countries. 

Costa  Rica  and  Salvador  are  populated  mostly  by  whites ;  the  other  coun- 
tries of  Central  America  have  considerable  Indian  and  mixed  populations  and  an 
increasing  infhix  of  African  blood  in  the  Gulf  Coast  regions. 

As  we  all  know,  Haiti  is  almost  pure  black  and  of  French  civilization,  while 
Santo  Domingo  is  mainly  mulatto,  with  a  strong  remaining  strain  of  Carib  blood, 
and  of  Spanish  language  and  civilization. 

An  interesting  fact  about  South  American  Indians  is  that  those  in  the 
Southern  part  of  the  continent  have  fairly  pale  skins,  while  those  in  some  parts 
of  Colombia  are  black-skinned,  even  darker  than  most  negroes.  They  are,  however, 
Indians,  not  Africans. 

Another  interesting  fact  is  that  the  San  Bias  Indian,  of  Panama,  is,  accord- 
ing to  ethnologists,  probably  the  purest  race  of  men  on  earth. 

With  such  important  ethnic  differences  in  the  various  parts  of  South  America 
one  can  easily  understand  that  there  are  no  similar  tastes  and  needs,  but  that  also 
business  ethics  and  methods  are  different.  The  failure  of  many  American  ex- 
porters, who  circularize  indiscriminately  everybody  everywhere  alike  in  countries 
SoJuth  of  the  Rio  Grande,  is  very  often  due  to  ignorance  of  these  facts. 

But  the  historical  differences  are  even  greater  than  are  the  ethnical  differences. 
For  instance,  the  Spaniards  found  in  Peru  and  Bolivia  are  peaceful  races  of  natives 
who  did  not  even  know  how  to  defend  themselves  against  a  handful  of  invaders. 
Part  of  the  present  Peru  became  a  vice-regal  seat  of  Spanish  power  in  South 
America,  and  soon  vied  with  Spain  itself  in  splendor  and  luxurious  living,  indolence 
and  aristocratic  right. 

Further  South  the  Spaniards  met  the  war-like  Mapuches  and  Aracanian 
Indians  and  had  to  fight  practically  every  foot  of  their  way  South.  In  the  pampas 
of  Argentina  the  Spaniards  found  very  few  Indians  and  were  able  from  the  be- 
ginning to  indulge  in  a  peaceful  pastoral  living. 

Gentlemen,  if  you  will  bear  in  mind  these  great  historical  differences,  you 
will  understand  the  widely  "different  character  traits  of  these  three  named  divisions 
of  Spanish-American  civilization.  Minor  historical  facts  explain  also  more  or  less 
known  characteristics  of  the  white  population  in  certain  parts  of  South  America. 

For  instance,  at  the  time  of  the  buccaneers,  the  more  cultured  Spaniards  in 
Gulf  Coast  territories  endeavored  to  escape  the  constant  strifes.  After  the  Spanish 
Main  large  groups  of  them  emigrated  inland  and  endeavored  to  avoid  these  in  the 
vastnesses  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela.  This  is  why  one  finds  most  Spanish  culture 
in  out-of-the-way  places,  such  as  Corpayah,  Bogota,  Caracas,  etc.,  and  parallel  with 
them  business  methods  and  business  ethics  vary  very  much  from  those  of  Buenos 
Aires  and  Valparaiso. 

Political  differences  are  also  very  great.  Uruguay,  for  instance,  has  had  two 
administrations  and  congresses,  in  majority  .socialistic.  The  present  administration 
of  Argentina,  while  not  socialistic,  is  known  to  have  unusually  progressive  tend- 
encies. 

After  a  series  of  autocratic  governments,  first  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  then 
Blanco  "El  Supremo,"  and  the  Lopez,  Paraguayans  gave  themselves  a  wonderfully 
democratic  constitution,  but  at  the  same  time  a  period  of  revolutionary  troubles 
until  they  finally  settled  to  what  is  practically  the  first  attempt  at  a  national  com- 
mission form  of  government.  The  Chilean  political  instability  was  ended  by  fair 
play  in  politics  by  an  unwritten  law  of  a  fair  representation  of  all  minorities. 

In  Bolivia  the  majority  of  the  pure  blood  Indians  are  absolutely  ignorant  of 
politics,  and  do  not  care  who  rules  them  nor  how  they  are  governed,  provided  they 
are  not  troubled  in  their  personal  activities  and  not  overtaxed. 

The  Indian  "Meztizes"  of  the  Peruvian  Island,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  born 
politician;  nothing  pleases  him  better  than  "brass  band"  politics  and  elections. 
Frequently  elections  are  annulled  by  the  authorities,  but  that  does  not  trouble  the 
voter  of  the  Peruvian  altiplano,  "as  there  will  be  another  election  by  and  by." 

These  few  instances  of  political  differences  in  Latin  America  will  suffice  to 
explain  the  wide  differences  in  commercial  laws  and  regulations  in  the  various  coun- 
tries of  the  Southern  Continent. 


TRADING    METHODS  265 

Commercial  methods  also  differ  vastly.  Books  may  be  written  about  them. 
Allow  me  to  merely  outline  a  few  facts. 

The  larger  trade  centers  of  Argentina,  Uruguay,  Brazil  and  Chile  are  in- 
tensively developed  commercially,  and  their  business  methods  are  generally  adapting 
themselves  to  North  American  requirements.  However,  too  much  emphasis  can- 
not be  placed  on  the  fact  that  Chile  is  not  one,  but  several  markets.  The  Province 
of  Magellan,  for  instance,  is  economically  absolutely  independent  from  Valparaiso. 
The  intensively  developed-industrially  active  District  of  Concepcion,  and  Valdivia, 
is  not  at  all  economically  dependent  upon  Valparaiso,  of  Santiago.  Both  Southern 
and  Northern  Peru  submit  to  the  political  supremacy  of  Lima,  but  rebel  at  the 
mere  idea  of  being  made  economically  dependent  upon  the  capital. 

In  business  methods  also  the  differences  are  great.  Business  may  easily  be 
developed  in  Argentina,  Uruguay,  Brazil  and  Chile,  by  judicious  circularizing,  ad- 
vertising or  by  traveling  salesmen.  Some  business  may  be  obtained  by  the  same 
methods  in  Peru.  However,  probably  half  of  the  foreign  trade  of  Peru  is  con- 
trolled by  less  than  half  a  dozen  large  British  and  American  firms,  and  by  no  more 
than  twenty  old  conservative  Peruvian  firms,  whose  trade  would  hardly  be  in- 
fluenced by  circulars  or  by  the  volubility  of  a  drummer. 

Even  nearer  to  us  we  have,  for  instance,  characteristic  differences  in  the 
same  island.  The  trade  of  San  Domingo  is  very  much  divided  and  constantly 
changing.  There  salesmen  of  the  drummer  type  who  speak  Spanish  and  have  the 
right  kind  of  goods  at  the  right  prices  will  bring  back  orders.  In  Haiti,  on  the 
ether  hand,  there  is  very  much  less  subdivision,  as  the  trade  is  in  the  hands  of  a 
small  dumber  of  large  and  exceedingly  conservative  firms,  who  seldom  care  to 
change  old  established  foreign  relations. 

Not  only  the  various  parts  of  South  America  differ  with  one  another  very 
largely,  but  the  methods  of  various  European  countries  have  differed  very  much  in 
their  endeavor  to  obtain  Latin  American  trade.  In  Argentina  and  other  countries 
the  British  have  obtained  a  large  share  of  trade  in  investing  in  railroads  and 
large  enterprises.  In  West  Coast  countries  the  British  have  large  commercial 
houses,  not  branch  offices  of  London  firms.  The  Germans  have  endeavored  to 
monopolize  trade  by  filling  huge  warehouses  with  cheap  goods  and  sending  groups 
of  salesmen  with  carloads  of  trunks  even  into  remote  villages.  The  French  have, 
on  the  other  hand,  until  the  war,  obtained  and  retained  a  large  share  of  the  Latin 
American  trade,  without  any  of  the  means  mentioned  above,  b;ut  very  largely  by 
sending  every  few  years  a  member  of  the  firm — a  son,  a  nephew  or  a  near  relative 
of  its  owner — on  a  friendly  visit  to  maintain  the  personal  contact  between  the  old 
and  the  new  world. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  trust  that  the  few  facts  which  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to 
lay  before  you  will  stimulate  you  to  serious  study  of  Latin  American  countries  and 
their  people,  so  that  the  United  States  may  not  merely  obtain,  but  legitimately  re- 
tain, the  preponderant  commercial  influence  in  the  Western  hemisphere. 


266  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES 

THE  METRIC  SYSTEM  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  PAN  AMERICAN  UNITY 

BY  GEORGE  FREDERICK  KUNZ,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  METRIC  ASSOCIATION. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4.) 

Three  principal  factors  for  the  realization  of  Pan  American  unity,  and  for 
the  preservation  of  amicable  relations  among  all  the  American  countries,  South 
and  North,  are  a  mutual  understanding  of  the  psychology  of  the  several  nations,  a 
decimal  currency,  with,  if  possible,  a  single  unit  of  exchange,  and  finally,  a  single 
system  of  weights  and  measures. 

Most  international  disputes  are  due  to  misunderstandings  and  these  are 
happily  dispelled  by  such  friendly  conferences  as  those  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 
The  second  of  these  factors  has  been  realized  in  part  in  the  greater  number 
of  Latin  American  countries,  but  unfortunately  there  is,  as  yet,  no  common  currency 
unit.  Cuba,  while  preserving  the  name  "peso,"  has  adjusted  its  value  to  that  of 
our  dollar,  and  the  dollar  is  the  unit  in  British  Honduras,  as  it  is  in  Colombia  also. 
In  this  last-named  country,  however,  the  value  falls  a  few  cents  below  that  of  the 
United  States  dollar.  Peru  forms  an  exception,  having  chosen  for  its  money  unit 
the  libra,  an  exact  equivalent  of  the  British  pound  sterling,  this  being  divided  into 
1C  soles  of  100  centavos  each. 

It  would  assuredly  constitute  a  great  simplification  of  the  exchange  conditions 
between  Latin  America  and  the  United  States  if  the  dollar,  with  its  value  as  ours, 
could  be  made  the  single  unit  for  all  the  American  countries.  Of  course  where 
internal  financial  conditions  prevent  the  consistent  application  of  a  gold  standard, 
variations,  more  or  less  violent  in  the  rates  of  exchange  on  paper  money  cannot 
be  avoided,  whatever  may  be  the  nominal  unit. 

As  a  step  in  the  right  direction  of  the  metric  system,  the  decimalization  of 
the  coinage  has  found  some  favor  in  England  recently,  the  present  florin  (a  two- 
shilling  piece)  being  proposed  as  a  new  monetary  unit,  since  it  is  exactly  one-tenth 
of  a  pound  sterling.  As  the  British  farthing  is  1  /96  of  a  florin,  an  exceedingly 
trifling  reduction  of  its  value  would  make  of  it  a  "cent"  representing  the  one-hun- 
dredth part  of  the  florin  and  worth  only  a  very  small  fraction  less  than  one-half 
of  the  United  States  or  Canadian  cent.  Another  idea  has  been  to  add  ten-pence  to 
the  value  of  the  pound,  which  would  then  contain  250  pence  or  1000  farthings  of 
unchanged  value.  A  new  florin,  as  the  tenth  of  this  new  pound,  would  then  be 
worth  100  farthings. 

Here  follows  the  Coinage  units  and  standards  of  the  South  American,  and 
Central  American  nations,  and  of  Mexico. 

Value 
G.    Argentina— Peso    $0.9648 

Currency :   depreciated  paper,  convertible  at  44  per  cent  of   face 

value.     Exchange  rate  about  42%  cents. 
G.     Bolivia— Boliviano    - 0.3893 

12V2  bolivianos— £1 
G.     Brazil— Milreis    0.5462 

Currency :   Government  paper.     Exchange  rate  about  25  cents  to 

the  milreis. 

G.     British    Honduras— Dollar   1. 000 

G.    Costa  Rica— Colon  0.4653 

S.    Guatemala— Peso    0.4969 

Currency  inconvertible  paper.     Exchange  rate  40  pesos'^!. 
S.     Honduras— Peso 0.3537 

Currency:  bank  notes.     Exchange  rate  about  35  cents. 

G.     Nicaragua — Cordoba     1 .000 

S.     Salvador— Peso  0.3537 

Currency  convertible  into  silver  on  demand.    Exchange  rate  about 

42  cents. 
G.    Chile— Peso    - 0.3650 

Currency:  inconvertible  paper.     Exchange  rate  approximately  14 

cents. 


WEIGHTS    AND    MEASURES  267 

G.     Colombia — Dollar   1.000 

Currency :  inconvertible  paper.    Exchange  rate  approximately  $105" 

paper  to  $1. 

G.     Cuba — Peso    1.000 

G.     Ecuador — Sucre    0.4867 

G.     Hayti— Gourde    „ "Z........    0.9647 

Currency:     inconvertible    paper.     Exchange    rate,    approximately 

16  cents. 
G.    Mexico — Peso    0  4985 

Exchange  rates  fluctuate  violently. 

G.     Panama — Balboa 1.000 

S.     Paraguay — Peso    , 0.4969 

Currency :  depreciated  paper.    Exchange  rate  1.550  per  cent. 

G.     Peru — Libra  4.8665 

G.     Uruguay — Peso 1ZZZZ    1.0342 

G.    Venezuela — Bolivar   0.193 

G.,  gold  standard;   S.,  silver  standard. 

The  war,  our  dealings  with  other  nations,  and  the  need  for  greater  efficiency 
here  in  America  have  combined  to  bring  meters,  liters  and  grams  to  the  atten- 
tion of  all  who  read. 

The  metric  movement  is  uniting  the  National  organizations,  firms  and  in- 
dividuals who  are  interested  in  securing  for  America  the  advantages  of  the  general 
use  of  metric  weights  and  measures.  Among  the  National  associations  that  are 
members  of  the  American  Metric  Association  are: 

American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 

American  Chemical  Society. 

American  Drug  Manufacturers'  Association. 

American  Institute  of  Chemical  Engineers. 

American   Pharmaceutical  Association. 

Institute  of  Makers  of  Explosives. 

National  Association  of  Retail  Druggists. 

National  Canners'  Association. 

National  Scale  Men's  Association. 

National  Wholesale  Druggists'  Association. 

National  Wholesale  Grocers'  Association. 

The  World  Trade  Club  of  San  Francisco  purposes  to  continue  its  part 
in  the  metric  campaign  until  success  is  attained.  Their  extensive  distribution  of 
metric  literature  and  a  blank  form  of  petition  addressed  to  the  Executive  Officers 
of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  is  a  splendid  example  to  Clubs  and  As- 
sociations wherever  meters,  liters  and  grams  have  not  yet  come  into  general  use. 

Our  work  of  compiling  and  editing  "Metric  Weights  and  Measures"  in  co- 
operation with  other  National  organizations,  and  securing  and  sending  out  infor- 
mation, is  showing  encouraging  results.  This  is  seen  in  the  modern  and  more 
practical  instruction  in  the  metric  system  as  applied  to  practical  work;  the  more 
general  use  of  metric  equivalents  on  labels  for  groceries,  medicines  and  other  com- 
modities ;  and  in  the  ever  increasing  use  of  metric  weights  and  measures.  The 
substance  of  the  third  edition  of  our  booklet  has  been  approved  by  National 
organizations  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  including  The  Decimal  Association 
of  England. 

There  is  wide  interest  during  these  reconstruction  days  in  the  friendly 
metric  race  between  the  United  States  and  England.  The  Decimal  Association, 
and  the  Manchester  and  District  Decimal  Association  of"  England  are  determin- 
ed to  secure,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  advantages  of  decimal  currency  and  the 
decimal  metric  weights  and  measures. 

Last  year  some  publicity  was  given  to  a  portion  of  a  British  Parliamentary 
report  adverse  to  decimal  currency  and  the  metric  weights  and  measures.  Letters 
arriving  from  England  later,  however,  indicate  that  this  report  has  been  roundly 
criticised  and  has  only  brought  the  need  for  decimal  currency  and  the  metric 
weights  and  measures  more  forcibly  than  ever  to  the  attention  of  the  British 
public.  Commenting  on  the  report  in  question,  Mr.  E.  Merry  of  London  writes  on 
June  15,  1918,  as  follows: 


268  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

/ 

"Since  then  the  Decimal  Coinage  Bill  has  been  read  a  second  time  in  the 
House  of  Lords  and  while  the  result  was  not  exactly  what  we  had  hoped  for, 
yet  it  was,  on  the  whole,  quite  satisfactory. 

"There  was  practically  no  opposition  to  decimal  coinage  as  such.  The 
Government  expressed  the  opinion  that  this  was  not  a  favorable  time  to  make 
the  change  (though  it  was  never  proposed  that  the  coinage  should  be  altered  now 
but  only  preparations  should  be  made  for  the  new  coinage  to  come  into  effect 
after  the  war)  but  suggested  putting  the  whole  subject  before  a  Committee  com- 
posed of  Members  of  both  the  Upper  and  Lower  Houses  and  on  this  understand- 
ing Lord  Southwark  consented  to  the  bill  being  adjourned.  The  Committee  I 
understand  will  be  formed  almost  immediately  and  the  subject  will  be  thoroughly 
threshed  out." 

Mr.  Harry  Allcock  of  W.  T.  Glover  &  Co.,  writes :  "I  am  enclosing  a  copy 
of  the  Decimal  Coinage  Bill  which  is  now  before  the  House  of  Lords.  On 
the  motion  for  its  second  reading  it  was  adjourned  by  consent  on  the  understand- 
ing that  the  subject  would  be  referred  to  a  joint  Committee  of  the  two  Houses 
of  Parliament.  It  is  expected  that  this  Committee  will  be  shortly  appointed,  and 
in  the  meantime  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh  said  in 
the  above  Debate  that  he  was  satisfied  that  the  subject  deserved  further  and 
more  exhaustive  consideration  than  his  Committee  had  been  able  to  devote  to  it." 

While  legislators  have  been  discussing  the  metric  system,  our  practical  Eng- 
lish cousins  have  been  quietly  extending  its  general  use.  Rainfall,  for  instance,  is 
officially  measured  in  millimeters  instead  of  fractions  of  an  inch. 

Word  has  come  from  the  Manchester  and  District  Decimal  Association  that 
the  design  and  manufacture  of  British  magnetoes  is  conducted  solely  in  the  metric 
system. 

One  of  the  most  important  actions  taken  at  the  Inter-Allied  Conference 
held  in  November,  1917,  was  the  establishment  of  the  Inter-Allied  Scientific  Food 
Commission.  This,  as  have  other  Commissions,  adopted  the  metric  system  for 
estimating  the  weights  of  the  various  foods  produced  in  each  allied  country.  The 
amount  of  food  required  for  individuals  and  nations  is  also  given  in  grams.  The 
minimum  portion  of  fat,  for  instance,  for  one  man  pef  day  is  given  as  75  grams. 

The  following  brief  explanation  of  the  use  of  metric  weights  and  measures 
reveals  the  reason  for  the  50%  that  is  saved  in  teaching  the  subject  of  measure- 
ment and  in  calculations  of  nearly  every  kind  by  the  use  of  the  meter,  liter  and 
gram. 

As  the  dollar,  the  unit  for  American  currency,  is  divided  into  100  cents,  so 
the  meter,  the  metric  unit  of  length,  is  divided  into  100  centimeters.  The  centi- 
meter and  meter  are  the  metric  measures  of  length  in  common  use.  For  example, 
if  a  man's  regular  step  is  75  centimeters,  in  100  steps  he  will  cover  75  meters  (75 
centimeters  x  100=7500  centimeters=75  meters).  Fast  walking  will  cover  about 
100  meters  per  minute,  1000  meters  in  ten  minutes,  and  6000  meters  or  6  kilometers 
per  hour. 

The  liter  is  the  metric  unit  of  capacity,  and  is  divided  into  1000  equal  parts 
called  milliters  or  cubic  centimeters.  The  canteen  used  in  the  United  States  Army 
holds  about  one  liter. 

One  milliter  or  cubic  centimeter  of  water  weighs  1  gram,  which  is  the  metric 
unit  of  weight.  The  United  States  five-cent  piece  or  nickel,  when  new,  weighs 
exactly  5  grams,  one  gram  for  each  cent.  Also  the  ten,  twenty-five,  and  fifty-cent 
pieces  are  made  according  to  the  ratio  of  1  gram  for  each  four  cents.  Five  grams 
is  also  the  weight  of  the  French  silver  franc.  Coins  of  nearly  all  countries  may 
be  used  as  metric  weights. 

The  meter  for  measuring  length,  the  liter  for  measuring  capacity,  and  the 
gram  for  weight  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  metric  system.  These  three 
units  (meter,  liter,  gram)  together  with  the  following  divisions  and  their  ab- 
breviations are  winning  their  way  into  general  use  because  they  are  easy  to  learn 
and  to  work  with,  and  best  suited  for  practical  purposes. 


f            10  millimeters  =1  centimeter  10  mm= 

LENGTH  {         1000  kilograms      =1  meter  100  cm  = 

1000   grams            =1  kilometer  1000  m    = 

CAPACITY           1000  milligrams     =1  liter  1000  ml    = 


1000  milliters         =1  gram  1000  mg  = 

WEIGHT -j        1000  meters  =1  kilogram  1000  g     = 

(          100  centimeters  =1  metric  ton  1000  kg  =1  t 


cm 

m 


km 
1 


WEIGHTS    AND    MEASURES  269 

Their  use  is  illustrated  in  the  following  averages  of  measurements  taken  of 
men  about  18  years  of  age;  height,  171  cm;  weight,  58  kg;  chest  girth  after  ex- 
piration, 81  cm;  chest  girth  after  inspiration,  90  cm;  lung  capacity,  4150  cm3  or  cc. 
The  so-called  old  weights  and  measures  in  South  America  are  the  Spanish 
and  the  Portuguese.  The  Portuguese  vera  is,  however,  120  centimeters  and  is  usually 
spoken  of  as  120  cm  instead  of  a  vera.  The  Spanish  vera  has  different  values  in 
several  different  provinces,  but  in  all  cases  its  value  is  given  in  metric  terms.  The 
gallon,  when  spoken  of  in  Latin  America,  usually  refers  to  4  liters.  Where  the 
Portuguese,  Spanish  or  other  names  survive  they  in  nearly  every  case  refer  to 
definite  and  well  understood  metric  weights  and  measures. 

Mr.  E.  C.  Perez,  Consul-General  of  the  Argentine  Republic  at  New  York 
City,  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  conditions  in  South  America.  He  writes  to  the 
American  Metric  Association  as  follows : 

"Replying  to  your  letter  of  the  21st  inst.  I  have  the  pleasure  to  state  that 
in  all  the  South  American  continent  the  metric  system  is  in  current  use,  although  in 
some  countries  other  measures  are  also  used,  especially  the  ancient  Spanish  system 
of  weights  and  measures.  The  Argentine  Republic  adopted  by  law  the  metric 
decimal  system  in  the  year  1863  and  it  is  not  permitted  in  any  public  or  private 
document  to  establish  a  measure  or  equivalent  of  other  system  of  weights  and 
measures,  without  stating  at  the  same  time,  the  equivalent  in  accordance  with 
the  decimal  metric  system." 

The  Irving  National  Bank  has  had  wide  experience  in  dealing  with  the 
Latin  American  countries.  Their  excellent  book  published  in  1917,  entitled  "Trad- 
ing with  Latin  America,"  considers  the  matter  of  weights  and  measures.  On 
Page  81  is  found  the  following  statement,  which  is  corroborated  by  well-informed 
business  men.  "From  the  first,  measurements,  quantities,  weights,  etc.,  should 
be  converted  into  the  metric  system.  It  is  highly  important  to  realize  that  the 
metric  system  prevails  in  all  of  the  Latin  American  countries  and  business  is 
facilitated  by  employing  it." 

It  should  be  clearly  borne  in  mind  that  the  British  system  is  based  upon  the 
British  yard,  whereas  all  United  States  weights  and  measures  have  been 'based  upon 
the  metric  standards  since  April  5th,  1893.  There  is  a  discrepancy,  for  instance,  in 
regard  to  weights  and  measures,  of  20%  between  the  British  and  American  liquid 
measures.  The  metric  system,  however,  is  legal  in  both  countries  as  they  are 
legal  or  compulsory  in  every  other  country  on  earth. 

The  striking  diversity  in  the  value  of  the  various  chief  metals,  precious  and 
otherwise,  can  be  seen  at  a  glance  in  a  list,  where  the  exact  weight  of  a  cubic 
centimeter  of  each  is  given  with  the  value  of  this  quantity  at  ruling  prices.  It  will 
be  noted,  as  a  proof  of  the  simplicity  of  the  metric  system,  that  when  once  the 
specific  gravity  of  a  substance  is  ascertained  the  exact  weight  in  grams  of  a  cubic 
centimeter  is  known  without  further  calculation,  for  the  cubic  centimeter  of  water 
weighs  one  gram. 

The  common  adoption  of  the  metric  system  by  the  states  of  Latin  America 
is  already  a  bond  of  union  among  them,  and  its  general  adoption  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada  would  bring  both  the  Americas  into  agreement  in  this  particular. 
The  commercial  advantages  afforded  thereby  is  a  most  important  argument  in  favor 
of  this,  entirely  apart  from  the  superlative  merits  of  the  logical  metric  system,  when 
compared  with  the  many  and  chaotically  related  units  of  other  systems. 

The  adoption  of  the  metric  system  renders  it  easier  for  the  children  and 
adults  to  secure  an  education  and  to  think  and  work  logically  and  well.  It  binds 
the  nations  together  by  the  common  use  of  the  international  metric  standards.  It 
is  best  for  the  people  and  the  people  will  secure  it  for  thfeir  permanent  good. 
There  have  been  many  other  weights  and  measures  used  but  unfortunately  they  have 
not  been  conveniently  related  to  each  other  nor  as  well  suited  to  the  needs  of  man- 
kind as  are  those  of  the  metric  system. 

To  escape  from  this  "confusion  worse  confounded,"  into  the  simple,  logical 
atmosphere  of  the  meter  for  length,  the  liter  for  capacity  and  the  gram  for  weight 
would  be  like  leaving  purgatory  (or  a  worse  place)  for  the  Elysian  Fields. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  have  directly  induced  the  substitution  of  a  metric 
unit  for  an  unending  confusion  of  jewel  weights.  In  1893,  at  the  Columbian  Expo- 
sition in  Chicago,  I  advocated  the  introduction  of  a  new  carat,  making  5  carats  to 
the  gram. 

Another  important  advantage  is  that  in  packing  containers  of  any  product, 
they  can  be  expeditiously  and  systematically  arranged  in  cases  holding  tens,  hun- 


270  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

dreds,  or  thousands,  the  layers  of  containers  being  so  laid  that  a  definite  metric 
quantity  can  always  be  removed  without  delay. 

We  have  intentionally  reserved  our  first  factor  to  the  end,  for  we  are  fully 
persuaded  that  nothing  can  better  pave  the  way  for  a  good  understanding  among 
the  American  nations  than  uniformity  of  currency  and  of  weights  and  measures, 
for  this  will  obviate  many  causes  of  misunderstanding  and  dispute,  and  will  aid 
powerfully  in  developing  trade  among  these  nations.  Still,  true  reciprocity  can 
never  be  attained  without  a  sympathetic  study  of  the  differences  in  manners  and 
customs  in  the  various  countries. 

Instead  of  seeking  to  extinguish  these  differences,  or  criticizing  them  in  a 
narrow  and  unfriendly  spirit,  we  should  rather  see  their  good  side  as  expressions 
of  different  types  of  civilization  and  humanity,  and  we  should  welcome  the  ex- 
istence of  a  pleasing  diversity  rather  than  long  for  what  might  well  prove  to  be  a 
monotonous  uniformity.  From  nation  to  nation  the  feeling  should  be  such  as  it  is 
often  between  two  individuals  of  the  same  nation,  where  persons  of  different 
temperamental  and  mental  qualities  frequently  make  the  best  of  friends,  their  re- 
spective qualities  and  defects  proving  mutually  complimentary,  as  Tennyson  put  it 
of  his  great  friend,  Arthur  Hallam,  "his  unlikeness  fitted  mine." 


PAN    AMERICANISM    IN    WEIGHTS    AND    MEASURES 

BY  FREDERICK  A.  HALSEY,  COMMISSIONER,  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  WEIGHTS  AND 

MEASURES,  NEW  YORK. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Wednesday,  June '4) 

At  the  foundation  of  the  case  for  the  metric  system  is  the  claim  that  that 
system  is  better  than  others.  It  is  quite  true  that  some  who  have  tried  it  report 
that  they  find  it  better,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  others  report  that  they  find  it  no 
better  and  even  not  so  good.  It  is,  however,  impossible  to  take  a  census  of  in- 
dividuals in  this  matter,  and  it  is  also  unnecessary  because  the  judgment  of  the 
world  has  condemned  the  system,  and  the  clearest  verdict  of  all  comes  from  France. 

The  metric  system  was  originally  promulgated  in  France  by  compulsory  law 
in  1793.  Those  laws  remained  in  force  for  19  years,  or  until  1812,  when,  under 
Napoleon,  who  had  no  faith  in  the  system,  they  were  repealed  and  the  people  were 
permitted  to  resume  their  ancient  measures.  This  they  promptly  did,  reverting  to 
that  truly  universal  system  in  which  12  inches  make  a  foot,  3  feet  make  a  yard 
and  16  ounces  make  a  pound. 

In  order  to  distinguish  this  system  from  the  metric  system  by  name,  it  re- 
ceived the  official  title  the  Systeme  Usuelle — a  name  which,  in  two  words,  tells  the 
whole  story.  This  Systeme  Usuelle  continued  as  the  common  system  in  France 
for  25  years,  or  until  1837  when  the  metric  force  laws  were  reimposed. 

If  the  metric  system  is  better  than  the  ancient  system,  were  not  19  years 
of  its  enforced  use  sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  fact?  What  other  explanation 
of  this  reversion  to  old  units  is  possible  except  that  the  French  people  found  them 
better  adapted  to  their  purposes  than  the  new  ?  There  is  no  other  possible  ex- 
planation, and  it  should  be  noted  that  we  have  here  not  the  opinion  of  a  few 
individuals  but  the  verdict  of  a  nation. 

To  the  people  of  no  other  country  has  been  given  this  opportunity  to  ex- 
press their  preference  between  the  two  systems  after  a  trial  of  the  new,  but  the 
verdict  of  Latin  America  is  unmistakable.  The  system  was  adopted  in  most  of  the 
Latin  American  countries  more  than  half  a  century  ago — in  the  decade  between 
1850  and  1860 — and  today  the  people  use  it  only  to  the  extent  that  they  are  com- 
pelled by  law. 

In  but  one  country — Uruguay — is  it  really  adopted  for  domestic  purchases 
and  sales  and  this  because  of  laws,  which,  to  us  easy-going  Anglo-Saxons,  seem 
fairly  grotesque,  and,  moreover,  even  those  laws  are  but  partially  effective  as,  in 
spite  of  them,  we  find  many  exceptions. 

Argentina  and  Venezuela  also  have  drastic  laws  but  they  are  not,  apparently, 
so  rigidly  enforced,  as  in  those  countries  we  find  a  much  larger  use  of  the  old 
measures.  In  all  Latin  American  countries  the  use  of  the  system  is  in  exact 
accordance  with  the  severity  of  the  laws,  and  in  most  of  them,  among  the  people, 


WEIGHTS    AND    MEASURES  271 

it  is  used  but  little.  In  ten  of  them  it  can  scarcely  be  found  in  popular  usage  while 
in  five,  the  English  units  are  used  far  more  than  the  metric,  although  these  five, 
like  the  others,  are,  in  metric  literature,  claimed  to  be  purely  metric.  Is  not  half 
a  century  of  tutelage  enough  to  demonstrate  the  advantages  of  the  system,  if  they 
exist?  Is  it  not  clear  that  the  people  of  Latin  America  continue  to  use  the  old  units 
because  they  find  them  better  adapted  to  their  purposes  than  the  new  ones  ? 

The  facts  given  are  the  results  of  an  extended  investigation  conducted  by 
the  American  Institute  of  Weights  and  Measures  by  means  of  a  questionnaire  which 
was  circulated  broadcast  throughout  Latin  America  with  the  assistance  ofl  the 
National  City  Bank,  the  United  Fruit  Company,  W.  R.  Grace  &  Company  and  the 
Hill  Publishing  Company,  all  of  whom  forwarded  the  questionnaires — duly  trans- 
lated into  Spanish  and  Portuguese — to  their  branch  offices  and  correspondents. 

The  results  of  this  inquiry  have  been  summarized  in  a  Report  on  The 
Weights  and  Measures  of  Latin  America,  published  by  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  and  it  should  be  noted  that  since  its  publication  some  re- 
markable confirmations  of  its  findings  have  appeared. 

The  preference  of  the  people  of  Latin  America  for  the  ancient  system  is  not 
confined  to  usage  in  domestic  purchases  and  sales.  We  have  an  accurate  census 
of  the  machine  tools  in  Latin  American  shops  and  factories  which  is  a  striking 
example  of  this  preference. 

For  the  benefit  of  the  non-technical  reader  it  should  be  explained  that 
machine  tools  are  the  machines  with  which  machine  shops  are  equipped.  They  are 
the  foundation  of  modern  mechanical  industry,  being  the  parents  of  all  other 
machines  of  whatever  kind  and  purpose  since  all  parts  of  such  machines  are  made 
thereon  and  on  them  every  dimension  of  every  part  is  determined.  This  is  true 
even  of  the  implements  of  war  as  the  world  has  recently  learned,  war  being,  in 
fact,  the  child  of  the  machine  shop. 

The  census  of  machine  tools  in  Latin  America  under  pre-war  conditions 
shows  that  39.3  per  cent  thereof  were  made  in  the  United  States  and  43.2  per  cent 
in  Great  Britain — a  total  of  82.5  per  cent  having  been  made  to  the  English  system, 
while  the  remaining  17.5  per  cent  were  made  in  France,  Belgium  and  Germany 
and  to  the  metric  system. 

In  other  words,  Latin  American  factories  have  shown  their  preference  for 
machines  made  to  English  over  those  made  to  metric  measures  in  the  ratio  of 
nearly  5  to  1.  Knowing  these  facts  as  they  do,  do  you  think  that  our  manufac- 
turers of  machinery  will  follow  the  advice  of  these  well-meaning  gentlemen  who 
have  no  knowledge  of  the  industry  but  who  tell  us  that  Latin  America  will  not 
buy  our  machinery  unless  made  to  metric  measure?  Contrasting  the  facts  with 
this  claim,  how  much  respect  can  you  have  for  the  knowledge  of  those  who  make 
it? 

Next,  I  wish  to  point  out  that  while  the  system  has  been  repeatedly  adopted 
under  high  hopes  by  industries  in  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  it  has  not 
made  good  its  promises. 

Twenty  years  ago,  the  Library  Bureau  was  the  star  example  of  the  progress 
of  the  system  in  this  country.  At  the  foundation  of  that  industry  the  system  was 
adopted  for  the  manufacture  of  its  products  and  I  have  in  my  office  a  statement 
made  by  a  representative  of  that  organization  before  the  House  of  Representatives 
Committee  on  Coinage,  Weights  and  Measures  in  1906  in  which  the  system  was 
extolled  to  the  skies  and  its  supposed  advantages  set  forth. 

Nevertheless,  after  thirty  years  use,  the  system  was  abandoned  by  the 
Library  Bureau,  which  now  manufactures  its  products  to  the  English  system.  A 
similar  example  is  found  in  Great  Britain  where  in  the  decade  of  the  90's  the 
Willans  &  Robinson  Company  of  Rugby  was  organized  for  the  production  of  the 
Willans  high  speed  engine  for  which  the  metric  system  was  adopted. 

While  continuing  the  system  for  the  production  of  this  engine,  because  of 
the  difficulty  of  a  change  and  the  necessity  of  continuity  of  production,  the  system 
was,  after  20  years,  abandoned  for  all  new  work,  and  Willans  and  Robinson  sum- 
marizing their  experience  in  these  words : 

"We  are  satisfied  that  the  adoption  of  the  metric  system  has  cost 

us  a  great  deal  in  gages  and  special  tools  without  adequate  return." 

Similarly,  the  Ericsson  Manufacturing  Company  of  Buffalo,  New  York 
(manufacturers  of  the  Berling  magneto),  report  that  while  ten  years  ago  they 
used  the  system  exclusively,  but  they  have  now  abandoned  it. 

The  pioneer  American  watch  factory — the  Waltham  factory — adopted  the 
system  early  in  its  history.  The  Waterbury)  (now  the  Ingersoll)  Works  was 


272  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

established  by  men  from  the  Waltham  Company,  who  carried  the  system  with 
them,  but  beyond  that  the  influence  of  the  Waltham  example  has  not  gone,  all  other 
American  watch  factories  following  the  English  systems  Similarly,  the  pioneer 
makers  of  steam  boiler  injectors  (Williams  Sellers  &  Co.)  adopted  the  system 
for  that  product,  but  none  of  their  competitors  has  followed  their  example,  all 
other  makes  of  injectors  being  to  the  English  system. 

In  the  cases  of  watches  and  injectors,  would  not  the  advantage  of  the 
system,  if  it  had  any,  have  led  to  its  use  by  others  than  the  pioneers  and  is  not 
the  fact  that  others  have  not  used  it  satisfactory  proof  that  it  has  no  such  ad- 
vantage? Moreover,  William  Sellers  &  Company,  who  adopted  the  system  for 
this  purpose  about  1860  and  thus  have  a  longer  experience  with  it  than  any  other 
American  manufacturer,  now  say: 

"Our    experience    with    the    metric    system,    extending    over    50 

years,   does   not  encourage   us   to   extend  its   use  beyond   the   borders 

of  the  shop  and  the  class  of  work  for  which  it  was  originally  started." 

Another  example  is  found  in  the  optical  industry.  When,  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago,  the  making  of  optical  instruments  received  its  great  impetus  in  this 
country,  it  was  found  necessary  to  import  skilled  workmen  from  Europe  for  the 
grinding  of  the  lenses.  Those  workmen  had  learned  their  calling  in  the  metric 
system  in  which  all  their  formulas  and  working  data  were  embodied  and  they 
naturally  continued  the  use  of  the  system  here.  It  is,  however,  a  striking  fact  that, 
except  the  lenses,  which,  numerically,  are  a  small  part  of  optical  instruments,  such 
instruments  are  made  to  the  English  system.  We  thus  have  two  systems  in  use 
side  by  side  in  the  same  factories,  and  is  it  not  clear  that  if  the  metric  system  pos- 
sessed the  advantages  claimed  for  it,  those  advantages  would  have  led  to  its 
adoption  for  the  remaining  parts  of  optical  instruments? 

It  is  to  be  noted,  moreover,  that  we  are  now  discussing  scientific  apparatus 
which,  although  made  chiefly  to  the  English  system,  is  accepted  by  scientific  men 
as  entirely  satisfactory  for  their  purposes.  This  being  the  case,  by  what  right 
do  these  men  claim  that  others  will  not  accept  machinery  unless  made  to  the 
metric  system? 

The  investigation  of  the  American  Institute  of  Weights  and  Measures  which 
has  been  published  under  the  title  The  Metric  System  in  Export  Trade  has  dis- 
closed the  fact  that  the  greatest  use  made  of  the  metric  system  by  any  American 
industry  is  found  in  the  production  of  machine  tools  and  it  is  a  striking  fact  that 
not  only  was  this  Institute  organized  within  the  machine  tool  industry,  but  that 
in  that  industry  is  found  the  greatest  number  of  its  members.  Is  it  not  remarkable 
that  the  very  industry  which  has  made  the  most  use  of  the  system  is  the  .one  which 
has  combined  to  resist  its  further  extension?  Moreover,  not  only  have  individuals 
connected  with  this  industry  organized  this  Institute,  but  the  National  Association 
of  Machine  Tool  Builders,  along  with  other  manufacturing  organizations,  have 
repeatedly  passed  resolutions  condemning  the  system. 

The  metric  party  has  endeavored  to  convey  the  impression  that  the  intel- 
lectual people  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  favor  the  adoption  of  the 
metric  system.  Against  that  contention  is  a  pamphlet  published  by  the  American 
Institute  of  Weights  and  Measures  under  the  title  The  Metric  System  Condemned 
by  Those  Who  Know,  wherein  are  collected  together  a  large  number  of  condemna- 
tions of  the  system  by  men  of  whom  the  following  are  representative  examples : 
John  Quincy  Adams,  Past  President  of  the  United  States;  Sir  George  B.  Airey, 
Astronomer  Royal  of  Great  Britain;  Association  of  Railway  Master  Mechanics; 
C.  A.  Bates,  Head  of  Assessment  Division,  U.  S.  Treasury  Dept. ;  Rear  Admiral 
Bowles,  Chief  Constructor,  U.  S.  Navy;  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell,  F.  R.  S. ;  four 
British  Parliamentary  Committees;  Prof.  N.  F.  Dupuis,  Dean  of  Practical  Science, 
Queen's  University,  Canada;  Rear  Admiral  Earle,  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Ordnance, 
U.  S.  Navy ;  Engine  Builders'  Association  of  the  United  States ;  James  W.  Evans, 
Metropolitan  Inspector  of  Weights  and  Measures,  Sydney,  Australia;  Furniture 
Association  of  America;  Willet  N.  Hayes,  Asst.  Sec'y.  U,  S.  Department  of 
Agriculture;  H.  A.  Hazen,  Chief,  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau;  Sir  John  Herschel, 
the  great  astronomer;  J.  E.  Hilgard,  Asst.  U.  S.  Coast  Survey;  Dean  William 
Kent,  Professor  Mechanical  Engineering,  Syracuse  University;  B.  G.  Lamme, 
Chief  Engineer,  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Mfg.  Co.;  J.  H.  Linnard,  Naval  Con- 
structor, U.  S.  Navy;  Hon.  David  Lloyd-George,  President  British  Board  of 
Trade;  Quartermaster  General  M.  C.  Meigs,  U.  S.  Navy;  Rear  Admiral  Melville, 
Chief  Engineer,  U.  S.  Navy;  National  Association  of  Manufacturers;  National 


WEIGHTS   AND    MEASURES  273 

Association  of  Machine  Tool  Builders;  National  Metal  Trades  Association; 
Napoleon;  C.  P.  Patterson,  Supt.  of  U.  S.  Coast  Survey;  Charles  T.  Porter,  Past 
President,  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers ;  Providence  Associa- 
tion of  Mechanical  Engineers;  Dr.  J.  W.  Redway,  F.  R.  G.  S.,  Geographer, 
Meteorological  Observer ;  William  Sellers,  President  William  Sellers  &  Co. ;  Brown 
&  Sharpe  Mfg.  Co. ;  Ellis  Spear,  Commissioner  of  Patents ;  Herbert  Spencer ;  Dr. 
John  E.  Sweet,  Founder  and  Past  President  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers ;  Standards  Committee  Society  of  Automotive  Engineers ;  F.  W.  Taylor, 
Past  President  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  Founder  of  Scientific 
Management ;  Hon.  R.  W.  Thompson,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  H.  R.  Towne, 
Past  President  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers ;  University  Convoca- 
tion State  of  New  York;  U.  S.  War  Department,  office  of  Chief  of  Ordnance; 
J.  A.  Williamson,  Commissioner  U.  S.  Land  Office. 

In  addition  to  these  names,  I  desire  to  point  out  the  character  of  those  who 
comprise  the  Council  of  the  American  Institute  of  Weights  and  Measures  which 
was  organized  to  oppose  the  adoption  of  the  metric  system.  This  Council  con- 
tains three  Past  Presidents  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  a 
Past  President  of  the  American  Manufacturers  Export  Association,  a  Past  Presi- 
dent of  the  Mining  and  Metallurgical  Society  of  America,  the  President  of  the 
National  Association  of  Manufacturers  and  a  Past  President  of  the  same  organi- 
zation, a  Past  President  of  the  Society  of  Automobile  Engineers,  a  Past  Presi- 
dent of  the  National  Metal  Trades  Association,  a  Past  President  of  the  Society  of 
Naval  Architects  and  Marine  Engineers,  the  President  of  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  and  Manufacturing  Co.;  President  of  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology 
and  the  professor  of  Mechanical  Engineering  at  Yale  University.  No  other 
American  organization  can  present  such  a  list  of  names  as  this. 

Against  it,  I  wish  to  contrast  the  character  of  the  Council  of  the  American 
Metric  Association  which  has  been  organized  to  promote  the  metric  system.  That 
Council  contains  a  wholesale  druggist,  two  wholesale  grocers,  a  professor  of  phar- 
macy, a  director  of  a  museum,  a  secretary  of  a  bourse,  and  an  expert  in  precious 
stones. 

Which  of  these  two  bodies  would  you  select  to  direct  the  industrial  policy 
of  this  country? 

I  believe  I  have  shown  that  the  judgment  of  the  world  condemns  the  metric 
system. 

My  Report  on  The  Weights  and  Measures  of  Latin  America  has  made  clear 
to  many  what  was  formerly  known  to  but  few — the  great  similarity  of  the  Spanish 
and  the  English  systems.  Read  a  few  of  the  ratios  of  the  Spanish  system: 

12  pulgadas  make  a  pie. 
3  pies  make  a  vara. 
16  onzas  make  a  libra. 
2000  libras   make   a   tonelada. 

These  ratios  are  equally  familiar  to  us  all  and  the  onza,  the  libra  and  the. 
tonelada  differ  from  the  ounce,  the  pound  and  the  ton  by  one-half  of  1  per  cent — 
a  difference  so  small  as  to  be  inappreciable  for  most  purposes,  a  difference  so 
small  that  in  five  of  the  Latin  American  countries,  it  is  now  ignored  as  it  might 
easily  be  in  all. 

Do  you  recognize  what  I  am  coming  to — Pan  Americanism  in  weights  and 
measures — the  unification  of  our  weights  and  measures  on  the  basis  of  that  sys- 
tem which  is  no  more  English  than  it  is  Spanish  and  no  more  Spanish  than  it  is 
English  because  it  is  neither:  It  is  Roman.  I  am  here  to  urge  Pan  Americanism 
in  weights  and  measures  without  change  of  system  and  with  nothing  but  an 
adjustment  of  values  to  agreement.  Pan  Americanism  did  I  say?  Aye,  but  much 
more  than  that.  Great  Britain  and  her  far-flung  Empire;  the  United  States,  which 
has  taught  the  world  how  to  do  without  kings ;  Latin  America,  the  land  of  the 
great  and  glorious  future.  What  more  is  needed  to  stir  your  blood?  What  more 
to  send  it  coursing  through  your  veins  in  the  presence  of  a  great  opportunity? 
I  am  not  here  to  deal  in  fine  words  or  phrases.  I  am  here  to  present  a  simple, 
sensible,  practicable  plan  for  the  promotion  of  the  commercial  relations  of  the  two 
Americas  and  of  the  British  Empire.  Let  us  give  up  the  chase  of  this  will-'o-the- 
wisp  which  the  nations  of  the  world  are  always  chasing  but  never  catching.  Let 
us  consult  the  experience  of  the  past.  Let  us  recognize  that  the  attempt  to  adopt 
the  metric  system  is  a  failure.  Let  us  work  for  what  is  feasible,  possible  and 
practicable. 


274  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Let  us  unify  the  weights  and  measures  of  the  two  Americas  and  of  the 
British  Empire  on  the  basis  of  the  system  which  came  to  us  all  from  the  mother 
of  us  all — the  Roman  Empire. 

What  more  sane,  simple,  sensible,  obvious,  practical,  common  sense  method 
of  promoting  the  commerce  of  the  two  Americas  is  there  than  this?  What  more 
fruitful  thing  can  the  Pan  American  Union  do  than  promote  this  object? 

For  what  are  we  here?  Is  it  to  promote  that  threadbare,  discredited  thing, 
the  metric  system,  or  is  it  to  promote  international  trade  and  commerce? 


PARCEL   POST  275 

PARCEL  POST 

MAIL  AND   PARCEL   POST   SERVICE  BETWEEN  THE  UNITED   STATES 
AND  LATIN  AMERICA 

BY  OTTO  PRAEGER,  SECOND  ASSISTANT  POSTMASTER  GENERAL. 
(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

The  Post  Office  Department  has  been  anxiously  awaiting  the  stabilizing  of 
affairs  after  the  war  for  many  reasons,  among  others  to  enable  it  to  carry  to 
completion  the  program  laid  down  by  the  Postmaster  General  a  few  years  ago 
for  thorough  reconstruction  of  the  foreign  mails  system.  This  program,  in  the 
main,  called  for  the  bettering  of  sea  transportation  of  mails  to  and  from  foreign 
countries  and  world  wide  extension  of  our  international  parcel  post. 

The  impetus  which  the  war  gave  to  ship  building  in  this  country  bids  fair  to 
bring  that  maritime  development  that  will  enable  this  country  to  keep  in  touch 
with  the  rest  of  the  world  by  numerous  and  more  direct  shipping  lines.  In  a 
measure  upon  the  shipping  program  depends  the  program  for  the  wide  extension 
of  the  international  parcel  post. 

The  benefit  of  frequent  direct  steamship  service  is  not  better  illustrated 
than  by  the  growth  of  the  parcel  post  between  the  United  States  and  such  of  our 
Latin  American  neighbors  as  enjoy  rapid  and  frequent  communication  between 
their  ports  and  the  United  States.  Take  the  case  of  Mexico,  with  its  direct  land 
communication  and  the  excellent  service  to  its  eastern  and  western  ports.  Accord- 
ing to  the  latest  figures,  the  United  States  is  sending  to  that  country  yearly  127,473 
parcels  weighing  in  the  aggregate  841,482  pounds.  This  far  surpasses  the  parcel 
post  exports  to  any  other  country  on  this  hemisphere. 

In  Central  America,  Honduras  has  the  best  steamship  service  with  us  and 
it  leads  in  parcel  post  imports  from  the  United  States,  with  22,899  parcels  weighing 
152,507  pounds.  In  South  America,  for  the  same  reason,  Colombia  leads  in  parcels 
imported  from  the  United  States  with  107,222  parcels  weighing  756,633  pounds. 
The  same  ratio  holds  good  with  parcels  post  imported  into  the  United  States  from 
Mexico,  Honduras  and  Colombia,  thus  indicating  that  the  greatest  movement  of 
parcel  post  in  both  directions  bears  a  distinct  relation  to  the  frequency  and  quick- 
ness of  transportation.  One  of  the  noticeable  characteristics  of  the  international 
parcel  post  with  Latin-America  is  the  great  disproportion  Between  the  number  of 
parcels  exported  from  the  United  States  to  Latin-America  and  those  exported 
from  the  countries  of  Central  and  South  America  to  the  United  States.  While 
in  a  measure  this  holds  true  in  the  parcel  post  export  trade  between  the  United 
States  and  Europe,  the  disparity  is  not  as  great  as  between  this  country  and 
Latin-America. 

An  obvious  reason  is  that  the  United  States  is  a  manufacturing  country 
whose  products  are  easily  adaptable  to  the  small  shipment  units  necessary  to  enter 
the  parcel  post.  The  products  of  the  other  American  countries  run  more  largely 
to  raw  materials  which  naturally  are  less  suitable  for  transportation  by  mail.  I 
realize  that  there  are  a  great  many  people  who  feel  that  a  country  need  not  con- 
cern itself  over  the  development  of  imports,  but  rather  over  the  development  of 
exports;  yet  in  the  development  of  exchange  of  commodities  between  two  coun- 
tries better  and  more  harmonious  relations  will  result  if  the  volume  of  the  ex- 
change is  more  nearly  on  an  equal  basis.  In  the  trade  between  a  country  produc- 
ing largely  finished  articles,  with  a  country  producing  largely  raw  material,  there 
will  always  be  a  disparity  of  volume  of  parcel  post  in  favor  of  the  country  pro- 
ducing the  finished  articles,  but  certainly  with  intelligent  effort  this  disparity  can 
be  reduced,  and  the  increase  in  the  weight  limit  of  articles  entering  into  the 
international  parcel  post  from  11  to  22  pounds,  or  from  5  to  10  kilograms,  lends 
itself  admirably  to  this  work.  I  would  like  to  see  study  and  effort  directed  to 
this  situation  and  I  can  assure  our  friends  of  the  South  of  the  heartiest  coopera- 
tion of  the  Post  Office  Department  of  the  United  States  in  this  work. 

Let  us  take  stock  for  a  minute  of  the  international  parcel  post  arrange- 
ments between  the  United  States  and  Latin  America,  and  with  that  information 
before  us  let  us  endeavor  to  work  out  a  program  that  will  enlarge  the  dealings 
on  both  sides  and  bring  about  a  still  better  understanding  in  the  administration 
of  international  parcel  post. 


276  .  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

The  United  States  today  has  parcel  post  service  with  all  the  countries  of 
Central  and  South  America,  including  Mexico.  To  three  of  these,  Chile,  Mexico 
and  Salvador,  there  is  provision  for  the  registration  of  parcels  and  payment  of 
indemnity  in  case  of  loss.  To  all  the  other  countries  except  Argentina,  Dutch 
Guiana  and  Uruguay,  there  is  provision  for  registration  without  indemnity,  the 
countries  last  named  not  yet  having  accepted  a  provision  for  registration. 

To  ten  countries  in  Central  and  South  America,  British  Honduras,  Guate- 
mala, Nicaragua,  Republic  of  Honduras,  Salvador,  Brazil,  Colombia,  Ecuador,  Peru 
and  Panama,  the  maximum  weight  limit  of  parcel  post  packages  is  22  pounds,  or 
10  kilograms,  while  to  the  remaining  countries  the  weight  limit  is  11  pounds,  or 
6  kilograms.  Negotiations  are  pending  with  the  latter  countries  on  the  proposal 
of  this  Department  for  a  like  increase  in  the  weight  limit  of  parcels,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  eventually  the  22  pound  limit  will  apply  to  all  countries  in  Central^  and 
South  America. 

f  In  our  domestic  parcel  post  service  the  articles  prohibited  transmission 
therein  are,  as  a  rule,  limited  to  those  that  will  injure  the  person  of  the  postal 
employee  or  destroy,  deface,  or  injure  the  contents  of  the  mail  bags,  or  are  such 
as  to  reflect  upon  the  character  of  citizens,  or  are  regarded  as  obscene. 

In  the  foreign  mail  service,  however,  there  also  are  many  articles  pro- 
hibited, the  restriction  imposed  being  based  upon  some  law  or  regulation  in  sup- 
port of  some  trade  monopoly  in  the  country  of  destination,  thereby  obstructing 
a  full  development  of  trade  relations.  For  example,  there  are  countries  whose 
governments  have  the  monopoly  of  the  tobacco  trade,  or  who  have  given  a 
monopoly  of  the  trade  to  some  corporation.  It  will  be  found  with  respect  to 
the  services  to  those  countries  that  tobacco  is  prohibited  transmission  in  the 
parcel  post  in  regular  mails.  Then  again,  there  are  the  restrictions  with 
respect  to  articles  made  of  gold  and  silver,  which  are  'prohibited  Because  the 
articles  may  not  contain  enough  precious  metal  to  conform  with  the  "sterling"  or 
"hallmark,"  requirements  of  each  particular  country,  although  recently  there  has 
been  a  tendency  to  permit  the  bringing  in  of  these  articles,  with  the  requirement 
that  they  be  submitted  for  appropriate  marking  in  some  government  bureau.  Again, 
many  articles  are  excluded  because  the  governments  have  sold  concessions  to  firms 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  the  goods  prohibited,  and  the  prohibitions  are  of 
course  based  upon  the  desire  to  protect  the  individuals  or  corporation  having  the 
concession  or  monoply. 

An  examination  of  the  list  of  prohibitions  in  the  parcel  post  for  foreign  . 
countries  shows  so  great  a  variety  of  articles  prohibited  that  it  is  not  clear  upon 
what  hypothesis  they  are  excluded.  This  Department  is  conducting  an  inquiry 
into  the  causes  of  these  prohibitions  and  means  for  overcoming  them.  In  this 
connection,  the  negotiations  for  a  parcel  post  convention  with  Cuba  are  inter- 
esting, and  the  one  conspicuous  example  where  it  may  be  stated  that  the  United 
States  today  is  chiefly  to  blame  for  the  lack  of  parcel  post  facilities.  The  re- 
fusal of  our  Congress  to  so  modify  our  statutes  so  as  to  enable  Cuba  to  utilize 
the  service  in  connection  with  its  principal  available  industry  has  prevented  the 
conclusion  of  a  parcel  post  convention  with  the  Island.  The  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment, jointly  with  the  Treasury  Department,  has  appealed  to1  Congress  for  an 
amendment  of  the  law,  but  without  avail.  The  statute  in  question  prohibits  the 
importation  into  the  United  States  of  cigars  and  cigarettes  in  less  quantities  than 
3,000  in  a  single  package,  and  it  is  this  prohibition  that  naturally  renders  Cuba 
unwilling  to  enter  into  such  an  agreement,  a^  the  limitation  mentioned  would 
render  the  service  unavailable  to  Cuban  tobacco  dealers,  even  ^  though  the  weight 
limit  were  22  pounds,  the  present  maximum  to  certain  countries.  The  modifica- 
tion of  this  statute  has  been  opposed  by  certain  cigar  makers'  unions  in  the 
United  States,  and  unless  business  men  and  manufacturers,  who  should  be  vitally 
interested,  render  the  necessary  assistance  in  securing  the  modification  of  this 
law,  no  assurance  can  be  given  of  the  extension  in  the  near  future  of  increased 
parcel  post  facilities  to  Cuba. 

Hand  in  hand  with  the  parcel  post  should  go  the  international  money  order 
service,  without  which  parcel  post  must  fail  of  its  fullest  benefits  and  most  suc- 
cessful operations.  We  have  such  service  at  present  with  only  nine  countries  in 
Central  and  South  America,  but  it  is  hoped  that  pending  negotiations  will  result 
in  a  number  of  additional  conventions  in  the  near  future. 

As  an  important  link  in  the  promotion  of  the  commercial  interests  of  the 
Pan  American  countries,  I  should  not  fail  to  draw  attention  to  the  proposal  of 


PARCEL   POST  277 

this  Department  first  submitted  in  October,  1914,  for  the  application  of  the  do- 
mestic rate  of  the  United  States  to  letters  for  the  various  other  countries  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere  (where  said  rate  was  not  already  applicable)  and  the  appli- 
cation of  the  domestic  rates  of  those  countries  on  letters  for  the  United  States. 
As  a  result  of  the  proposal,  the  domestic  letter  rate  has  already  been  extended  to 
British  Honduras  and  British  Guiana  in  Central  and  South  America,  and  to  the 
Bahamas,  Barbados,  Dominican  Respublic,  Trinidad,  and  the  Windward  Islands. 

There  is  another  matter  closely  identified,  it  is  believed,  with  the  exten- 
sion and  improvement  of  the  postal  relations  between  the  countries  of  North  and 
South  America,  concerning  which  I  am  prepared  to  speak,  however,  only  in  the 
sense  of  expectation,  and  that  is  the  next  Pan  American  Postal  Congress  to 
be  convened  on  a  date  and  at  a  place  yet  to  be  selected. 

The  first  Pan  American  Postal  Congress  was  held  at  Montevideo  in  1911, 
at  which  Congress,  however,  the  United  States  was  not  represented.  I  am  pleased 
to  state  that  the  Postmaster  General  is  anticipating  with  much  interest  the  delib- 
erations and  results  of  the  forthcoming  or  second  Pan  American  Postal  Congress, 
and  has  notified  the  Director  of  the  Pan  American  Postal  Bureau  at  Montevideo, 
Uruguay,  of  the  intention  of  this  Government  to  send  delegates  thereto. 


PAN    AMERICAN    PARCEL    POST 

BY  SENOR  FRUTOS  T.  PLAZA,  FOREIGN  DEPARTMENT,  MONTGOMERY  WARD  &  COMPANY 
(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

I  have  been  requested  to  address  you  on  the  subject  of  Pan  American  Parcel 
Post.  This  is  a  question  of  wide-spread  interest  and  it  perhaps  concerns  more  of 
our  common  people  and  commercial  classes  than  any  other  matter  affecting  our 
mutual  relations.  As  a  justification  for  making  some  observations  01^  this  subject, 
I  may  say  that  for  the  last  fifteen  years  our  Company  has  been  shipping  merchan- 
dise through  the  mails  to  most  of  the  nations  of  the  western  hemisphere;  so  that 
we  have  gained  by  experience  a  very  good  understanding  of  the  facilities,  obstacles 
and  requirements  in  the  everyday  routine  of  the  parcel  post. 

The  parcel  post  is  today  more  than  ever  the  quickest  and  the  most  economi- 
cal medium  of  obtaining  lightweight  merchandise  from  the  sources  of  supply,  not 
only  in  the  United  States  but  in  most  of  the  nations  of  north,  central  and  jSouth 
America.  This  method  of  shipment  is  employed  not  only  by  houses  dealing  directly 
with  the  consumer,  but  also  by  those  dealing  with  merchants  and  importers.  The 
parcel  post  is  especially  convenient  for  the  shipment  of  small  sample  orders  and 
repair  parts.  It  thus  has  become  an  item  of  intense  interest  to  most  concerns 
indulging  in  International  trade,  regardless  of  what  their  particular  line  of  busi- 
ness and  methods  of  selling  may  be. 

Thanks  to  the  steady  efforts  of  pur  Post  Office  Department,  facing  at  times 
discouraging  obstacles  but  with  a  spirit  that  is  worthy  of  our  commendation^  we 
have  today  parcel  post  with  every  one  of  the  Republics  of  the  Pan  American 
Union.  This  important  factor  has  placed,  I  am  glad  to  say,  our  exporters  in  the 
same  favorable  position  as  those  of  the  European  nations  and  has  brought  about 
what  may  be  called  the  complete  establishment  of  a  Pan  American  parcel  post, 
opening  a  new  way — heretofore  but  little  known — ifor  the  interchange  of  commodi- 
ties between  the  Republics  of  the  American  continent. 

Let  us  consider  then  some  phases  of  the  arrangements  whereby  packages 
may  be  exchanged  by  mail  between  the  United  States  and  other  countries  of  Pan 
America  and  discuss  the  changes  that  are  necessary  for  their  improvement: 

(1)  Limit  of  weight;  (2)  Postage  rates;  (3)  Packing;  (4)  Necessary 
documents ;  (5)  Suggestions  for  its  improvement. 

(1)  At  present  we  have  four  different  limits  of  weight  for  a  parcel,  each 
depending  on  the  country  of  destination.  To  Brazil,  Colombia,  Peru,  Guatemala, 
Honduras  and  Nicaragua  the  limit  of  weight  for  a  parcel  is  22  pounds.  To  Ecua- 
dor, Mexico,  Panama  and  El  Salvador  20  pounds.  To  the  Dominican  Republic, 
Haiti,  Venezuela,  Bolivia,  Chile,  Argentine,  Uruguay  and  Paraguay  11  pounds. 
To  Cuba  4  pounds  6  ounces. 

Exporters  by  parcel  post  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  limits  of  weight  are 
not  the  same  for  all  countries  so  that  they  rnay  take  full  advantage  of  the  maximum 
weight  whenever  possible.  Many  people  apparently  are  under  the  impression  that 


278  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

the  limit  of  weight  is  uniformly  11  pounds,  and  I  know  of  some  instances  where 
shipments  have  been  unnecessarily  divided  or  goods  needlessly  omitted. 

(2)  Postage  rates   on   Pan  American  parcel  post  are  the   same  to  all   the 
Republics,  12c  per  pound  or  fraction  thereof,  United  States  currency,  registration 
charges  lOc  per  package.    Registration,  however,  can  not  be  obtained  to  the  Argen- 
tine Republic,  Ecuador  and  Uruguay.     The  Government  at  this  time  provides  no 
insurance  against  damage  or  pilferage  and  our  Company,  to  protect  itself  and  the 
interests  of  its  customers,  takes  out  insurance  policies  on  parcel  post  shipments  in 
the  same  manner  that  freight  is  insured. 

(3)  The  item  of  packing  is  of  vital  importance  in  the  successful  operation 
of  parcel  post.     This  is  especially  true  with   respect  to  certain  countries  of   Pan 
America.     To   pack   the   goods   properly  and    economically   the   shipper   must   be 
acquainted  not  only  with  the  local  conditions  of  transportation  but  also  with  the 
climate. 

As  a  general  instance,  when  our  Company  ships  such  merchandise  as  under- 
wear, shoes  or  glassware  to  the  seacoast  towns  of  any  of  the  Latin-American 
Republics,  we  use  only  ordinary  heavy  wrapping  paper  or  light  wooden  boxes 
but  to  the  interior  towns,  especially  on  the  northern  and'  northwestern  coast  of 
South  America,  we  use  waterproof  cloth,  wooden  boxes  lined  with  wax  paper 
or  tin,  depending  on  the  nature  of  the  merchandise  shipped.  By  paying  particular 
attention  to  this  important  matter  of  packing,  our  losses  have  been  reduced  to  the 
very  minimum.  In  fact,  we  have  made  some  pretty  good  records.  I  remember 
one  case  especially  well,  where  we  sent  an  order  to  one  of  our  customers  living  in 
a  small  town  in  the  eastern  part  of  Bolivia  near  the  Brazilian  border,  made  up  of 
300  packages  of  11  pounds  each,  and  after  a  trip  of  thousands  of  miles  over  water 
routes  and  mountain  trails  the  goods  arrived  in/  perfect  condition — not  a  single 
item  missing,  not  a  single  item  damaged.  The  packages  opened  up  in  perfect  condi- 
tion, just  as  if  they  had  been  shipped  from  Washington  to  Philadelphia. 

(4)  Now  let  us  consider  what  documents  are  necessary  for  shipment  by 
parcel    post   to    the    Republics    of    Pan    America.      With    the    exception    of    Cuba, 
Nicaragua  and  Chile,  there  is  no  need  of  any  consular  documents  as  the  duty  is 
collected  according  to  the  weight  and  valuation  shown  on  a  tag  that  is  attached 
to  the  parcel  post,  known  as  the  Custom's  declaration,  or  according  to  the  ordinary 
commercial  invoice.    To  Chile  the  consular  invoice  is  necessary  when  the  shipment 
amounts  to  $25.00  or  more ;  to   Nicaragua  when  the  amount  is  $50.00  or  more. 
These  documents  are  obtainable  in  the  same  form  and  manner  as  apply  to  ordinary 
freight  shipments.    The  Republic  of  Cuba,  to  enable  her  importers  to  receive  the 
benefit  of  25  per  cent  reduction  on  duty  accorded  to  goods  of  American  manu- 
facture, requires  that  shipments  of  $5.00  or  more  be  covered  by  a  consular  invoice, 
duly  certified  by  a  Cuban  consul.     If  this  item  is  overlooked  by  the  shipper,  a  fine 
is  imposed  by  the  Cuban  Custom  House  authorities  on  the  goods  received.    When 
shipments  are  for  less  than  $5.00,  it  is  optional  with  the  shipper  whether  a  consular 
invoice  is  supplied  and  certification  when  made  is  free. 

(5)  It  seems  that  during  this  distinguished  gathering  in  which  there  are 
so  many  representatives  of  the  Pan  American  nations,  it  will  be  the  opportune  time 
to  make  some  suggestions  that  in  our  opinion,  derived  from  every  day  experience, 
are  necessary  to  make  Pan  American  parcel  post  more  serviceable  and  competent. 
We  have  had  abundant  evidence  recently  that  such  suggestions  will  receive  the 
fullest  consideration  of  the  United  States  Post  Office  Department,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Postal  Administrations  of  the  Republics  of  Cen- 
tral and  South  America  will  lend  the  maximum  cooperation. 

As  I  have  mentioned  before,  the  limit  of  weight  for  parcels  varies  from  4 
pounds  6  ounces  up  to  22  pounds,  according  to  the  country  of  destination.  The 
Pan  American  parcel  post  should  have,  in  our  opinion,  one  standard  limit  of  weight 
• — let  us  say  22  pounds,  with  the  limit  of  measurements  increased  in  proportion. 
The  increased  weight  of  parcels  will  bring  benefits  to  both  the  exporter  and  the 
importer.  One  registration  fee  will  suffice  where  two  is  now  required.  It  will 
very  materially  decrease  the  chances  of  loss  that  are  always  incurred  when  goods 
have  to  go  in  many  parcels  instead  of  one  or  two.  There  is  no  doubt  that  by 
increasing  the  weight,  parcel  post  will  become  more  popular  and  more  useful. 
This  has  been  proven  by  experience  in  our  own  business,  in  those  countries  where 
the  limit  was  raised  from  11  pounds  to  20  pounds  some  time  ago. 

Postage  is  another  item  that  no  doubt  can  be  improved.  The  parcel  post 
treaty  between  this  country  and  the  other  Pan  American  Republics  calls  for  one 
standard  rate  of  postage  of  12c  per  pound  or  fraction  thereof.  England  employs 
a  much  better  system  of  charges.  In  her  parcel  post  she  uses  the  group  system 


PARCEL   POST  •  279 

of  postage — from  1  to  3  pounds,  from  3  to  7  pounds  and  from  7  to  11  pounds — 
the  heavier  the  package  the  less  the  rate  of  postage.  This  in  itself,  you  can  very 
easily  see,  is  a  great  incentive  to  shippers  and  buyers  to  increase  the  size  of  their 
parcels  and  orders. 

Consular  invoices  are  demanded  by  so  few  of  the  countries  of  Pan  America 
that  I  shall  not  dwell  upon  this  subject  except  in  a  passing  way.  In  our  opinion, 
an  improvement  to  the  usefulness  of  the  parcel  post  can  be  had  by  doing  away 
entirely  with  this  requirement.  It  does  not  mean  much  of  a  gain  to  anyone  in 
particular  and  on  the  contrary  is  a  source  of  annoyance  to  both  shippers  and 
buyers.  In  one  or  two  cases  that  we  know  of,  the  local  consuls  in  the  interior 
cities  of  this  country,  like  Chicago,  have  not  had  the  authority  to  certify  consular 
invoices  for  parcel  post  shipments.  The  invoices  must  be  sent  to  New  York  which 
means  a  delay  of  several  days  and  sometimes  weeks. 

At  present  there  is  no  provision  for  the  sending  of  parcels  C.  O.  D.  This 
is  especially  needed  to  places  in  Central  and  South  America  where  the  facilities 
for  pending  small  remittances  are  inadequate,  or  in  some  cases  do  not  exist  at  all. 
Besides,  Latin-American  buyers  would  much  prefer  to  pay  the  price  of  the  goods 
and  transportation  charges  at  the  time  of  delivery  of  the  goods  rather  than  to 
send  the  money  in  advance.  Many  houses  like  ours  would  like  very  much  to  ac- 
commodate them  but  find  they  can  not  do  so  as  conditions  now  exist.  To  a  cer- 
tain extent  we  ourselves  have  been  able  to  overcome  this  handicap  by  using  the 
services  of  local  banks.  Parcels  are  shipped  to  these  institutions  and  we  draw  on 
the  purchaser  for  the  full  amount  against  delivery  of  the  merchandise.  This 
arrangement  of  course  can  not  be  made  general.  I  doubt  if  many  institutions  are 
using  it.  It  would  be  a  great  thing,  therefore,  for  the  parcel  post  if  the  United 
States  Postal  authorities  and  those  of  the  rest  of  the  Pan  American  Republics 
could  get  together  and  formulate  C.  O.  D.  arrangements.  This  would  add  greatly 
to  the  full  development  of  this  important  medium  of  trade. 

Now  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  I  am  going  to  touch  on  a  subject  of  extreme 
importance — a  subject  which  I  believe  has  been  at  some  time  or  other  a  nightmare 
to  more  than  one  exporter.  This  subject  is  the  matter  of  Custom's  duties  and 
Custom  House  regulations.  This  conference  has  been  called  the  Pan  American 
Commercial  Conference.  I  consider  myself  then  as  in  a  regular  family  reunion, 
in  which  we  are  to  discuss  our  problems  with  the  utmost  frankness.  Do  not  con- 
sider then  what  I  am  about  to  say  as  mere  criticism,  but  as  constructive  criticism ; 
it  is  the  only  sort  of  criticism  that  will  make  such  conferences  as  this  of  real 
benefit.  Unless  the  Custom  House  regulations  are  made  easier  in  each  one  of  the 
Pan  American  Republics,  the  parcel  post  to  many  people  will  be  only  an  empty 
name.  It  will  be  used  by  the  few  and  not  by  the  many  to  whom  it  is  really  sup- 
posed to  bring  .the  largest  benefit.  Complicated  Custom  House  regulations  may 
easily  defeat  the  purpose  for  which  the  parcel  post  was  established.  Nothing,  in 
my  judgment,  is  gained  by  making  Custom  House  regulations  complicated  instead 
of  simple.  I  am  a  Latin-American  myself  and  have  had  discussions  on  this  sub- 
ject with  Government  officials,  private  individuals  and  importers  of  many  of  the 
Pan  American  nations  and  without  a  single  exception  they  all  have  agreed  with 
me.  There  is  no  question  in  my  mind  but  that  the  revenue  to  each  Government 
could  be  increased  very  materially  by  simplifying  the  Custom  House  requirements, 
as  this  would  encourage  many  people  to  sell  and  many  people  to  buy  that  at  present 
are  rather  reluctant  because  of  the  obstacles  of  the  present  day  regulations. 

Such  a  ruling  as  that  now  prevalent  in  Colombia — that  if  articles  dutiable 
under  different  tariff  classifications  are  mailed  in  the  same  parcel  they  are  all 
dutiable  at  the  rate  applicable  to  the  article  paying  the  highest  rate — can  not  be, 
if  I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  but  detrimental  to  the  proper  development  of  Pan 
American  trade.  This  rulfng  is  an  obstacle  to  the  advantage  gained  by  the  recent 
increase  of  weight  for  parcels  from  11  to  22  pounds,  for  if  a  merchant  has  to  ship 
to  Colombia  half  a  dozen  items  of  merchandise  of  different  classifications,  rather 
than  run  the  chance  of  making  his  customer  pay  an  excessive  amount  of  duty, 
he  packs  the  goods  in  six  different  packages  instead  of  only  one. 

And  this  is  not  the  only  case.  In  some  countries,  duty  is  collected  on  the 
gross  weight  of  the  package  and  an  exporter,  especially  to  the  interior  towns,  finds 
himself  very  often  in  the  predicament  of  not  knowing  just  what  to  do.  On  the 
one  hand  the  customer  demands  that  the  merchandise  must  be  securely  packed^so 
as  to  insure  its  safe  arrival.  On  the  other  hand  he  also  asks  that  the  packing 
should  be  as  light  as  possible  so  the  duty  will  not  be  out  of  proportion  to  the  value 
of  the  goods  ordered.  Trying  to  serve  the  customer  in  both  cases,  the  exporter 


280  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

generally  finds  that  he  has  failed  to  do  either.  This  often  results  in  a  dissatisfied 
customer  and  a  skeptical  exporter,  neither  of  whom  is  an  asset  in  international 
trade. 

In  Venezuela  also,  according  to  a  decree  of  September  26,  1918,  wrapping 
such  as  cloth,  straw  and  paper  used  for  outer  covering  will  be  dutiable  at  the  rate 
of  a  little  more  than  3c  per  pound.  The  decree  also  calls  for  a  special  Custom 
House  charge  of  29c  for  each  parcel  imported  from  the  United  States  when  par- 
cels coming  from  other  countries  are  only  charged  5c.  Failure  to  specify  the  goods 
according  to  Custom  tariff  will  subject  the  importer  to  a  fine  of  15  per  cent  of  the 
Custom  duty. 

In  others,  such  as  Costa  Rica  and  the  Argentine  Republic,  we  have  found 
that  the  delivery  charge  surtax  placed  on  the  importation  of  merchandise  by  parcel 
post  is  so  out  of  proportion,  especially  on  small  shipments,  to  the  total  value  that 
in  most  cases  it  makes  the  transaction  anything  but  economical  to  the  purchaser. 

Besides  this  question  of  duty  there  is  another  important  drawback  against 
the  extension  of  the  parcel  post  in  Pan  America.  In  such  countries  as  Brazil  and 
the  Argentine  Republic  parcel  post  packages  can  only  be  sent  to  a  limited  num- 
ber of  post  offices,  and  if  the  purchaser  happens  to  live  outside  of  the  favored 
cities,  which  are  few  -in  number,  he  has  to  make  use  of  the  services  of  an  agent 
for  the  _  forwarding  of  his  goods.  Certainly  this  is  not  an  encouraging  feature  in 
popularizing  the  use  of  the  parcel  post. 

To  show  that  I  am  perfectly  fair  in  the  matter  of  mentioning  names,  I  will 
now  call  your  attention  to  the  injustice  that  has  been  done  to  the  Republic  of 
Cuba  in  the  matter  of  increased  weights  for  the  interchange  of  parcels.  The 
situation  is  a  very  peculiar  one.  The  Cubans  want  a  regular  parcel  post  to  the 
United  States  and  I  know  we  Americans  want  it  also.  Our  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment has  done  all  that  it  has  been  possible  to  do  to  put  the  matter  through.  But 
there  is  a  regulation  in  the  United  States  Treasury  Department  to  the  effect  that 
the  smallest  quantity  of  cigars  that  may  be  imported  into  this  country  is  3,000. 
Now  3,000  cigars  weigh  over  30  pounds  and  the  Cubans,  with  every  reason,  claim 
that  since  this  regulation  stops  them  from  shipping  to  this  country  by  parcel  post 
•one  of  the  leading  products  of  the  island,  they  will  refuse  to  enter  into  any  ar- 
rangements for  a  parcel  post  treaty.  It  seems  that  it  is  up  to  the  United  States 
Congress  to  repeal  this  law.  It  has  been  presented  to  the  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee where,  I  believe,  it  now  rests  although  repeated  efforts  have  been  made  to 
have  it  favorably  acted  upon.  There  is  not  the  slightest  question  that  something 
should  be  done  and  done  quickly  in  this  matter ;  it  is  inconceivable  that  there  is 
no  parcel  post  between  the  United  States  and  Cuba  except  a  make-shift  arrange- 
ment for  carrying  parcels  weighing  up  to  4  pounds  6  ounces,  while  European 
countries  have  arrangements  whereby  11  pounds  may  be  sent  in  one  parcel — putting 
us  therefore  at  a  great  disadvantage  in  the  matter  of  trade  by  mail.  This  is  one 
of  the  cases  in  which  a  favorable  decision  by  this  Government  will  be  of  benefit 
both  to  United  States  and  Cuban  citizens. 

Now,  Gentlemen,  if  we  are  to  have  a  real,  serviceable,  economical  medium 
of  shipping  merchandise  by  mail,  we  should  all  get  together  to  rid  ourselves  of 
these  annoying,  petty  obstacles  that  lend  themselves  to  no  special  purpose  what- 
soever. If  we  are  to  have  a  Pan  American  parcel  post,  let  us  have  a  real  one 
and  not  a  poor  imitation. 

In  conclusion,  kindly  permit  me  to  say  that  in  presenting  these  views  our 
house  does  it  only  in  a  spirit  of  real  co-operation  towards  a  better  understanding 
of  Pan  American  commercial  relations.  We  are,  in  the  export  field,  wholesalers 
as  well  as  retailers.  Only  a  small  proportion  of  our  trade  goes  by  parcel  post. 
The  bulk  of  it  is  forwarded  by  freight.  Therefore  is  not  more  vital  to  us  than  it 
is  to  other  shippers. 

Before  the  parcel  post  came  into  existence  in  Pan  America,  the  only  persons 
who  had  a  chance  to  come  in  contact  with  each  other  in  different  countries,  outside 
of  pleasure  seekers,  and  diplomatic  and  consular  agents,  were  the  big  importers  and 
exporters.  The  parcel  post,  however,  has  changed  this  condition  and  today  it  is 
not  only  the  big  importers  that  get  acquainted  through  commercial  transactions, 
but  the  little  people,  the  masses  you  might  say.  Now  the  wife  of  a  shoemaker  in 
Peru  is  able  to  send  her  order  to  New  York  or  Chicago  or  to,  say,  other  cities  in 
Pan  America  for  goods  that  she  is  not  able  to  obtain  in  her  locality.  Even  boys 
and  girls  can  buy  their  toys  and  sporting  goods  in  the  far-distantf  commercial 
centers.  These  commercial  transactions  and  exchanges  of  products  between  people 
of  the  different  countries  are  bringing  about  mutual  friendship  a»d  understanding. 


TRADE    MARKS    AND    COPYRIGHTS  281 

TRADE  MARKS  AND  COPYRIGHTS 

PAN  AMERICAN  TRADE  MARK  PROTECTION 

BY  DR.  MARIO  DIAZ  YRIZAR,  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  TRADE-MARK 
REGISTRATION  BUREAU  AT  HAVANA,  CUBA. 

(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

The  International  Trade  Mark  Registration  Bureau  of  the  American  Repub- 
lics established  at  Havana  in  pursuance  of  the  Convention  adopted  at  the  Fourth 
Pan  American  Conference  held  in  Buenos  Aires  in  1910,  will  unquestionably  serve 
as  one  of  the  chief  measures  to  bring  the  American  Republics  into  closer  rela^n- 
ship  with  each  other.  That  Bureau  will  have  as  its  main  object  the  greatest  kind 
of  protection  possible  for  all  products  to  which  a  trade  mark  is  given.  It  must 
be  a  matter  of  general  interest  to  all  merchants  and  manufacturers  to  s*ee  the 
progress  made  in  securing  protection  of  their  products  and  their  manufactured 
goods  throughout  the  American  nations.  Up  to  this  time,  thanks  to  the  efforts 
of  the  Cuban  Government  and  the  personal  interest  of  President  Menocal  on  the 
one  hand,  and  to  the  intelligent  and  helpful  cooperation  of  the  Senate  and  House 
of  Representatives  of  this  Republic,  it  has  been  possible  to  establish  the  office 
entrusted  to  the  supervision  of  the  Cuban  Republic  with  a  view  to  carry  out  the 
provisions  of  the  Convention  adopted  at  Buenos  Aires.  The  steps  to  be  taken  in 
getting  the  mechanism  of  registration  under  way  have  advanded  considerably  so 
far  as  concerns  the  United  States,  the  Government  of  which  has  already  approved 
the  regulations  of  the  Bureau  and  made  an  appropriation  of  the  quota  due  from 
the  United  States  towards  the  support  of  the  Bureau.  The  Republic  of  Honduras 
is  likewise  officially  known  at  Havana  to  have  approved  the  regulations  and  appro- 
priated its  quota.  Similar  action  is  'expected  in  other  countries,  of  which  un- 
official word  has  been  given  indirectly  to  the  Bureau,  as  in  Nicaragua  and 
Panama. 

The  practical  aim  is  to  enable  merchants  and  manufacturers  to  deposit  their 
trade  marks  in  the  countries  which  constitute  the  Pan-American  Union,  and  in  a 
simple  and  economical  way,  to  secure  extension  through  the  International  Bureau 
at  Havana  of  the  protection  given  at  home.  With  the  application  for  such  exten- 
sion of  trade  mark  protection,  will  go  a  money  order  of  $50.00  and  an  electrotype 
of  the  design  of  the  mark.  The  Patent  Office  at  Washington  for  example,  will 
transmit  the  application  to  the  International  Bureau  at  Havana  together  with  a 
description  of  the  mark.  The  International  Bureau  at  Havana  will  enter  the 
application  immediately  upon  receiving  it  from  Washington  in  the  official  regis- 
tration book  kept  for  the  purpose.  Official  copy  with  all  relevant  details  will  be 
sent  to  each  of  the  nations  of  the  Northern  Group  for  the  purpose  of  study  by 
their  trade  mark  officials.  If  these  officials,  after  examining  the  data  referring  to 
the  mark,  find  no  legal  reason  based  on  their  national  legislation  which  will 
prevent  the  extension  of  trade  mark  protection  to  the  mark  in  question,  they  will 
confer  upon  it  full  protection  within  their  respective  jurisdictions. 

The  American  nations  according  to  the  Convention  are  divided  into  two 
groups,  one  comprising  the  eleven  republics  of  North  and  Central  America  and 
the  West  Indies,  the  other  the  ten  Republics  of  the  continent  of  South  America. 
The  Office  of  the  Northern  group  is  now  established  at  Havana,  that  of  the 
Southern  group  will  be  at  Rio  de  Janeiro.  In  order  that  a  given  mark  may  be 
protected  in  the  Southern  Group  from  the  moment  that  the  Bureau  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro  shall  have  been  organized,  the  Bureau  at  Havana  will  begin  automatically 
to  furnish  the  authorities  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  with  all  details  relating  to  each  of  the 
marks  submitted  to  Havana.  Thus  from  the  very  outset  of  its  operation,  the 
Rio  de  Janeiro  Bureau  will  have  a  complete  record  of  all  the  trade  marks  sub- 
mitted by  the  countries  of  the  Northern  Group  to  the  Havana  Bureau  for  inter- 
national trade  mark  protection.  The  economy  of  this  process  will  readily  impress 
those  who  stop  to  think  that  the  entire  operation  will  take  place  at  an  expense 
to  the  applicant  of  $50.00  plus  the  cost  of  his  money  order,  his  electrotypes  and 
some  other  trifling  incidental  expenses.  At  the  present  time,  the  deposit  of  a 
foreign  trade  mark  merely  for  the  purpose  of  registration  in  one  American  coun- 
try alone,  costs  the  applicant  much  more  than  it  will  now  cost  him  for  protection 
in  all  of  them  derived  through  this  office.  Another  one  of  the  several  advan- 


282  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

tages  of  this  arrangement  is  to  be  found  in  the  six  months'  priority  given  to  the 
applicant  over  any  applicant  for  a  similar  mark  submitted  in  any  one  of  the  Ameri- 
can Republics  which  have  ratified  the  Convention.  For  example :  Let  us  suppose 
that  a  merchant  has  in  the  United  States  a  registered  mark  X  for  a  certain  brand 
of  shoes  and  wishes  to  secure  that  mark  in  Cuba,  and  that  a  Cuban  merchant 
may  have  applied  on  May  1st  for  that  mark  X  as  a  trade  mark  for  shoes.  If 
the  United  States  exporter  uses  the  usual  process  by  means  of  certification  of  the 
mark  through  an  agent  in  Cuba  for  the  purpose  of  depositing  it,  it  may  well 
happen  that  the  agent  will  for  one  reason  or  another  allow  time  to  pass  by  and 
his  submission  of  the  mark  for  registration  may  take  place  a  day  or  two  after  the 
mark  X  has  already  been  applied  for  by  the  Cuban  merchant.  In  such  a  case  the 
United  States  manufacturer  would  be  denied  protection.  On  the  contrary,  if  his 
claim  is  presented  through  the  International  Bureau  it  will  be  a  matter  of  no  im- 
portance whether  or  not  a  Cuban  merchant  may  have  made  application  for  that 
mark  one  or  three  months  prior,  inasmuch  as  under  the  Convention  this  mark 
registered  in  the  United  States  will  enjoy  six  months'  piority  over  any  other 
identical  mark  applied  for. 

In  broad  outline,  these  are  some  of  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the 
establishment  of  the  International  Trade  Mark  Registration  Bureau.  It  is  a 
matter  of  great  urgency  that  not  only  this  Bureau  should  soon  begin  to  function 
in  a  normal  way,  distributing  its  bulletin  and  being  in  direct  and  normal  contact 
with  the  trade  mark  authorities  of  the  various  countries,  but  that  also  the  other 
Bureau  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  should  begin  operation.  Seven  ratifications  were  required 
in  the  Southern  Group  before  the  Convention  would  become  effective.  At  this 
time  five  of  the  countries  in  that  Group  have  ratified  the  Convention  and  five 
others  have  still  to  take  that  action.  It  is  the  earnest  hope  of  all  interested  in  this 
practical  and  important  subject,  that  at  least  two  of  the  Governments  concerned 
will  see  their  way  clear  to  take  this  action  without  delay;  and  that  the  others  will 
not  long  delay  in  making  the  same  favorable  decision.  If  two  more  ratifications 
in  South  America  can  be  secured  within  a  short  time,  it  will  be  possible  for  the 
Brazilian  Government  to  set  up  in  actual  operation  the  Bureau  at  Rio  which  will 
be  the  counterpart  and  complement  of  the  one  over  which  I  have  the  honor  to 
preside.  The  two  Bureaus  will  work  as  one  through  a  weekly  exchange  of  all 
records  entered  officially,  and  protection  will  be  evenly  secured  through  both  of 
them  as  if  there  existed  but  one  office.  Nothing  will  so  greatly  promote  the  closer 
relations,  commercial  and  financial,  of  our  various  peoples  in  this  hemisphere  as 
the  assurance  of  the  tranquil  possession  of  all  valuable  rights  acquired  through 
the  improvement  of  industrial  and  commercial  values.  The  degree  of  protection 
which  an  organized  community  sees  fit  to  give  to  trade  marks  will,  in  a  way, 
determine  the  standard  of  respect  for  the  acquired  rights  of  commerce  and  in- 
dustry throughout  the  world;  and  the  willingness  of  Governments  to  cooperate 
frankly  and  cordially  in  giving  effect  to  an  instrument  for  international  protec- 
tion of  such  industrial  and  commercial  property  as  the  trade  mark,  will  be  the 
index  of  their  broad  international  vision  and  sound  commercial  policy. 

And  now,  before  concluding,  may  I  be  permitted  to  refer  to  the  kind  remarks 
of  the  Vice-President,  the  Hon.  Thomas  R.  Marshall,  in  his  inaugural  address  at  the 
opening  of  this  Conference  last  Monday,  when  he  said  that  we  of  the  Latin  race 
should  see  in  the  people  of  the  United  States  real  brothers.  The  ideal  of  brother- 
hood herein  depicted  was  also  developed  in  other  language  in  the  notable  address 
of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  Honorable  F.  H.  Gillett,  the 
same  day. 

The  sentiments,  gentlemen,  expressed  by  Mr.  Marshall  and  Mr.  Gillett  were 
not  mere  words  of  courtesy,  but  they  are  expressive  of  a  fundamental  reality, 
namely,  the  genuine  feeling  of  this  great  nation  for  us  of  the  Latin  family. 

I  would  not  consider  myself  as  complying  sufficiently  with  my  duty  did  I 
not  here  pay  due  tribute  to  this  spirit  of  cordial  friendship  to  which  in  fact,  I  owe 
such  measure  of  success  as  I  have  had  in  the  administration  of  the  International 
Registration  Bureau  at  Havana. 

The  full  and  disinterested  assistance  given  to  my  by  the  Honorable  L.  S. 
Rowe  and  by  Dr.  C.  E.  McGuire,  Secretary  and  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
International  High  Commission,  has  been  a  factor1  of  importance  in  my  work. 
These  officials  of  that  organization,  which  is  well-known  to  the  Latin  peoples  for 
its  effective  realization  of  the  plans  for  technical  uniformity  of  the  American 
Republics,  and  which  is  due  to  the  powerful  initiative  of  one  of  the  men  of  great- 


TRADE    MARKS    AND    COPYRIGHTS  283 

est  vision  in  the  hemisphere,  Secretary  McAdoo,  have  done  their  utmost  to  make 
good  the  sentiments  contained  in  the  words  of  Vice-President  Marshall  and  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  They  both,  Dr.  Rowe  and  Dr.  McGuire, 
have,  in  fact,  dealt  with  me  more  than  as  a  friend,  even  as  a  brother. 

Likewise,  the  sage  advice  which  I  have  received  from  the  chief  authority  of 
the  United  States  on  trade  marks,  the  Honorable  J.  T.  Newton,  Commissioner  of 
Patents,  has  been  of  great  service  in  the  process  of  organizing  the  office  at  Havana, 
and  I  ought  frankly  to  say  that  Mr.  Newton  has  even  gone  beyond  what  we  may 
venture  to  call  the  "Marshall-Gillett"  doctrine,  since  he  has  advised  me  rather  as 
a  father  than  as  a  brother. 

What  I  have  intimated,  gentlemen,  is  obvious  and  clear.  No  one  of  you, 
on  entering  this  building  thinks  he  is  entering  merely  the  "Pan-American  Building" 
as  it  is  called,  but  he  feels  as  I  feel,  that  he  enters  his  own  house. 

And  when  we  clasp  the  hand  of  the  Director-General,  the  Honorable  John 
Barrett,  no  one  of  you,  any  more  than  I  myself,  will  think  he  is  merely  greeting  the 
great  organizer  of  this  significant  gathering,  but  due  to  the  kind  welcome  which 
Mr.  Barrett  has  for  us,  we  all  believe  that  we  are  dealing  with  an  old  family 
friend. 

In  the  name  of  the  Government  and  people  of  Cuba  I  beg  to  extend  to  those 
entrusted  with  the  organization  of  this  Conference,  the  expression  of  our  most 
sincere  and  enthusiastic  congratulations  upon  its  complete  success. 


PROTECTING  GOOD  WILL  ABROAD 

BY  SENOR    ENRIQUE  GIL,  OF  ALDAO,  CAMPOS  &  GIL,  COUNSELORS  AT  LAW, 
NEW  YORK  CITY  AND  BUENOS  AIRES. 

What  is  the  value  of  the  "good  will"  of  a  business  in  the  United  States  ? 

Many  of  our  leading  corporations  have  answered  this  question  in  round 
figures,  which  are  listed  below. 

Vitagraph  Co.,  $5,990,372;  United  Drug  Co.,  $9,974,213;  U.  S.  Worsted  Co., 
$4,348,881;  American  Piano  Co.,  $3,790,723;  American  Cotton  Oil  Co.,  $11,635,886; 
American  Graphophone  Co.,  $1,500,000;  American  Pneumatic  Service  Co.,  $7,943,- 
597 ;  Imperial  Tobacco  Co.,  $26,816,801 ;  Liggett  &  Myers  Tobacco  Co.,  $39,073,021 ; 
American  Tobacco  Co.,  $54,099,430;  Butterick  Co.,  $9,186,065;  Cluett,  Peabody  & 
Co.,  $18,000,000;  Dennison  Mfg.  Co,  $1,000,000;  Studebaker  Co.,  $19,807,277;  Un- 
derwood Typewriter  Co.,  $7,995,720;  Willys-Overland  Co.,  $14,059,932;  F.  W. 
Woolworth  Co.,  $50,000,000;  Regal  Shoe  Co.,  $2,500,000;  Chandler  Motor  Car  Co., 
$5,000,000;  Westinghouse  Air  Brake  Co.,  $2,790,515;  Electric  Storage  Battery  Co., 
$11,000,000;  Hart,  Schaffner  &  Marx,  $15,000,000  Fisk  Rubber  Co.,  $8,000,000; 
Maxwell  Motor  Co.,  $26,500,000;  U.  S.  Radiator  Corp.,  $4,000,000. 

The  above  figures,  taken  from  Moody's  Analysis  of  Public  Utilities  and  In- 
dustrials, for  1916,  at  the  beginning  of  our  export  trade  expansion,  show  clearly 
how  valuable  some  of  our  leading  corporations  then  regarded  their  good-will, 
trademarks  and  similar  assets.  To  what  extent  is  good-will  increased  by  foreign 
trade  expansion,  and  how  can  its  owner  insure  that  this  good-will  abroad  shall 
be  retained? 

What  Is  Good-will  Abroad? — It  is  an  easy  matter  for  a  manufacturing  firm 
putting  out  a  high-grade  article  under  a  well-advertised  trademark  in  the  United 
States,  to  build  up  and  retain  a  valuable  good-will  in  this  country,  but  this  is  not 
the  case  in  selling  in  foreign  markets  to  people  speaking  different  languages  and 
particularly  when  all  dealings  with  the  foreign  public  take  place  through  export 
agencies  trying  to  create  a  good-will  for  themselves,  rather  than  for  the  manu- 
facturers of  the  goods  they  are  selling. 

Building  Good-will  in  the  Export  Trade. — It  is  clear  that  it  is  considerably 
more  difficult  to  build  up  good-will  in  the  export  trade  than  in  the  domestic  trade. 
This  is  not  merely  because  export  advertising  is  done  at  a  long  range,  and  in  many 
cases  the  American  concern  does  not  know  just  the  kind  of  advertising  matter 
which  will  best  appeal  to  the  foreign  public.  More  often  than  not,  the  foreign 
public  never  gets  to  know  the  goods  of  a  particular  American  manufacturer  by  his 
trademark,  because  the  American  trademark  is  not  distinctive  to  the  foreigner.  One 
of  the  first  principles  in  building  up  good-will  abroad  is  to  choose  a  trademark 


284  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

which  will  be  distinctive  in  the  various  foreign  countries.  Naturally,  where  the 
trademark  is  extremely  well-known,  and  considerable  money  has  been  spent 'upon 
advertising  it,  it  would  be  foolish  to  abandon  it  merely  because  it  might  be  possible 
to  choose  a  more  distinctive  trademark.  But  where  the  American  concern  is  going 
into  the  export  trade  for  the  first  time,  it  is  well  to  consider  the  proposition  of 
choosing  a  special  mark  for  export.  Coined  words,  which  have  a  special  signifi- 
cance in  the  United  States,  such  as  "Uneeda,"  "Auto-Strop"  and  "Hole- 
Proof,"  while  having  similar  value  in  English-speaking  countries,  lose  this 
"catchy"  quality  in  the  Spanish-American  and  other  foreign  language  countries. 
Marks  of  this  character  are  not  so  universally  adapted  to  build  up  good-will  in 
foreign  trade  as  picture  marks.  Just  as  one  word  in  the  Chinese  language  looks 
to  us  very  much  like  another,  so  word  marks  in  the  English  language  have  very 
little  distinctive  value  in  the  Far  East,  or  in  any  foreign  country  where  dealings  are 
had  with  an  illiterate  public.  Many  American  concerns  dealing  with  such  a  public 
use  a.  so-called  "chop"  mark,  that  is,  a  picture  of  an  animal  or  an  object  of  uni- 
versal interest,  either  alone  or  associated  with  their  regular  mark,  and  thus  insure 
the  growth  of  good-will  in  such  foreign  markets.  Concerns  about  to  enter  the 
export  trade  should  consult  someone  familiar  with  the  best  type  of  trademark  for 
the  foreign  market  before  arriving  at  a  hasty  conclusion,  because  once  a  trademark 
has  been  chosen,  it  is  an  extremely  difficult  matter  to  change  that  trademark  at  a 
later  date. 

_  Retaining  Good-will  Abroad. — Just  as  it  is  more  difficult  to  build  up  good- 
will in  the  export  trade,  so  it  is  more  difficult  to  retain  that  good-will.  The  pit- 
falls are  entirely  different  from  those  met  in  the  domestic  trade. 

Whereas,  in  the  United  States,  the  piracy  or  stealing  of  a  trademark  is  prac- 
tically unheard  of,  this  practice  exists  nearly  all  over  the  world  outside  the  United 
States^  and  the  American  exporter  who  wishes  to  retain  his  good-will  in  the  foreign 
countries  must  take  full  cognizance  of  this  situation,  and  act  accordingly.  To  those 
exporters  who  are  not  fully  familiar  with  the  reason  why  piracy  is  so  prevalent 
abroad,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  laws  of  many  of  these  foreign  countries  are  based 
upon  a  conception  of  trademarks  as  property  which  is  entirely  different  to  our  own. 
In  the  United  States  the  exclusive  right  of  the  owner  to  the  trademark  is  acquired 
by  the  use  of  the  trademark  by  the  owner.  In  the  South  American  countries  and 
most  of  the  European  countries,  ownership  in  the  trademark  is  acquired  by  going 
to  the  Government  Trademarks  Office,  filing  an  application,  paying  a  Government 
fee,  and  receiving  a  certificate  of  registration.  This  certificate  of  registration  is 
granted  irrespective  of  whether  the  mark  has  been  used  by  the  person  claiming  to 
be  the  owner,  and  irrespective  of  whether  it  has  been  used  by  any  other  person, 
or  whether  the  person  attempting  to  register  it  has  stolen  it  from,  another.  An 
appreciation  of  this  situation  shows  very  clearly  that  under  the  laws  of  these  coun- 
tries, the  American  who  does  not  register  his  trademark  is  not  the  legal  owner 
thereof,  no  matter  how  much  he  has  used  it,  and  the  person  who  does  register  ftie 
trademark  thereby  becomes  the  legal  owner  of  the  trademark. 

The  unauthorized  appropriation  of  trademarks  is  not  by  any  means  limited  to 
the  Latin  American  countries.  The  laws  of  practically  every  country  in  the  world, 
outside  the  United  States,  permit  the  registration  of  marks  which  have  not  actually 
been  used  by  the  owner.  In  Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies,  for  Instance,  a  regis- 
terable  trademark  is  not  only  a  mark  which  has  been  used  in  the  business  of  the 
owner,  but  also  a  mark  which  is  intended  to  be  used  in  the  business  of  the  owner, 
and  it  is  quite  possible  under  the  British  and  Colonial  laws,  to  register  trademarks 
which  are  merely  intended  to  be  used,  but  in  actual  practice  have  not  been  used. 

U.  S.  Government  Warns  Exporters. — Only  recently  the  United  States  De- 
partment of  Commerce  issued  a  report  to  the  effect  that  the  registration  of  trade- 
marks in  the  various  foreign  countries  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  fundamental 
steps  of  preparation  for  after-war  trade;  that  foreign  trademark  registration  is 
perhaps  of  even  greater  importance  now  than  under  normal  conditions,  in  view  of 
the  reported  activity  of  enemy  agents  and  others  in  appropriating  American  trade- 
marks ;  and  that  any  article  worth  advertising  abroad  is  worth  protecting  by  means 
of  trademark  registration.  In  particular,  the  Department  of  Commerce  has  drawn 
the  attention  of  exporters  to  the  fact  that  the  countries  of  Latin  America  have 
furnished  a  particularly  profitable  field  for  the  registration  of  trademarks  for 
speculative  purposes,  and  that  nearly  every  issue  of  the  official  bulletins  of  some 
Latin  American  countries  contain  applications  for  trademark  registration  that  are 
evidently  fraudulent,  or  at  least  unauthorized.  Our  Government  has  stated  that 


TRADE    MARKS    AND    COPYRIGHTS  285 

names  of  automobiles,  motor  trucks,  pharmaceutical  preparations,  and  other  articles, 
the  sale  of  which  depends  largely  upon  advertising  and  good-will,  have  been  par- 
ticularly subject  to  misappropriation,  and  that  recently,  a  single  firm  applied  for  the 
unauthorized  registration  of  the  trademarks  of  six  amongst  the  best-known  Amer- 
ican cars. 

Ethical  Reasons  for  Stealing  Trademarks. — So  prevalent  has  appropriation  of 
trademarks  become  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  that  attorneys  who  make  a  practice 
of  representing  domestic  concerns  in  the  Argentine,  such  as  firms  of  importers, 
have  actually  evolved  an  ethical  reason  for  appropriating  the  trademarks  of  Amer- 
ican manufacturers.  This  ethical  reason  is  that  if  the  Argentine  concern  represent- 
ing the  American  company  does  not  steal  the  trademark,  it  will  be  stolen  by  some 
one  else.  These  ethics  are  preposterous  from  the  standpoint  of  the  American  manu- 
facturer, and  yet  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Argentine  importer,  it  is  better  for  the 
American  to  have  his  mark  stolen  by  a  friend,  than  by  some  less  disinterested 
party.  Experience  has  shown  that  when  these  "friends"  have  been  requested  to 
assign  the  Argentine  marks  to  the  American  concern,  excuses  are  made  which 
lead  us  to  believe  that,  after  all,  our  Argentine  friends  wished  to  have  a  hold  on  us 
which  would  forever  preclude  us  from  dealing  with  any  other  concern  in  the  Ar- 
gentine in  goods  bearing  the  trademark  in  question.  Because  of  these  circumstances 
it  is  necessary  to  lay  down  the  rule  that  no  dealings  should  be  had  with  parties  in 
the  Latin  American  countries  until  the  trademark  application  has  actually  been  filed 
in  the  Trademarks  Office.  Any  exporter  who  fails  to  take  this  precaution  cannot 
complain  that  he  has  not  been  adequately  warned.  Some  of  the  more  conserva- 
tive of  our  manufacturers,  who  have  thought  where  ignorance  is  bliss  'tis  folly  to  be 
wise,  have  awakened  to  the  realization  that  their  ignorance  and  blissfulness  have 
cost  them  their  trademark  rights  in  countries  in  which  they  might  otherwise  be 
doing  a  successful  business  today. 

Trademarks  Represent  Export  Trade  Insurance. — Many  manufacturers  are 
alive  to  the  simple  fact  that  foreign  trademarks  represent  the  insurance  policy  on 
the  good-will  of  their  export  business.  The  fees  which  are  paid  for  trademark 
registrations  represent  the  premiums  which  are  paid  on  the  insurance  policy.  By 
registering  trademarks  in  the  various  foreign  countries,  the  exporter  thereby  in- 
sures the  good-will  of  his  export  business,  and  the  money  and  effort  which  he  has 
spent  in  advertising  his  goods  and  developing  his  trade  in  those  countries.  An 
estimate  of  the  costs  in  annual  payments  of  insuring  the  good-will  in  an  export 
business,  no  matter  whether  it  be  great  or  small,  shows  that  the  average  cost  per 
annum  of  insurance  by  trademark  registrations  in  the  leading  foreign  countries 
amounts  to  less  than  $6.00  per  country  per  annum.  This  cost  is  extremely  low  as 
compared  with  the  cost  of  insurance  of  other  forms  of  property  which  are  not  nearly 
so  liable  to  be  stolen  or  appropriated  as  foreign  trademark  property.  I  have  never 
yet  seen  a  case  where  a  lawsuit  conducted  in  one  of  these  countries,  in  order  to 
recover  a  mark  that  has  been  stolen,  has  cost  less  than  the  cost  of  registration  in 
most  of  the  countries  taken  together;  and  in  many  instances  I  have  seen  cases 
where  money  ill-advisedly  spent  on  litigation  has  been  merely  thrown  away,  since  it 
was  entirely  impossible  under  the  laws  of  the  countries  in  question  to  recover  the 
trademark  which  had  been  appropriated. 

Conclusion. — If  this  country  is  to  hold  its  place  in  the  export  field,  it  must  be 
by  understanding  the  conditions  as  we  find  them  abroad,  and  succeeding  in  spite 
of  them.  The  exporter,  who,  knowing  of  the  conditions  as  to  trademarks  abroad, 
decides  that  a  big  fuss  is  being  made  about  nothing,  and  that  he  will  take  his 
chances,  is  building  his  foreign  business  on  a  foundation  of  quicksand.  There  is 
only  one  rule  as  to  trademarks  in  the  foreign  markets,  and  that  is  no  protection 
without  registration. 


COPYRIGHT  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  THE  LATIN 

AMERICAN  COUNTRIES 

BY  RICHARD  C.  DE  WOLF,  OF  THE  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.  BAR. 
(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4.) 

The  privileges  of  the  copyright  law  of  the  United  States  are  now  open  to 
citizens  of  fourteen  of  the  Latin  American  States:  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Chile,  Costa 
Rica,  Cuba,  the  Dominican  Republic,  Ecuador,  Guatemala,  Honduras,  Mexico, 
Nicaragua,  Panama,  Paraguay,  and  Salvador.  Authors,  artists,  composers  of 


286  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

music,  or  makers  of  photographs  who  are  citizens  of  any  of  the  countries  named 
can,  therefore,  secure  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of  reproduction  of  their  works 
in  the  United  States  for  a  period  of  fifty-six  years  (a  first  term  of  twenty-eight 
years,  with  right  of  renewal  for  a  second  twenty-eight  years).  Of  the  remaining 
Latin-American  States,  all,  or  nearly  all,  have  signed  the  Pan  American  Copy- 
right Convention  of  Buenos  Aires  and  as  soon  as  they  shall  have  ratified  this 
Convention  their  citizens  will  likewise  be  entitled  to  copyright  in  the  United 
States. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  few  citizens  of  the  countries  named  have  taken 
advantage  of  their  privileges.  This  is  to  be  regretted.  The  formalities  required 
in  order  to  secure  copyright  in  the  United  States  are  quite  simple  and  the  expense 
is  slight.  The  first  and  most  important  thing  is  the  printing  of  a  notice  on  the 
book,  or  picture,  or  musical  composition,  or  photograph,  stating  that  it  *is  copy- 
right property  and  giving  the  name  of  the  owner  and  the  year  of  publication.  A 
copy  of  the  book,  or  other  work,  should  then  be  sent  to  the  Copyright  Office, 
Library  of  Congress,  Washington,  D.  C,  in  order  to  secure  registration  of  the 
right  and  a  certificate  which  can  be  presented  in  court,  if  necessary,  as  evidence. 

It  is  very  important  to  remember  that  these  things  must  be  done  at  the 
time  when  the  work  is  published,  otherwise  it  will  be  too  late  to  secure  the  pro- 
tection. The  law  requires  the  notice  claiming  copyright  to  be  printed  on  the 
work  at  the  time  it  is  published,  and  if  this  is  not  done,  the  tost  protection  cannot 
be  revived  afterwards.  Likewise,  the  copy  of  the  work  sent  to  the  Library  of 
Congress  for  registration  must  be  sent  promptly  after  publication.  In  some  years 
of  experience  in  the  Copyright  Office,  the  writer  has  very  often  seen  cases  where 
the  author,  or  publisher,  to  use  the  expressive  Spanish  proverb,  has  come  running 
with  water  after  the  house  was  burned  down.  Perhaps  when  his  work  was 
published  he  did  not  think  there  would  be  any  sale  for  it  in  the  United  States. 
Then,  two,  or  three,  or  five  years  later,  there  comes  a  sudden  demand  for  the 
work.  Some  critic  praises  the  book,  some  virtuoso  plays  the  musical  composition 
in  the  concert  hall,  and  the  author,  or  composer,  sees  to  his  chagrin,  that  large 
sums  of  money  are  being  made  from  his  work  of  which  he  receives  not  one  penny. 
He  could  just  as  well  have  got  protection  for  his  work  and  reaped  a  profit  from 
sale  in  the  United  States,,  had  he  used  a  little  foresight  and  taken  a  little  trouble 
at  the  time  of  publication. 

At  the  Second  Pan  American  Conference  many  speakers  have  expressed  a 
wish  for  a  better  more  sympathetic  understanding,  between  the  United  States  and 
Latin  American  countries.  The  best  way  to  understand  a  country  is  to  study  its 
art  and  literature  and  music.  We  cannot  all  meet  in  person  and  speak  to  one 
another,  but  we  can  exchange  our  books  and  pictures  and  music  and  through 
this  means  millions  of  people  can  come  to  understand  each  other.  Therefore  I 
would  say  to  Latin  Americans :  Send  us  your  literary  works,  your  music,  your 
magazines,  your  pictures,  and  secure  your  just  property  rights  for  them  under  the 
copyright  law.  You  may  not  think  there  is  any  large  market  for  your  works  now, 
but  before  many  years — perhaps  in  a  short  time — the  rapidly  increasing  interest 
in  everthing  pertaining  to  Latin  America  which  we  in  the  United  States  are  coming 
to  feel  will  make  your  copyright  very  valuable. 


TRADE   REGULATIONS  287 

TRADE  REGULATIONS 

CONSULAR  REGULATIONS  AND   OTHER  TRADE  ANNOYANCES 

BY  VlNCENTE  GONZALES,  TRADE  ADVISER,   MERCANTILE  BANK  OF  THE  AMERICAS, 

NEW  YORK 

(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

Without  any  desire  to  criticize,  but  only  for  the  purpose  of  exposing  facts 
in  order  to  secure  relief,  the  following  remarks  are  offered  regarding  what  can  be 
called  a  nuisance  in  our  trade  with  Latin  America. 

Consular  and  other  Latin  American  Customs  regulations,  because  of  their 
interminable  variety  and  continuous  changes  as  well  as  because  of  their  diversity, 
have  become  a  source  of  permanent  annoyance. 

Consular  invoices  were  primarily  intended  to  assist  Governments  in  compiling 
statistics  and  checking  imports  for  revenue  reasons.  But,  gradually  they,  have  been 
diverted  from  their  original  purpose  and  have  become  an  integral  part  of  export 
documentation  to  an  extent  that  evidence  of  shipment,  and  therefore  theoretical 
possession  of  goods,  is  not  complete  without  them. 

Commerce  can  afford  to  add  one  or  more  papers  to  complete,  or  perfect, 
records  of  any  and  all  transactions  if  only  the  same  procedure  were  to  be  followed 
for  shipments  to  all  countries. 

This  is  not  the  case.  Every  other  country  has  different  regulations,  which 
are  changed,  amplified  or  extended  almost  continually,  imposing  eventually  further 
restrictions  and  formalities  until  the  whole  matter  is  unbearable. 

No  two  of  the  twenty  countries  have  the  same  regulations  regarding  bills  of 
lading,  consular  invoices,  marks,  values,  penalties,  and  others.  No  two  of  them 
have  the  same  charges,  office  hours,  and  other  requirements.  They  are  all  different 
in  essence  or  in  form. 

As  early  as  1890,  that  is,  29  years  ago,  when  the  First  Pan  American  Con- 
gress met  in  Washington,  it  was  resolved  to  recommend  to  all  the  Latin  American 
countries,  forming  the  now  Pan  American  Union,  the  study  of  a  plan  to  make  all 
these  regulations  uniform. 

Since  then,  and  during  these  29  years,  there  has  not  been  a  meeting  of  busi- 
ness men  gathered  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  Latin  American  trade  that  has  not 
again  and  again  recommended  the  same :  the  uniformity  of  Customs  and  Consular 
trade  regulations. 

It  seems  that  this  is  the  most  unfortunate  question.  No  one  can  explain  why 
nothing  is  done  to  relieve  the  situation  after  so  much  has  been  said,  written,  recom- 
mended and  resolved.  After  30  years  we  find  conditions  worse  than  ever. 

An  exporter  today  has  to  carry  an  encyclopedia  in  his  head  in  order  to  know 
what  he  can  and  what  he  can  not  do.  He  has  to  know  the  different  names  given 
to  the  same  article  in  the  different  countries;  the  tariff  peculiarities  of  each  with 
their  more  or  less  complicated  provisions  regarding  the  several  forms  of  estimating 
the  gross,  net,  legal  and  actual  weights.  He  has  to  know  how  each  article  is  classi- 
fied in  every  tariff,  and  when  and  why  he  has  to  declare  measure,  weight,  size, 
form  of  packages,  containers,  etc.,  how  he  has  to  mark  the  inside  and  outside 
packages,  how  he  has  to  number  them,  what  besides  marks  and  numbers  has  to  be 
mentioned  on  the  package,  and  when  can  he  use  a  brush  and /or  stencil  and  when 
the  latter  only.  Otherwise  he  may  make  himself  liable  for  damages  due  to  un- 
willing mistaken  declarations. 

Description  of  goods  in  consular  invoices  is  not  the  worst  of  the  troubles. 
Often  the  task  of  fulfilling  instructions  and  yet  expressing  the  truth  is  just  as  bad. 
The  "saving"  of  duties  and  other  charges  is  looked  upon  very  lightly  by  some 
people  while  we  may  consider  it  flatly  as  an  attempt  to  defraud  the  Government 
of  its  legitimate  taxes.  Along  these  lines  the  conscience  of  some  people  is  won- 
derfully elastic,  and  they  do  not  think  they  are  doing  wrong  until  found  out  and 
they  have  to  suffer  for  it. 

A  customer  instructing  the  shipper  to  declare  "silk  shirts"  as  "shirts"  only 
may  have  the  intent  of  "passing"  them  as  "cotton."  The  shipper  may  suspect  this 
intention  and  refuse  to  assist  and  will  declare  the  goods  as  they  are.  He  may  have 
to  face  a  loss  for  not  having  followed  instructions.  Furthermore,  he  may  lose  a 
customer,  who  still  thinks  and  feels  he  is  honest.  But  he  does  not  care  to  com- 
promise with  his  own  conscience. 


288  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Some  countries  confiscate  goods  when  undervalued  in  the  consular  invoice; 
others  establish  their  right  to  "take  them  for  declared  value";  others  will  impose 
heavy  fines,  while  others,  more  lenient,  may  only  disregard  the  declared  value. 

Some  countries  demand  original  manufacturer's  invoice  to  verify  the  value, 
an  unnecessary  requirement,  as  duties  are  almost  everywhere  specific  on  the  weighty 
measurement  or  contents. 

Some  countries  demand  that  separate  invoices  be  made  for  each  different 
mark,  while  others  permit  the  consolidation  of  several  marks  into  one  invoice- 
Others  go  as  far  as  fixing  the 'minimum  size  of  marks  on  packages. 

In  other  countries  the  absence  of  Consular  invoice  makes  goods  liaBle  to 
double  duty. 

However,  all  these  troubles  would  be  greatly  minimized  if  all  were  to  be  cut 
on  the  same  pattern.  But  to  have  to  follow  twenty  different  "sets"  of  regulations 
changeable  with  or  without  notice  and  to  keep  track  of  all  these  changes  at  the 
expense  of  a  good  name  or  good  money  is  beyond  endurance. 

The  peculiar  requirements  of  each  country  exacted  from  their  Consular  offi- 
cers force  them  to  issue  regulations  of  their  own  concerning  the  time  when  shipping 
papers  including  consular  invoices  must  be  in  their  hands  and  when  and  how  they 
are  to  be  delivered.  In  some  cases  regular  gymnastics  have  to  be  resorted  to  in 
order  to  mail  all  papers  by  the  same  vessel  carrying  the  goods,  avoiding  imposition 
of  fines  to  importers  should  they  not  arrive  in  time. 

Then  comes  the  matter  of  actual  papers  to  be  presented  for  certification. 
Some  countries  demand  bill  of  lading  and  Consular  invoice,  some  the  first  only,  some 
the  second.  Some,  in  addition,  require  certificates  of  origin,  of  health  and  others. 
Some  require  oath  before  a  public  notary,  some  before  the  Consul,  some  are  satisfied 
with  signature  only. 

Some  countries  demand  as  little  as  two  copies  of  the  invoice,  some  as  much 
as  seven.  Blank  forms  are  sold  at  different  prices,  one  country  chargipg  as  little 
as  six  cents  for  a  set  of  six  copies  and  another  as  much  as  seventy-five  cents  for 
four  copies. 

Consular  charges  proper  are  also  different. 

Only  one  country  (Costa  Rica)  makes  no  charge  for  certification  of  other 
consular  invoices  or  bills  of  lading. 

Two  (Argentina  and  Uruguay)  require  no  consular  invoice  and  charge  a 
small  fee  for  certifying  bills  of  ladin,g. 

One  (Paraguay)  charges  a  small  fee  for  certifying  bills  of  lading,  and  an- 
other fee,  also  small,  for  certifying  the  Commercial  Invoice. 

Two  (Nicaragua  and  the  Dominican  Republic)  collect  consular  charges  at  port 
of  entry,  the  first  collecting  a  small  fee  for  certifying  bills  of  lading. 

Two  (Brazil  and  Haiti)  charge  a  small  fee  for  certifying  Consular  invoices 
and  another  small  fee  for  certifying  bills  of  lading. 

Five  (Venezuela,  Cuba,  Honduras.  Panama  and  Salvador)  charge  less  than 
1  per  cent  for  Certification  of  Consular  Invoices. 

The  first  named  not  charging  for  certifying  bills  of  lading,  the  other  four 
charge  fee  of  $1. 

One  (Chile)  charges  75  cents  for  certifying  each  copy  of  the  bill  of  lading 
and  a  sliding  fee  of  less  than  1  per  cent  for  certification  of  Consular  Invoices. 

Three  countries  charge  2  per  cent,  for  certifying  Consular  Invoices  (Guate- 
mala, Peru  and  Bolivia).  Guatemala  only  charging  a  fee  of  $1  for  certification  of 
bills  of  lading. 

Three  (Colombia,  Mexico  and  Ecuador)  charge  3  per  cent  for  Certification  of 
Consular  Invoices  and  nothing  for  bills  of  lading. 

The  charge  of  a  small  fee  for  certification  of  Consular  Invoices  is  perfectly 
reasonable.  The  United  States  also  makes  that  charge.  But  when  a  regular  per- 
centage is  charged,  as  high  as  3  per  cent— it  is  nothing  less  than  an  import  duty  col- 
lectible at  the  port  of  shipment,  and  which,  as  a  rule,  adds  to  the  amount  that  has 
to  be  advanced  by  shippers  usually  on  credit.  Buyers  pay  all  these  charges  in  the 
end,  whether  as  a  specific  expense  charged  on  the  invoice  or  as  an  increase  in  the 
price,  but  that  does  not  destroy  the  fact  that  the  American  exporter  is  advancing 
other  than  the  cost  of  goods  and  natural  expenses. 

However,  this  would  not  matter,  if  only  such  charges  were  all  alike.  But,  as 
mentioned  above,  there  are  nine  different  forms  of  collecting  them. 

A  few  other  countries  require  declaration  of  shippers  regarding  the  value  of 
goods,  as  do  Canada,  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  But  such  declaration  calls  for 
no  formalities  and  no  fees  and  does  not  call  for  an  advanced  knowledge  of  Customs 


TRADE  REGULATIONS  289 

tariffs  or  regulations  on  the  part  of  the  shipper.  It  is  intended  not  only  as  an  evi- 
dence of  dutiable  value,  but  also  as  a  warning  against  the  dumping  of  goods  at 
lower  than  market  prices  which  those-countries  wish  to  avoid. 

We  cannot  very  well  ask  for  the  abolition  of  all  these  formalities,  as  we  also 
have  them.  All  goods  shipped  to  the  United  States  must  bring  a  consular  invoice 
signed  before  the  American  Consular  officer  at  place  of  shipment,  and  we,  also, 
have  some  inconceivable  red  tape  in  the  matter  of  regulations  on  imports. 

We  can,  however,  ask  for  certain  uniformity  in  such  regulations,  as  they  all 
tend  to  the  same  purpose. 

Consular  officials  are  supposed  to  know  thoroughly  these  Customs  regulations, 
and  should  advise  shippers,  warning  them  of  all  possible  liabilities  falling  on  them 
because  of  unwilling  violation  of  such  regulations,  wrong  declarations,  etc.  But, 
as  a  rule,  consular  documents  are  made  after  the  goods  are  practically  on  board, 
and  certification  is  requested  by  all  "shippers  at  the  same  time,  giving  the  Consul 
and  his  staff  barely  time  for  affixing  seals  and  signatures.  It  is  enough  to  see  a 
Consulate  on  mail  days  to  verify  this  statement. 

To  fill  the  need  of  Governments  for  some  basis  of  checking  imports  and 
assisting  in  the  compilation  of  statistics,  it  should  be  sufficient  for  the  shipper  to 
sign  a  Consular  Invoice,  sending  a  copy  certified  by  the  Consul  to  the  consignee 
together  with  the  bill  of  lading,  the  carriers  furnishing  the  Consul  with  a  copy  of 
the  bill  of  lading. 

Whatever  these  documents  say,  the  Consul  cannot  verify  the  truth  nor  what 
is  written  on  them  serves  as  basis  for  the  collection  of  import  duties  at  destination 
in  Latin  America.  All  goods  are  examined  at  the  time  of  their  clearing  and  dis- 
crepancies can  be  penalized  at  the  expense  of  whoever  commits  the  fault,  except- 
ing, of  course,  honest  mistakes  which  can  be  proved. 

Description  of  goods  should  be  made  as  simple  as  possible.  The  only  object 
in  this  description  on  the  Consular  Invoice  is  to  assist  in  compiling  statistics,  as 
duty  is  not  collected  on  what  the  invoice  says,  but  on  what  the  goods  are.  There 
are  goods  sold  by  the  yard — according  to  width,  but  not  according  to  weight  as  a 
whole  or  per  square  yard.  Some  countries  charge  import  duty  according  to  the 
weight  per  square  yard  or  meter,  a  detail  the  shipper  has  no  interest  in,  and  yet 
he  has  to  declare  it  in  the  invoice,  becoming  liable  for  any  mistakes.  Statistics 
do  not  show  the  quantity  of  each  specific  quality  imported.  As  a  rule,  they  are 
classified  as  "Woolen  Goods"  or  "Mixed  Goods,"  etc.  In  some  other  countries 
duty  is  collected  according  to  the  proportion  of  mixture  (in  textiles),  some  as  to 
the  surface,  some  as  to  the  value,  some  as  to  the  weight,  some  as  to  the  volume. 
Sometimes  it  is  physically  impossible  for  shippers  to  ascertain  exactly  the  pro- 
portion as  required  and  a  mistaken  declaration  might  make  them  liable  to  a  loss. 

It  should  be  enough  to  describe  the  goods  as,  i.  e.  all  wool,  mixed  wool  and 
cotton,  mixed  wool  and  silk,  etc. 

Some  countries  demand  that  the  shipper  mention  the  class  under  which  the 
goods  are  classified  at  place  of  destination,  sometimes  even  giving  the  paragraph 
number.  Any  mistakes,  of  course,  make  the  shipper  liable  for  excess  of  duty,  if  any. 

This  imposes  on  the  shipper  the  necessity  of  becoming  an  expert  customs 
appraiser  in  that  country  for  the  sake  of  just  a  few  shipments  every  year;  this  he 
cannot  afford  to  be. 

There  is  one  other  matter  that  may  be  mentioned  at  this  time.  It  is  the 
question  of  inviolability  of  the  right  of  holders  of  bills  of  lading. 

It  is  an  open  secret  that  in  some  countries  prospective  owners  can  obtain  de- 
livery or  release  at  Custom  Offices  without  presenting  original  bills  of  lading — 
only  document  that  conveys  right  of  possession.  It  is  said  that  the  mere  mention 
of  a  man's  name  as  notifyee  on  an  order  bill  of  lading  or  the  fact  that  the  consular 
invoice  mentions  his  name  as  "for  whose  account  the  goods  have  been  shipped"  will 
permit  him  to  secure  copy  of  consular  invoice  and  bill  of  lading,  issued  by  a  Cus- 
toms official  and  that  with  these  copies  he  is  allowed  to  make  entry  and  take  actual 
delivery  on  payment  of  duties,  if  any. 

While  this  may  not  be  a  regular  practice  in  all  the  twenty  countries  and 
honest  merchants  would  never  resort  to  a  crooked  way  of  obtaining  possession  of 
goods,  it  has  happened  unfortunately  often  enough  to  justify  a  demand  for  pro- 
tection in  the  future. 

Custom  offices  are  mere  trustees  for  both  the  shipper  and  the  consignee, 
whoever  he  may  be — a  direct  one  as  mentioned  in  the  bill  of  lading  or  the  legitimate 
holder  of  an  "order"  bill  of  lading.  Although  all  bills  of  lading  state  the  obligation 
of  the  carriers  to  deliver  goods  shipped  to  a  consignee  (specific  or  to  be  known 


290  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

later)  at  destination,  he  does  not  make  nor  can  he  make  such  delivery.  The  goods 
are  all  delivered  in  bulk  under  rough  inventory  on  arrival  to  the  Government  who 
keeps  them  in  trust  until  legitimate  right  of  possession  be  shown  and  duties,  if 
any,  paid.  Such  goods  are  held  in  trust  only,  although  the  State  holds  a  natural 
lien  on  them  for  duties  and  charges. 

The  State  should  then,  in  fulfilling  its  trust,  deliver  only  to  whoever  shows 
irrefutable  right  of  possession — whoever  gives  evidence  not  only  according  to  the 
laws  of  the  country  but  also  according  to  the  laws  of  the  country  where  the  goods 
were  shipped. 

All  countries  recognize  the  holder  of  an  order  bill  of  lading,  or  the  consignee 
of  a  direct  one,  as  the  legitimate  possessor  of  the  goods  represented,  and  the  State 
on  actually  seizing  the  goods  on  arrival  makes  itself  Trustee  of  the  possession  only. 
It  never  acquires  nor  can  it  transfer  the  ownership  of  such  goods.  It  cannot  make 
delivery  to  other  than  the  rightful  possessor  or  his  legal  transferee.  The  Consular 
invoice  does  not  and  cannot  transfer  the  right  of  ownership  nor  the  right  of  pos- 
session. It  is  only  a  document  issued  for  the  convenience  and  protection  of  the 
rights  of  the  State.  But  the  protection  of  its  rights  can  never  go  as  far  as  making 
delivery  of  such  goods  to  other  than  the  legitimate  possessor,  be  he  the  owner  or 
rot.  The  State  has  no  right  to  interfere  in  the  transfer  of  ownership,  which  is  a 
right  exercised  only  by  legitimate  owners.  It  may  confiscate  goods  for  violation 
of  its  laws,  it  may  destroy  them  for  the  same  reason,  but  it  has  no  right  to  deliver 
to  anyone  goods  of  which  he  has  no  right  of  possession. 

The  only  evidence  of  right  of  possession  of  goods  transported  from  one  place 
to  the  other  is  the  holding  of  the  bill  of  lading  duly  endorsed  or  duly  directed. 

Furthermore,  the  State,  as  trustee,  should  protect  the  rightful  possessor  and 
prevent  anyone  else  from  taking  possession. 

If  sufficient  protective  provisions  are  not  mentioned  in  the  Customs  Laws 
and  Regulations,  they  should  be  decreed  so  as  to  satisfy  the  confidence  of  all 
shippers.  They  should  be  so  precise  that  everyone  should  know  that  goods  will 
not  be  delivered  except  in  compliance  with  the  instructions  of  the  rightful  pos- 
sessor— the  holder  of  an  endorsed  order  bill  of  lading  or  the  consignee  in  the 
direct  one. 

In  this  regard  it  might  be  convenient  to  pass  legislation  (or  Executive  regu- 
lation as  the  case  may  be  according  to  the  laws  of  each  country)  making  it  un- 
mistakably clear  that  consular  invoices  do  not  in  any  way  bestow  upon  any  person 
rights  of  ownership  or  possession  and  that  they  are  merely  auxiliary  documents 
intended  to  assist  the  Government  in  compiling  statistics  and  verifying  details  of 
goods  imported  for  the  purpose  of  revenue  only. 

There  are  only  four  countries  in  the  whole  world  who  do  not  recognize  the 
"order"  bill  of  lading,  the  four  in  Latin  America:  Colombia,  Venezuela,  Panama 
and  the  Dominican  Republic. 

The  advantages  of  the  order  bill  of  lading  are  too  well  known  to  need  any 
further  comments,  and  it  is  hard  to  understand  why  those  four  countries,  usually 
progressive,  are  stili  adhering  to  the  antiquated  system  of  demanding  only  direct 
bills  of  lading. 

Credit  is  more  easily  and  cheerfully  granted  when  goods  are  shipped  and 
drafts  drawn  against  bills  of  lading  than  when  on  open  account.  No  drafts  can 
be  drawn  against  direct  bills  of  lading  and  therefore  credit  in  those  four  countries 
has  to  be  restricted  to  just  as  much  as  can  be  sold  on  open  account  or  against  un- 
protected clean  drafts. 

In  some  cases,  and  to  obviate  the  difficulty,  goods  are  consigned  to  a  bank 
requesting  that  they  be  transferred  in  bond  upon  acceptance  of  draft  attached. 
Very  few  banks  will  accept  the  consignment  because  of  responsibility  incurred  on 
becoming  importers.  Besides,  it  is  a  very  roundabout  way  and  drafts  drawn  on  a 
merchant  with  bill  of  lading  to  the  order  of  a  bank  cannot  be  negotiated  except 
after  acceptance  of  such  drafts. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  if  the  Governments  of  the  four  countries  were  re- 
quested to  lift  the  unnecessary  and  cumbersome  restriction,  they  would  not  hesitate 
in  doing  so.  Their  countries  would  be  the  first  to  enjoy  the  benefit  as  they  would 
command  better  and  larger  credit  everywhere. 

It  is  true  that  when  the  buyer  is  inland,  the  bills  of  lading  would  have  to 
travel  to  his  place  of  business  and  back  again  to  the  coast,  causing  a  loss  of  time 
perhaps  longer  than  the  Customs  grant  for  making  entries.  It  is  also  true  that 
the  clearing  of  the  goods  would  be  delayed  until  arrival  of  shipping  papers  duly 
endorsed.  The  difficulty  would  present  itself  in  only  one  country— Colombia— 


TRADE  REGULATIONS  291 

where  merchants  in  Bogota  and  other  interior  cities  might  be  handicapped  by  un- 
usual delay.  But  this  can  be  easily  arranged  by  granting  extension  of  time  and 
holding  copies  of  bills  of  lading  at  the  agency  of  collecting  banks  in  the  port  of 
entry.  The  banks  collecting  drafts  against  merchants  in  Bogota,  Medellin,  Mani- 
zales  and  other  cities  have,  all,  branches  or  agencies  in  Barranquilla  or  Cartagena. 
Copies  of  bills  of  lading  could  be  mailed  to  them  by  shippers,  the  banks  making 
entry  or  endorsing  to  customer's  agents  upon  telegraphic  instructions  from  the 
bank  or  branch  at  buyer's  place  of  business.  Anyhow,  the  matter  is  of  little  im- 
portance to  prevent  the  adoption  of  a  principle  so  advantageous  to  trade  as  a  whole. 

Another  matter  worth  mentioning  is  the  diversity  of  taxes  and  regulations 
regarding  traveling  agents  or  salesmen. 

In  no  two  countries  are  these  taxes  and  regulations  alike.  Some  countries 
have  established  a  tax  for  the  entire  country,  others  for  each  province,  and  others 
for  each  (or  some  only)  of  the  municipal  districts.  The  tax,  in  some  cases  is  so 
high  that  it  makes  it  prohibitive  for  all  except  the  few  privileged  large  concerns 
who  enjoy  this  advantage  against  the  smaller  ones. 

The  principle  of  taxation  seems  to  be  that  the  travelers  "do  business"  and 
that  were  they  not  taxed  they  would  have  an  advantage  over  the  domestic  con- 
cerns who  pay  income  tax  and  other  dues.  Should  this  reason  be  accepted  the 
same  should  apply  to  all  concerns  "doing  business"  by  mail,  they  are  not  taxed 
and  still  they  "do  business." 

It  is  confusing  the  traveling  salesman  with  the  peddler.  The  distinction, 
however,  is  evident.  The  traveling  agent  takes  orders,  stimulates  the  trade, 
theoretically,  and  is  no  more  than  what  can  be  called  a  "living  letter." 

They  do  not  sell  merchandise  except  to  importers  (or  would-be  importers) 
but  never  to  the  public  directly.  So  long  as  they  do  not  carry  merchandise  they 
are  not  merchants,  they  are  only  agents  for  a  foreign  merchant  who  might  avoid 
the  tax  could  he  be  convincing  enough  to  sell  by  mail  only. 

The  occasional  visit  of  traveling  agents,  as  stimulating  the  trade  as  a  whole, 
is  nothing  injurious  to  the  country,  it  deprives  nobody  of  anything  and  rather  they 
assist  in  the  advancement  at  large  of  the  country  by  introducing  new  articles  of 
consumption,  arousing  healthy  competition,  teaching  new  methods  of  production  and 
distribution,  expanding  the  commercial  knowledge  of  the  people  and  what  is  more 
important,  serving  in  the  end  as  living  propaganda  for  the  countries  they  visit. 
No  better  actual  information  is  obtained  of  the  world  itself  than  is  furnished  by 
traveling  agents  who  in  fulfilling  their  mission,  study  the  different  countries  and 
circulate  more  or  less  profusely  the  information  gathered.  There  is  no  reason  on 
earth  to  penalize  them. 

Every  country  has  a  right  to  impose  its  taxes,  and  the  right  of  so  doing,  in 
this  case,  is  not  questioned. 

But  again  we  have  the  annoying  diversity  of  them  and  their  unreasonable- 
ness in  some  cases.  Also  the  diversity  of  regulations  to  which  they  are  subject. 

It  would  be  reasonable  to  establish  a  tax,  if  it  has  to  be,  commensurate  with 
the  importance  of  the  business  done.  If  a  man  can  sell  one  million  dollars  in  a 
country  in  one  trip,  he  should  pay  more  than  the  one  who  can  sell  ten  thousand. 
A  lot  would  be  gained  if  such  tax  was  graded  covering  not  the  actual  traveler  but 
the  firm  he  represents  so  that  within  the  economic  year  another  traveler  of  the 
same  firm  would  not  be  taxed  again.  The  more  men  that  visit  a  country  the  better. 

Finally  the  question  of  duties  and  regulations  on  samples  and  other  means 
of  publicity  is  another  annoyance  that  stands  in  the  way  of  a  smooth  and  rapid 
expansion  of  trade.  Regulations  of  samples  and  advertising  matter,  with  or  without 
value,  are  not  alike  in  scarcely  two  countries  out  of  the  twenty. 

Some  countries  allow  the  importation  of  travelers'  samples  in  bond;  others 
collect  duty  and  refund  a  part  of  it  if  re-exported  within  certain  time;  others  treat 
them  in  a  different  way. 

There  is  no  question  as  to  the  right  of  each  and  every  country  of  establish- 
ing all  kinds  of  regulations  to  suit  themselves,  with  or  without  reason.  But  they 
are  all  naturally  interested  in  advancing  their  trade  at  large  and  inducing  the 
settling  of  more  people  and  their  interest  in  the  country.  Trade  is  the  best  in- 
ducement, and  all  that  helps  trade  is,  or  may  be,  a  factor  in  the  inducement. 

It  may  be  far  fetched  to  link  the  better  facilities  granted  to  samples  with 
any  kind  of  improvement  to  the  country.  However,  small  factors  combined  with 
each  other,  and  with  other  large  ones,  achieve,  in  the  end,  sometimes  what  never 
could  have  been  expected. 


292  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Facilities  granted  to  the  importation  and  display  of  samples  may  serve  to 
stimulate  competition  from  other  countries  and  improve  trade  in  general.  New 
articles  which  must  be  demonstrated  do  not  succeed  if  described  on  paper  alone. 
New  designs  may  not  be  well  shown  except  in  fact. 

It  is  true  that  too  many  facilities  may  breed  abuse  and  that  the  trade  and  the 
Government  may  suffer  because  of  free  importation  of  samples  of  articles  which 
are  not  intended  as  such.  But  this  can  be  duly  regulated  everywhere  on  a  similar 
pattern.  Social  and  ethical  conditions  are  almost  the  same  in  the  twenty  countries 
and  the  experience  of  all  combined  may  produce  a  very  reasonable  and  intelligent 
manner  of  treating  them  in  all. 

Advertising  is  more  or  less  handicapped  in  some  if  not  all  the  twenty  coun- 
tries. The  circularizing  of  catalogues,  pamphlets,  posters,  etc.;  should  be  encour- 
aged rather  than  restricted  everywhere.  No  modern  business  can  today  live  if  it 
is  not  properly  supported  by  advertising  which  is  perhaps  the  finest  and  most  subtle 
form  of  valuable  and  agreeable  instruction. 

These  comments  are  not  new.  As  said  before,  some  are  as  old  as  30  years. 
They  are  repeated  with  the  idea  that  perhaps  at  this  gathering  of  practical  men 
something  more  efficient  than  has  been  done  might  be  done  now. 

All  the  recommendations  and  resolutions  of  the  different  Pan  American 
Conferences,  while  tending  to  the  same  end — the  betterment  of  commercial  relations 
between  the  United  States  and  its  twenty  sister  republics — have  too  long  a  course 
to  follow  to  achieve  results. 

It  might  be  better  to  proceed  at  this  time  in  a  different  way.  Instead  of 
appealing  to  the  Governments  through  official  channels,  via  the  State  Department 
and  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  Finance,  etc.,  why  not  appeal  to  them 
through  the  commercial  channels?  Send  a  few  men  to  visit  those  countries  on  be- 
half of  the  commercial  organizations  of  this  country.  Let  them  appeal  to  the  busi- 
ness men  in  Latin  America  and,  with  their  support,  appeal  to  each  Government  re- 
questing the  adoption  of  what  is  asked  for.  They  are  all  reasonable,  they  are 
all  interested  in  the  welfare  of  their  countries.  They  can  see  that  no  underhand 
profit  is  sought  for,  no  business  involved,  and  that  it  is  just  as  much  to  their  in- 
terest as  to  ours  to  improve  conditions. 

And  let  them  stay  there  until  it  is  done.  Otherwise  we  will  continue  to  talk, 
write,  recommend  and  resolve  without  any  other  result  than  the  poor  consolation 
of  having  tried  again  in  vain. 


SOUTH    AMERICAN    TARIFFS 

BY  DR.  F.  R.  RUTTER,  STATISTICAL  ADVISER,  BUREAU  OF  FOREIGN  AND  DOMESTIC 

COMMERCE. 

(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

There  are  three  features  of  South  American  tariffs  to  which  the  American 
exporter  takes  exception.  He  objects  to  the  form  of  the  tariff  and  to  the  numer- 
ous surtaxes  because  they  complicate  the  system  unnecessarily  and  make  it  diffi- 
cult to  ascertain  the  exact  contribution  that  his  shipment  must  bear.  He  objects 
to  the  rates  of  duty  in  force  as  unnecessarily  high  and  as  bearing  no  obvious 
relation  to  the  character  and  value  of  the  goods.  He  objects  to  the  methods  of 
administering  the  tariff  and  especially  to  the  numerous  fines  imposed,  often  for 
acts  or  omissions  of  which  he  was  unconscious. 

Without  question  the  tariffs  of  Latin-America  are  far  more  complicated  than 
those  of  any  other  region.  During  the  eight  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the 
meeting  of  the  first  Pan-American  Conference  there  has  been  distinct  improve- 
ment. Colombia  and  Chile  have  adopted  straight  specific  rates  of  duty  in  place 
of  the  systems  formerly  employed.  Salvador  has  eliminated  the  complicated  system 
of  assessing  duties  and  has  consolidated  the  surtaxes  into  a  single  rate  for  each 
article.  Three  years  ago  Ecuador  imposed  surtaxes  of  125%  per  cent  in  addition 
to  the  rates  of  .duty  prescribed  in  the  tariff.  These  have  now  been  consolidated 
into  a  single  rate,  but  just  recently  a  new  surtax  has  been  imposed.  Paraguay 
has  also  united  its  surtax  with  the  regular  import  duty. 

There  has  thus  been  distinct  progress  in  the  simplification  of  the  tariffs, 
although  much  is  still  left  to  be  accomplished  in  this  direction  and  the  Pan  Ameri- 


TRADE   REGULATIONS  293 

can  Union,  representing  as  it  does  the  Governments  of  all  American  countries  is 
in  a  peculiarly  favorable  position  to  urge  further  reforms. 

The  rates  of  duty,  however,  have  not  been  reduced — on  the  contrary  there 
has  been  some  upward  movement.  This  perhaps  is  unavoidable,  for  in  South 
America  the  Government  depends  mainly  on  import  duties  for  its  national  reve- 
nues and  to  a  large  degree  for  its  local  revenues.  Imported  goods  are  consumed 
largely  by  the  well-to-do  and  wealthy  classes,  whose  demand  in  the  majority  of 
cases  is  not  materially  diminished  by  the  duties  imposed. 

The  American  exporter  to  Latin-America  is,  of  course,  interested  in  the 
rates  of  tariff  duty.  He  must  know  the  charges  that  will  be  levied  on  his  goods 
in  order  to  determine  the  probable  extent  of  their  sales.  In  order  to  determine 
this  it  is  greatly  to  his  advantage  that  the  duties  be  stated  in  the  tariff  clearly 
and  simply. 

But  his  much  more  immediate  interest  lies  in  the  question  of  fines.  ^  Many 
instances  have  come  to  the  attention  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Com- 
merce where  a  reputable  American  exporter  received  from  his  South  American 
correspondent  claim  for  a  refund  of  fines  imposed  on  the  importer,  but  where  the 
exporter  was  not  informed  precisely  why  the  fine  was  imposed  or  in  what  respect 
he  had  been  culpable. 

In  order  to  escape  fines  the  importer  must  declare  his  shipments  with  great 
precision.  The  article  must,  as  a  rule,  be  described  in  the  terms  of  the  local  tariff. 
The  weight  or  other  unit  of  quantity  must  be  precisely  shown.  Any  inaccuracy  in 
description  causes  the  importation  to  be  regarded  as  an  attempt  at  smuggling  and 
the  goods  are  liable  to  be  confiscated — or  rather  a  fine  equal  to  the  value  of  the 
goods  may  be  imposed.  It  is  natural  that^  the  importer  who  understates  the 
quantity  may  be  penalized,  but  in  at  least  one  country  an  overstatement  of  quantity 
also  subjects  the  importer  to  a  fine. 

But  this  all  has  to  do  with  the  declaration  submitted  by  the  importer.  How 
is  the  American  exporter  concerned? 

Goods  are  declared  solely  on  the  basis  of  the  documents  that  the  importer 
receives.  In  some  countries  the  law  requires  that-  the  declaration  on  the  entry 
shall  agree  with  the  invoice.  Any  inaccuracy  in  the  documents  received  by  the 
South  American  importer  consequently  leads  to  a  faulty  declaration  for  which  he  is 
penalized  and  he  naturally  looks  to  the  exporter,  who  was  responsible  for  the 
initial  error  to  make  good  his  loss. 

To  avoid  error  on  the  part  of  the  importer  it  is,  therefore,  imperative  that 
the  exporter  in  this  country  shall  describe  the  article  accurately  according  to  the 
tariff  of  the  country  to  which  it  is  shipped;  that  he  state  precisely  the  quantity  of 
the  article — (neither  more  nor  less;  and  that  he  transmit  promptly  the  number  of 
copies  of  the  various  documents  prescribed  by  the  regulations  of  the  importing 
country. 

LATIN  AMERICAN  TARIFFS 

By  WILLIAM  C.  WELLS,    CHIEF  STATISTICIAN,  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

There  has  been  much  criticism,  especially  since  the  beginning  of  the  war 
of  Latin  American  Tariff  laws  and  the  methods  of  applying  the  laws.  Very 
little  of  the  criticism  is  justified  or  even  intelligent.  It  follows  one  of  two  lines  of 
thought:  First,  that  the  laws  themselves  are  unfair  to  exporters  (i.  e.  the  foreign 
manufacturer)  or  are  constructed  so  as  to  give  preferences  to  certain  kinds  of 
goods  as  against  other  kinds,  or  contain  schedules  and  classifications  at  variance 
with  the  industrial  and  trade  usages  of  all  the  world,  and  that  these  schedules  are 
often  absurd.  Second,  that  the  administration  of  the  laws  is  capricious,  unfair,  not 
unform,  even  corrupt,  and  that  fines  and  forfeitures  are  imposed  for  insignificant 
lapses. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  not  one  criticism  or  complaint  in  twenty  has  come  from 
anyone  with  a  prior  understanding  of  the  operation  of  any  tariff  law  outside  the 
ones  criticised,  the  United  States  tariff  law  for  example,  or  who  appreciates  how 
any  tariff  law  does  and  must  affect  the  foreign  shipper.  To  many  exporters  all 
tariff  laws,  except  those  of  their  own  country,  are  restrictive,  bothersome,  apparently 
capriciously  administered,  illogical  and  even  absurd.  They  know  nothing  about 
how  the  laws  of  their  own  country  are  administered  and  nothing  about  how  these 
laws  in  the  economic  sense  touch  the  foreigner,  although  they  may  have  a  very 


294  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL     CONFERENCE 

true  appreciation  of  how  their  own  laws  affect  the  industry  of  their  own  country. 
Their  only  real  knowledge  .of  the  operation  of  tariff  laws  is  when  they  first  meet 
them  as  exporters. 

If  such  a  one  happens,  first,  to  send  his  goods  to  Argentina  or  Cuba  he  finds 
much  to  criticise;  he  would  find  just  as  much  if  his  first)  venture  was  to  Spain  or 
Italy,  and  if  he  were  a  Spaniard  or  an  Italian  would  find  more  if  his  first  venture 
was  to  the  United  States.  One  must  understand  that  all  tariff  laws  are  in  restraint 
of  trade,  necessarily  so  even  when  not  so  intended,  but  often  intended  to  be  so. 
Every  entirely  free  country  exercises  to  the  fullest  extent  its  right  to  construct  its 
tariff  system  for  the  benefit  of  its  own  industry,  its  own  commerce  or  its  own 
revenue.  It  matters  not  if  the  system  does  hit  the  foreigner,  in  fact,  hitting  the 
foreigner  may  be  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  system.  No  country  has  gone  farther 
in  this  last  direction  than  the  United  States  and  it  may  be  added  that  no  countries 
are  freer  from  this  purpose  than  the  Latin  American. 

Latin  American  tariffs  are  primarily  for  raising  revenue.  Most  Latin  Amer- 
ican governments  are  apt  to  look  at  the  particular  tariff  provision  from  the  point 
of  how  much  revenue  it  will  produce,  and  consequently  rates  are  often  raised  or 
lowered  in  experimental  attempts  to  arrive  at  the  high  revenue  producing  mark. 
A  secondary  purpose  underlying  Latin  American  tariffs  is  that  which  generally 
speaking  has  been  the  chief  purpose  of  the  United  States  tariff  laws  and  revisions 
thereof  to  protect  domestic  industry.  But  the  bases  for  the  protection  of  domestic 
industry  through  tariff  laws  do  not  exist  in  any  of  the  Latin  American  countries 
as  in  the  United  States.  These  countries  are  not  manufacturing  countries  in  the 
sense  that  the  United  States  and  Western  Europe  is.  A  law  intended  to  foster 
an  industry  can  never  become  a  protective  law  until  the  industry  exists,  and  then  il 
is  protective  only  to  the  degree,  in  kind  and  quantity,  to  which  this  domestic  in- 
dustry is  able  to  supply  the  domestic  wants.  Certain  Latin  American  countries, 
notably  Brazil,  Mexico,  and  Chile,  have  enacted  tariff  laws  intended  to  be  pro- 
tective but  the  industries  have  in  only  a  few  instances  responded  in  quantity,  and 
less  often  in  kind,  to  the  domestic  demand,  so  that  the  foreign  exporter  may 
ordinarily  disregard  the  protective  feature  of  Latin  American,  even  of  Brazilian, 
Mexican  and  Chilean  tariff  laws  and  regard  all  such  as  being  high  tariff  rates  and 
in  a  certain  degree  restrictive  of  trade.  In  other  words,  Latin  American  protective 
laws  are  very  apt  to  be  not  protective,  although  far  above  the  revenue  producing 
mark. 

There  is  no  justice  whatever  in  the  criticism  that  Latin  American  systems 
are  unjust  to  the  foreign  exporter.  On  the  average  rates  are  less  than  the  United 
States  rates  under  the  present  law  and  very  much  less  under  older  laws.  There 
are  some  exceptions  to  this  statement;  Brazilian  and  Venezuelan  rates  are  on  the 
average  higher  than  United  States  rates  and  this  is  perhaps  true  of  the  Colombian 
also.  It  is  difficult  to  draw  an  exact  comparison  on  account  of  the  different  class  of 
imports  as  well  as  the  different  bases  of  the  laws,  but  of  classes  of  goods  that  may 
be  comparable  the  duties  in  Latin  American  countries  generally  are  on  the  average 
less  than  United  States  duties,  but  they  are  not,  even  in  Brazil  with  the  highest 
rates,  restrictive  to  the  degree  that  United  States  laws  are  restrictive.  Brazilian 
high  rates  do  not  exclude  products  to  the  extent  that  lower  United  States  rates  do. 
If  the  foreigner  has  any  right  to  complain  on  the  score  of  injustice  it  is  that  his 
product  is  excluded  or  unduly  restricted.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  foreigner,  ^ least 
of  all  an  American,  has  any  right  to  complain  on  this  score.  If  it  be  a  sin  to 
devise  tariff  systems  in  aid  of  domestic  commerce  and  industry,  then  the  United 
States,  Germany  and  France  have  been  the  chief  sinners  and  nearly  all  the  criticism 
of  Latin  American  tariff  has  come  from  these  countries.  There  is  more  justice  in 
the  criticism  that  Latin  American  tariff  schedules  do  not  reflect  modern  industry 
and  so  are  unscientific.  But  so  are  all  tariff  schedules,  although  not  all  are  as 
faulty  as  the  Latin  American.  There  is  also  justice  in  the  criticism  that  Latin 
American  customs  appraisals,  i.  e.,  so  much  of  the  appraisal  as  concerns  the  classi- 
fication of  goods,  are  not  uniform,  and  especially  that  officials  in  different  ports 
appraise  differently.  But  these  defects  arise  from  the  same  cause  and  it  is  a 
cause  very  difficult  to  remove  anywhere  but  especially  difficult  in  the  Latin  American 
countries.  The  faulty  schedules  can  be  corrected  only  by  tariff  experts  who  are 
familiar  with  world  industries  both  from  the  manufacturing  and  the  commercial 
side  and  have  at  the  same 'time  technical  ability  to  construct  tariff  schedules  in 
Spanish  (Brazil  in  Portuguese).  No  country  is  able  to  assemble  any  such  group  of 
technicians  unless  it  be  a  large  industrial  and  commercial  ccnmtry  like  England, 
Germany,  France  and  the  United  States  are  able  to  secure  the  next  best  services 


TRADE   REGULATIONS  295 

and  consequently  we  find  the  tariff  systems  of  Germany,  France,  the  United  States 
and  the  limited  English  lists  best  constructed  and  most  nearly  responsive  to 
industrial  and  commercial  conditions.  Most  other  tariffs  are  badly  constructed  and 
the  degree  of  badness  in  general  is  in  proportion  to  remoteness  from  the  world's 
great  industrial  centers.  The  industrial  expert  is  not  the  product  of  schools  and 
universities  but  of  industry  itself.  He  comes  from  the  factories,  not  from  the 
libraries.  Latin  America  nowhere  produces  such  experts,  and  so  if  it  needs  the 
services  of  such  mfust  engage  foreigners.  The  foreign  industrial  expert,  unless  his 
disinterestedness  be  above  suspicion,  is  a  rather  dangerous  adviser  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  schedules. 

Most  Latin  American  schedules  are  antiquated  and  most  of  them  were  con- 
structed from  the  retail  dealer's  standpoint  with  the  very  limited  view  such  dealers 
have  of  industrial  production.  Many  of  the  schedules  are  so  out  of  date  that  no 
attempt  has  been  made  to  appraise  articles  within  the  classifications.  Such  schedules 
are  abandoned.  Latin  American  tariffs  might  be  revised  so  as  to  respond  in  some 
degree  to  world  industry  and  commerce  with  the  assistance  of  industrial,  commercial 
and  tariff  experts  from  Europe  or  the  United  States,  but  it  would  not  be  advisable 
to  go  very  far  in  elaborating  schedules.  Outside  of  the  fact  that  the  industrial  ex- 
pert might  be  prejudiced  in  favor  of  the  industrial  methods  of  his  own  country  or 
of  one  industry  as  against  a  competing  industry  and  the  danger  that  schedules  pre- 
pared under  such  advice  would  be  lop-sided  is  the  fact  that  highly  elaborated 
schedules  require  the  same  measure  of  expert  attainments  in  interpretation  as  in 
confection.  Although  a  Latin  American  country  might  secure  the  services  of  ex- 
perts in  manufacture  to  assist  in  framing  schedules  no  Latin  American  country 
could  secure  a  corps  of  industrial  experts  to  act  as  appraisers.  The  expense  would 
be  prohibitive.  The  cost  of  administering  the  United  States  tariff  law  is  greater 
than  the  customs  duties  of  any  Latin  American  country.  The  cost  of  administering 
a  tariff  law  composed  of  schedules  requiring  industrial  expert  appraisements  would 
be  greater  proportionally  in  Latin  America  than  in  the  United  States,  since  the 
appraiser  would  of  necessity  have  to  be  a  foreigner  or  a  native  trained  in  foreign 
industrial  plants.  Such  men  require  more  money  than  the  home-trained  industrial 
available  in  United  States  customs'  houses.  But  disregarding  costs  arising  from 
higher  salaries  and  larger  bodies  of  appraisers  is  the  fact  that  no  corps  of  ap- 
praisers in  sufficient  number  could  be  secured  by  any  non-manufacturing  country. 
Even  if  desired,  no  Latin  American  country  can  administer  an  ad  valorem  tariff 
law  unless  the  rates  are  made  so  low  as  to  make  negligible  the  danger  of  'under- 
valuation, or,  disregarding  the  questions  of  revenue  and  unfair  competition,  it 
chooses  to  incur  this  danger.  Turkey  and  China  with  low  rates  have  been  ex- 
amples of  undervaluation  running  riot,  although  the  inducement  to  fraud  was  not 
great.  Neither  can  any  Latin  American  country  properly  and  fairly  administer  a 
specific  tariff  with  schedules  requiring  expert  professional  appraisement  except  to 
a  very  limited  degree.  The  ideal  Latin  American  tariff  law  is  one  with  specific 
rates,  and  schedules  and  classifications  understandable  alike  by  the  non-expert 
importer  and  the  non-export  appraiser.  Such  a  law  does  not  satisfy  the  theorist, 
but  it  is  the  only  kind  that  can  be  fairly  administered  and  produce  the  required 
revenue.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  such  in  general  is  the  type  of  all  Latin  American 
tariff  laws.  If  the  schedules  and  classifications  were  modernized  and  drawn  a  little 
farther  awayi  from  the  retail  dealer's  point  of  view  they  would  ordinarily  need  no 
other  change  or  improvement. 


UNIFORMITY  OF  CUSTOMS  LAWS  AND  REGULATIONS 

BY  NICOLAS  HERNANDEZ,  OF  HAVANA,  CUBA. 

As  the  Conference  will  without  doubt  discuss  matters  that  will  principally 
have  in  view  the  development  of  commerce  between  the  countries  of  the  American 
continent,  we  respectfully  wish  to  submit  to  you  the  proposition  that  the  customs 
regulations  and  tariff  laws  be  placed  on  a  scientific  basis;  that  is  to  say,  that  all 
countries  composing  the  Pan  American  Union  adopt  identical  custom  regulations 
governing  general  questions  and  that  in  regard  to  tariff  laws  they  should  introduce 
identical  general  classifications,  leaving  to  each  country  the  rate  of  duty  to  be  assessed 
in  accordance  with  its  own  general  interests,  and  the  sub-classification  of  its  own 
products  in  so  far  as  the  necessities  of  the  case  may  demand.  In  regard  to  the 
question  of  tariffs  for  instance,  a  commission  should  be  appointed  that  after  having 
studied  the  question  should  draft  a  law  to  be  submitted  to  another  Conference  to 
which  all  countries  should  send  representatives,  each  one  with  full  power  to  enter 
into  an  agreement  that  the  proposal  as  agreed  upon  by  that  Conference  be  enacted 


296  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

into  law,  so  that  only  the  rate  of  duty  may  vary  in  each  country,  which  rate  of 
duty  as  has  been  said,  should  be  left  to  be  fixed  by  the  Congress  of  ecah  country 
for  itself.  The  different  points  that  would  present  themselves  for  consideration  on 
account  of  their'  importance  are  the  following : 

In  connection  with  the  weight  of  merchandise  enormous  absurdities  are  com- 
mitted;  for  instance,  the  weight  of  packing  is  treated  as  part  of  the  weight  of 
dutiable  merchandise,  the  result  being  that  such  extremely  fine  and  delicate  articles, 
as  silk  and  others,  are  packed  in  insufficient  containers  in  order  to  avoid  the  pay- 
ment of  the  same  rate  of  duty  on  packing  that  may  be  assessed  against  articles  of 
luxury. 

The  latter  should  be  assessed  a  certain  percentage  of  their  value,  severe 
penalties  being  imposed  for  undervaluation  both  against  the  importer  who  under- 
values the  goods  in  his  declaration  and  against  the  employees  of  the  custom  house 
who  by  collusion  make  themselves  accomplices  in  such  attempts  at  fraud.  The 
United  States,  through  its  consuls,  is  informed  of  the  prices  on  merchandise,  and 
when  invoices  are  presented  on  the  valuing  of  merchandise  the  consul  notifies  the 
custom  house  where  the  goods  are  entered,  and  then  the  shipment  is  appraised  at 
its  true  value  or  the  valuation  is  submitted  to  experts.  Another  very  unjust  pro- 
ceeding is  followed  where  in  the  same  package,  for  instance,  are  enclosed  95  per 
cent  of  canvas,  paying  a  low  duty,  and  1  per  cent  of  silk,  paying  a  very  high 
duty;  in  this  case  the  custom  house  will  enforce  the  payment  of  duty  on  the  whole 
shipment  at  the  highest  rate  imposed  on  any  of  the  goods  contained  in  the  package. 
This  is  a  great  injustice  to  the  importer,  who  is  thus  made  responsible  for  the  mis- 
take of  packers  in  a  foreign  country,  who  in  general  are  common  laborers,  for  to 
employ  tariff  experts  as  packers  would  make  the  price  of  merchandise  prohibitive. 

We  know  the  case  of  an  importer  who  ordered  ordinary  pictures  (cromos) 
and  with  them  two  or  three  dozen  pictures  of  higher  grade ;  the  custom  in  Germany 
was  to  place  the  better  pictures  (cromos)  in  envelopes  and  the  country  for  which 
the  pictures  were  destined  assessed  a  very  high  rate  of  duty  on  envelopes  in  order 
to  protect  a  local  industry;  the  result  was  that  the  entire  shipment  weighing  many 
kilos  was  appraised  as  envelopes,  thus  causing  considerable  losses  to  the  importer. 
Another  ridiculous  instance  of  the  assessment  of  duty  by  weight  is  that  of  watches 
imported  for  the  use  of  the  humble  laborer,  resulting  in  the  cheapest  watches  pay- 
ing the  same  duty  as  jeweled  watches  with  gold  cases  imported  for  the  wealthy.  In 
cases  like  these  duties  should  be  assessed  on  the  value  and  not  on  the  weight. 

We  could  cite  many  other  absurdities  in  the  tariff  laws  from  the  Behring 
Straits  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  and  the  hour  has  come  when  all  these  countries 
should  appoint  for  the  drafting  of  tariff  laws  a  commission  composed  of  scientists, 
economists  and  commercial  experts. 

Other  laws  that  require  uniformity  are  the  Customs  Regulations  in  force  in 
all  these  countries. 

The  matter  of  fines  is  indeed  one  of  the  points  most  vexing  to  importers. 
In  some  countries  the  rule  exists  that  a  certain  percentage  of  the  fines  is  distributed 
among  the  employees  of  the  custom  house.  This  has  resulted  in  some  countries  in 
a  very  terrible  persecution  of  importers.  The  entire  amount  of  legitimate  fine 
imposed  should  flow  into  the  public  treasury.  Referring  to  fines  we  are  familiar 
with  a  case  the  flagrancy  of  which  will  serve  as  an  illustration  to  show  the  extent 
to  which  such  abuses  may  be  carried.  In  a  certain  South  American  ^  country  it  is 
required  to  enter  on  consular  invoice  the  entire  paragraph  of  the  tariff  law  under 
which  the  goods  to  be  imported  are  to  be  entered.  This  is  ridiculous.  Goods 
should  be  listed  in  the  consular  invoice  under  their  name,  and  when  the  customs 
declaration  is  made  by  the  importer  they  should  be  placed  in  the  classification  to 
which  they  belong.  A  firm  in  Baltimore  shipped  30  cases  of  canned^peas  and  for 
the  reason  that  in  the  consular  invoice  the  goods  were  specified  as  "canned  peas" 
instead  of  "preserved  food"  as  the  tariff  law  of  the  importer's  country  required,  an 
error  due  entirely  to  the  exporter,  the  importer  was  fined  three  times  the  price 
specified  in  the  invoice;  and  the  most  cruel  and  tyrannical  feature  of  the  case  was 
that  he  was  not  even  permitted  to  abandon  the  goods,  as  is  done  in  the  United 
States,  but  was  forced  to  accept  them  and  suffer  the  consequent  loss.  This  custom 
of  punishing  the  innocent  is  very  prevalent. 

We  can  cite  another  instance.  A  merchant  in  Porto  Rico  applied  to  the 
consul  of  a  South  American  country  for  information  regarding  details  relative  to 
the  declaration  of  merchandise.  The  consul  gave  him  the  desired  information, 
which,  however,  proved  to  be  incorrect,  with  the  consequence  that  the  importer  was 
fined  three  times  the  value  of  the  merchandise  declared  in  the  invoice,  the  importer 
thus  having  to  bear  the  entire  consequences  of  the  ignorance  of  the  consul  of  the 
country  by  which  the  fine  was  imposed. 


TRADE    REGULATIONS  297 

In  the  custom  house  of  the  United  States  if  consular  invoices  are  incorrect 
the  importer  is  permitted  to  withdraw  the  merchandise  under  bond  so  to  produce 
a  correct  consular  invoice.  This  is  an  honorable,  democratic  and  human  proceeding. 

Commerce  between  the  American  countries  should  be  stimulated  to  the  highest 
degree,  but  the  result  of  these  tariff  interferences  is  that  exporting  countries  like 
Argentina,  Uruguay  and  United  States  and  others  depend  entirely  on  commission 
houses  that  are  not  always  honest  and  honorable;  and  a  great  number  of  manu- 
facturers and  merchants  who  would  send  their  goods  at  much  more  reasonable 
prices  than  the  commission  houses  and  thus  benefit  all  the  countries  of  the  Amer- 
ican continent,  are  debarred  from  the  export  trade. 

There  is  also  a  law  in  various  countries  that  prevents  the  consignment  of 
goods  "to  order,"  that  is,  the  shipment  of  goods  unless  they  are  shipped  directly 
to  the  importer.  The  practise  in  recent  years  of  civilized  countries  that  have  ad- 
vanced beyond  the  colonial  ideas  of  administration,  has  been  to  make  the  shipment 
with  draft  attached  to  bill  of  lading.  These  drafts  are  discounted  by  the  bank 
and  the  merchandise  is  held  as  collateral  security  for  the  draft.  The  merchandise, 
therefore,  belong  to  the  holder  of  the  draft,  and  for  that  reason  is  shipped  "to 
order"  and  does  not  become  the  property  of  the  importer  until  he  has  covered  the 
sight  draft  or  accepted  the  60  or  90  days  draft  attached  to  the  bill  of  lading.  The 
result  of  this  prohibition  of  consignment  "to  order"  is  that  many  transactions  are 
prevented  that  could  otherwise  be  easily  effected,  and  the  poor  importer  is  left  at 
the  mercy  of  the  commission  houses. 

Consular  invoices  is  another  matter  that  requires  consideration  and  study,  for 
Consulates  should  be  considered  as  centers  for  the  development  of  commerce  and 
not  as  sources  of  tariff  income.  We  recommend  the  practice  carried  out  in  the 
Dominican  Republic,  where  the  importer  pays  the  consular  fees  at  the  time  of 
paying  the  tariff  duty;  and  in  reference  to  the  consular  fees  we  suggest  that  the 
percentage  of  the  value  of  the  goods  covered  by  the  invoice  be  charged;  such  a 
charge,  equitable  and  in  proportion  to  the  goods  imported,  would,  unlike  j:he  present 
consular  fee,  be  prohibitive  for  the  small  importer.  This  would  also  "reduce  the 
clerical  force  and  responsibility  of  consulates  and  would  avoid  irregularities  com- 
mitted by  consuls  and  their  employees  such  as  we  all  know,  and  the  exploitation 
of  the  sale  of  blank  forms  as  well  as  the  interposition  of  obstacles  in  order  to  compel 
the  employment  of  a  special  agent  who  tips  the  subordinate  consular  employees. 

A  means  should  be  found  enabling  the  merchants  of  on*,  country  to  ship 
to  other  countries  directly  without  being  forced  to  have  recourse  to  the  service  of 
forwarding  agencies  that  make  excessive  charges  which  result  in  grave  injury  to 
ail  importing  countries,  for  as  we  have  said  before,  all  such  charges  must  be  added 
to  the  price  of  the  merchandise  and  this  in  turn  has  to  be  paid  by  the  people  who 
are  the  final  consumers. 

When  exports  are  made  from  interior  points  or  from  parts  where  there  is  no 
accredited  consul,  commercial  invoices  sworn  to  by  some  member  of  the  exporting 
firm  before  a  notary  public  designated  by  the  consul  of  the  importer's  country, 
should  be  accepted  as  consular  invoices  and  should  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  im- 
porter to  make  the  necessary  declaration  and  customs  entries.  It  should  also  be 
agreed  by  the  countries  composing  the  Pan  American  Union  that  official  charges 
of  falsifying  prices  made  against  exporters  should  be  duly  investigated  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  country  where  the  fraud  is  committed  and  if  substantiated  should  be 
presented  to  the  courts  for  the  punishment  of  the  persons  committing  perjury. 

It  would  be  well  if  in  all  custom  houses  there  were  interpreters  for  the 
official  languages  of  all  American  countries,  that  is  to  say,  Spanish,  English,  French 
and  Portuguese,  and  if  it  were  permitted  to  exporters  to  make  their  invoices  in  any 
one  of  those  languages,  instead  of  being  forced  to  make  them  out  in  the  language  of 
the  importing  country.  This  latter  has  resulted  in  the  refusal  by  many  important 
manufacturers  to  export  their  products  directly  to  other  countries,  as  this  requisite 
necessitates  the  employment  of  extra  clerical  help,  for  whom  they  have  no  real 
need  aside  from  the  few  exports  that  they  might  make.  The  trade  thus  falls  into 
the  hands  of  commission  houses  of  which  many  indeed  are  honest,  but  among  them 
there  are  others  who  live  exclusively  on  the  pilferings  made  from  Latin  American 
commerce.  In  the  same  manner  it  should  be  agreed  that  invoices  can  be  made  put 
in  the  weight,  measure's  and  money  of  the  exporting  countries,  the  task  of  making 
the  corresponding  reductions  to  the  standard  of  the  importing  country  falling  to  the 
importer  in  making  his  custom  house  entry. 

The  uniformity  of  tariff  laws  and  custom  house  regulations  would  be  a  long 
step  forward,  and  the  only  variable  quantity  would  then  be  the  tariff  rates  which 
would  under  the  proposed  plan  be  fixed  by  the  importing  country. 


298  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

FINANCING  TRADE 

PAN   AMERICA'S   PLACE   IN   THE   RECONSTRUCTION   OF   EUROPE 

BY  FRANK  A.  VANDERLIP,  LATE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CITY  BANK, 

NEW  YORK. 

(Delivered  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

I  was  struck,  Mr.  Chariman,  particularly  with  something  you  said — that 
it  had  been  so  often  repeated  that  we  are  in  a  new  state  of  the  world,  a  new 
order  of  society,  that  our  minds  had  rather  grown  calloused  to  that  and  we  did 
/not  after  all  think  it  was  quite  true.  I  want  to  tell  you  it  is  truel  We  are 
living  in  such  a  world  as  we  have  never  lived  in  before  and  not  very  many  of 
us  have  awakened  to  that. 

You  have  been  talking  here  for  two  or  three  days  about  trade  between 
the  American  countries,  but  related  to  that,  a  part  of  it,  the  very  atmosphere 
in  which  that  must  develop  are  the  conditions  that  have  developed  in  Europe, 
are  the  conditions  that  are  making  the  new  world  in  which  we  are  all  going  to 
live.  And  so,  instead  of  talking  directly  to  the  subject  that  you  have  in  hand, 
I  am  going  to  speak  perhaps  a  little  indirectly  to  the  subject  but  fundamentally 
to  the  development  which  I  believe  is  before  all  of  us  in  this  hemisphere. 

The  situation  in  Europe  is  a  more  serious  one  than  has  been  grasped  in 
this  Continent,  more  serious  indeed  than  has  been  grasped  by  a  good  many  Eu- 
ropeans as  yet.  Externally,  superficially,  you  would  see  something  like  a  normal 
Europe  if  you  had  been  over  the  ground  that  I  have — London  living  its  great,  lux- 
urious life  as  usual;  Paris  much  the  same.  Externally,  superficially  you  might 
think  no  gYeat  thing  had  happened  to  Europe.  You  might  well  be  excused  after 
seeing  Europe  if  you  still  held  the  belief  which  I  think  most  people  do  hold  in 
the  United  States  that  the  war  is  over,  that  of  course  it  has  been  a  great  blow, 
that  there  has  been  sad  devastation,  but  that  it  is  over  and  with  the  signing  of 
peace  Europe  will  pretty  rapidly  tend  back  toward  the  normal;  that  there  is 
a  great  industrial  skillful  people ;  that  there  are  great  territories  quite  un- 
harmed by  the  war ;  that  the  damage  of  the  war  after  all  is  comparatively  small, 
and  that  all  that  is  needed  is  a  little  time  to  bring  Europe  back  to  pretty  nearly 
its  pre-war  condition. 

You  in  South  America  may  be  expecting  to  trade  with  Europe,  to  carry 
on  financial  and  banking  operations  with  Europe  much  as  before.  But  that 
picture  is  not  quite  true.  Europe  has  received  such  a  shock  from  the  war  as 
has  not  been  measured  by  those  who  have  seen  it  at  close  range.  But  it  is  not 
that  direct  shock  that  concerns  me  nearly  so  much  as  a  greater  hurt  than  the 
direct  shock  of  the  war  which  has  come  to  Europe.  It  is  the  hurt  of  disor- 
dered industries  all  over  that  continent, — so  disorganized  that  industry  is  in  large 
measure  paralyzed.  Men  in  great  numbers  are  idle.  The  difficulties  of  restarting 
the  industrial  cycle  are  almost  unmeasured  and  the  consequences  that  will  flow 
from  continued  idleness  and  want  and  hunger,  from  revolution  which  will  follow 
that  combination  if  it  lasts  long  enough, — those  are  consequences  that  will  involve 
two  hemispheres,  they  cannot  be  confined  to  one  should  they  occur. 

Now,  do  not  understand  me  as  predicting  a  conflagration  in  Europe.  I 
do  not  believe  there  is  to  be  such  a  conflagration,  but  I  do  believe  Europe  is 
balanced  on  a  knife  edge  as  to  whether  or  not  there  shall  be.  I  think  it  can  be 
saved,  I  think  aid  can  be  given  to  those  European  states  that  will  help  them  re- 
start industry,  that  will  help  them  put  their  peoples  at  work.  Nobody  can  save 
Europe  but  Europe's  own  people.  They  cannot  be  saved  in  idleness,  they  must 
be  saved  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow  and  labor. 

But  the  difficulty  is  in  starting  them.  There  is  tremendous  idleness  now, — 
idleness  made  necessary  by  this  transition  from  the  great  war  effort  to  peace 
times.  Men  are  being  supported  by  millions,  by  unemployment  dole,  weekly  un- 
employment wages.  In  England  alone  there  is  well  over  a  million  receiving  about 
six  million  dollars  a  week  in  unemployment  wages.  In  little  Belgium  with  only 
seven  and  a  half  million  population,  there  are  eight  hundred  thousand  men 
having  a  weekly  unemployment  dole  by  which  they  live. 


FINANCING  TRADE  299 

There  is  so  much  to  say  that  it  is  really  hard  to  know  where  to  take  hold 
of  it.  Perhaps  instead  of  going  on  here  painting  a  gloomy  picture  I  had  better 
tell  you  a  little  of  the  brighter  picture  that  I  see.  Mind  you,  this  gloomy  picture 
is  a  true  picture;  a  catastrophe  may  come  out  of  this  situation  which  would 
affect  all  of  us.  I  believe  that  can  be  prevented.  The  real  danger  of  it  lies 
there  and  we  should  wake  up  to  it,  should  understand  it,  should  accept  the  re- 
sponsibilities that  that  situation  puts  upon  us. 

But  suppose  the  catastrophe  is  averted,  as  I  believe  it  will  be.  The  po- 
sition of  the  countries  in  this  hemisphere,  vastly  rich  in  natural  resources,  un- 
harmed while  you  to  the  south  of  us  have  benefited  rather  than  been  harmed, 
I  suppose — the  future  of  these  countries  seems  to  me  to  be  the  great,  bright  spot 
of  the  world  and  the  peoples  of  other  countries  will  turn  toward  us  as  a  haven, 
as  a  hope,  as  the  home  of  opportunity  to  get  away  from  the  overburdened,  tax- 
ladened,  crippled  situation  in  which  they  find  themselves. 

The  United  States,  I  think,  is  going  to  occupy  in  this  new  world,  if  the 
catastrophe  that  might  come  is  avoided,  such  a  position  as  no  nation  in  all 
time  ever  occupied  before  in  the  world, — a  position  of  opportunity  and  of  re- 
sponsibility. We  are  going  to  be  the  great  reservoir  of  capital  of  the  world. 
We  are  going  to  be  along  with  you  to  the  south  of  us  the  great  storehouse  of 
raw  materials,  of  food  products.  One  can  hardly  understand  in  what  happy  po- 
sition we  on  this  hemisphere  are  without  understanding  a  little  of  the  unhappy 
position  in  which  Europe  is. 

Picture  just  for  a  moment  what  this  modern  industrial  Europe  came  to 
be.  It  had  grown  up  from  a  population  of  175,000,000  at  the  end  of  the  Napo- 
leonic War  to  440,000,000  and  that  growth  had  in  large  measure  been  the  mark 
of  the  industrial  development  of  this  industrial  age.  Europe  and  England, — 
England  particularly,' — became  one  great  manufacturing  community,  unable  to 
support  itself  so  far  as  food  is  concerned,  unable  to  produce  its  raw  material, 
just  a  great  manufacturing  community,  having  some  kitchen  gardens  to  in 
part  supply  its  food,  yes,  having  some  raw  material  and  coal  and  iron  and  some 
other  things  but  in  the  main  that  great  continent  had  to  pass  through  its  work- 
shops the  raw  material  which  was  imported,  to  sell  to  other  countries  that  it 
might  get  the  world  exchange  to  buy  the  things  that  it  needed. 

There  has  come  a  shock  that  has  disorganized  that  industrial  situation,  that 
industrial  cycle  has  been  interfered  with.  Europe  cannot  live  except  on  industry 
with  its  present  population.  She  is  not  in  the  happy  situation  in  which  all  of 
the  countries  here  are.  This  industrial  cycle  must  be  resumed,  else  Europe  can- 
not live  with  its  present  population.  The  responsible  Minister  in  England  said  to 
me  that  if  the  industries  of  Europe  are  not  speedily  restarted  so  that  the  de- 
mand of  Europe  for  the  products  of  the  British  workshops  is  resumed,  if  the 
British  workshops  cannot  speedily  regain  the  European  market  in  something  like 
its  old  form,  then  the  job  of  this  government  is  going  to  be  to  export  five  or  six 
million  Englishmen  to  places  nearer  the  source  of  food  supply. 

That  just  gives  you  an  indication  of  how  serious  that  situation  is. 

Now  I  will  take  just  five  minutes  more,  because  I  want  to  tell  you  a  little 
of  the  part  I  think  you  of  Latin  America  have  to  play,  with  us,  in  rehabilitating 
industry  in  Europe.  Industry  must  be  rehabilitated.  I  do  not  conceive  that  that 
means  the  loan  of  great  financial  credits  to  European  governments.  I  believe  the 
financial  situation  of  several  of  the  European  governments  is  such  as  to  make  it 
useless  to  consider  making  financial  advances  to  put  them  in  a  satisfactory  finan- 
ical  position  toward  their  own  people  and  toward  their  external  obligations.  The 
thing  that  is  needed,  of  all  else  in  Europe  today,  are  those  materials  that  are 
necessary  to  start  industry  going:  raw  materials  for  manufacturing;  machinery; 
railway  equipment  (for  the  transportation  system  is  badly  shattered),  and,  to  a 
considerably  extent,  food. 

The  giving  of  food  alone  will  not  help  this  situation.  I  do  not  conceive 
that  we  need  to  give  anything,  either.  Europe  is  still  a  great,  rich  continent  but 
with  her  industries  paralyzed.  I  believe  that  there  should  be  a  group  of  nations 
which  should  include  every  nation  represented  here.  It  should  include  some  of 
the  European  neutrals  and  probably  Great  Britain.  That  group  of  nations  should 
lend  to  these  afflicted  countries  where  industry  has  so  largely  ceased,  not  money 
in  the  form  of  credits  to  go  into  the  treasuries  of  those  countries,  but  the  ma- 
terials, the  machinery,  the  equipment,  the  food  necessary  to  start  the  industries. 


300  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

There  is  no  need  of  giving  this  in  charity.  Europe  cannot  be  supported  in 
charity.  That  is  not  the  way  to  do  it.  Neither  would  I  have  governments  further 
loans  to  governments.  I  have  discovered  this,  that  a  loan  by  a  government  to  an- 
other government  is  to  be  regarded  in  rather  a  different  light  than  obligations 
are  usually  regarded, — at  least  the  loans  of  this  government  to  the  European 
governments  have  so  come  to  be  regarded.  There  is  a  surprisingly  general  idea, 
that  we  ought  to  forego  the  loans  that  we  have  granted  in  this  war.  I  would 
not  add  to  the  question  that  will  hand  around  those  loans  in  the  future.  I  be- 
lieve a  security  can  be  created  that  will  be  good  because  it  should  be  a  first  mort- 
gage upon  the  customs  of  the  borrowing  nations  and  that  such  a  security  can  be 
floated  in  the  several  countries  and  it  ought  to  be  floated  in  a  measure  in  these 
South  American  countries.  Such  a  security  can  be  floated  in  the  several  coun- 
tries that  should  supply  the  things  that  are  needed  to  restart  European  industry, 
that  those  things  should  be  supplied  in  the  proportion  in  which  the  loan  is  placed. 

I  think  something  of  that  sort  speedily  done  would  help  and  would  prob- 
ably succeed  in  averting  a  great  disaster.  Europe  must  have  help,  we  on  this 
hemisphere  must  grant  it,  and  it  must  be  in  the  material  things,  the  things  that 
are  needed  to  get  Europe  to  work  so  that  she  can  help  herself. 


PAN  AMERICAN  FINANCIAL  COOPERATION 

BY  CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB,  PRESIDENT  BETHLEHEM  STEEL  COMPANY. 
(Delivered  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  This  is  a  warm  day,  but  after  that 
introduction  of  this  eloquent  Chairman,  I  do  not  mind  saying  I  feel  a  good  deal 
warmer  than  I  did  ten  minutes  ago. 

This  meeting  has  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  very  serious  one,  and  I  learned 
many  years  ago  under  the  preceptorship  of  my  old  friend  Mr.  Carnegie,  that 
good  and  serious  consideration  and  thought  only  comes  about  when  we  are  in 
a  very  happy  frame  of  mind  and  that  often  the  most  serious  subjects  are  treated 
in  the  lightest  possible  manner. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  have  anything  that  I  could  say  to  my  friends  from 
South  America.  It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  a  preponderance  of  American 
thought  upon  these  occasions  to  these  people,  our  friends  from  Latin  America. 
My  experience  in  many  years'  business  with  them,  and  I  have  had  a  great  deal 
with  Argentina  and  Chile  and  other  countries  south — my  experience  has  been 
that  if  I  want  to  learn  a  real  business  lesson  for  shrewdness,  integrity  in  buMness 
methods,  well,  many  of  us  so-called  leaders  in  America  could  well  afford  to  go 
to  our  neighbors  in  the  South  to  learn. 

I  am  a  retired  country  gentleman  these  days.  I  am  living  up  on  the  farm. 
I  did  not  feel  like  coming  down  here,  and  I  should  not  have  come  down  for 
anything  I  might  say,  but  I  felt  it  a  duty  as  well  as  a  pleasure  to  come  and  at 
least  show  by  my  presence  my  appreciation  of  the  distinguished  guests  from  the 
Latin  American  countries  who  have  come  to  Washington,  to  this  convention. 
And  I  am  reminded  of  a  story.  There  is  a  farmer  whose  property  joins  mine  up 
in  this  little  village  in  Cambria  county.  He  came  to  me  the  other  morning  and 
said,  "Charlie,  I  would  like  to  sell  you  this  cow."  "Well,"  I  said,  "is  she  a  ped- 
igreed cow?"  "No,  I  can't  just  say  she  has  any  special  pedigree."  "Well,"  I  said, 
"how  much  milk  does  she  give  a  day?"  Well,"  he  said,  "I  can't  even  say  as  to 
that.  But  I  will  tell  you  one  thing.  She's  a  good  hearted  and  willing  old  cow 
and  if  she's  got  any  milk  to  give  you  she  will." 

That  is  the  way  I  feel,  I  am  willing,  I  know  I  am  good  hearted,  Mr.  Chair- 
man, I  would  have  been  richer  if  I  had  not  been.  I  come  down  here  to  give  you 
any  thought  that  I  may  have.  They  are  very  meager  thoughts,- but  whatever  they 
may  be  they  are  willingly  given. 

I  was  much  disturbed  by  the  lady  who  is  taking  down  this  speech.  She 
asked  me  a  short  time  ago  if  I  had  my  address  prepared.  I  said,  "No,  I  never 
prepare  an  address,"  and  she  said,  "Well,  I've  read  some  of  them  and  I  now 
understand." 


FINANCING  TRADE  301 

The  one  dominant  thought  in  my  mind,  which  I  might,  impart  to  you  this 
morning,  was  this :  I  was  in  Europe  with  Mr.  Vanderlip,  my  old  and  esteemed 
friend.  We  looked  around  a  great  deal.  One  of  the  great  events  during  my 
visit  there  was  the  occasion  to  meet,  know  and  talk  to  that  great  leader,  Marshal 
Foch.  Like  any  good  citizen,  my  first  expression  to  him  was  to  thank  him  on 
behalf  of  humanity  for  all  he  had  done.  He  said  to  me,  "Mr.  Schwab,  this  great 
general  staff  directing  the  army  was  like  a  great  orchestra  in  which  every  in- 
strument had  to  play  its  part  harmoniously  and  play  it  in  sympathy  and  accord 
and  understanding  with  the  rest  of  the  orchestra.  That  the  baton  fell  in  my 
hand  was  but  a  matter  of  chance  and  good  fortune  and  I  did  no  more  than  the 
humblest  player  in  the  orchestra  for  the  final  harmonious  outcome  of  the  great 
undertaking." 

That  was  a  generous  thought  upon  the  part  of  a  great  and  generous  man. 
It  looks  to  me  very  much,  as  though  the  trade  and  the  happiness  and  the  pros- 
perity of  our  American  nations  must  come  about  for  the  same  reason  that  the 
distinguished  Marshal  said  brought  such  great  results  in  the  great  world's  war, 
and  that  is  cooperation  of  all  the  American  nations  so  that  this  industry,  so  that 
our  commerce  shall  not  be  based  upon  a  purely  national  or  personal  selfishness, 
but  that  it  will  result  in  the  best  good  to  all  of  us  by  arriving  at  the  best  results 
collectively. 

Gentlemen,  how  happy  we  ought  to  be  to  say  that  we  are  citizens  of 
America!  Whether  it  be  the  United  States  of  America  or  any  of  the  Republics 
to  the  south  of  us.  When,  after  having  gone  over  the  battlefields  of  Europe  and 
through  the  torn  and  conflicting  countries  of  Europe,  I  come  home  and  see  first 
the  great  Statue  of  Liberty  on  the  shores  of  America,  I  hold  up  my  head  and 
say,  "How  glad  I  am  to  be  a  citizen  of  this  great  continent!"  And  why?  Be- 
cause God  has  endowed  us  with  more  of  the  natural  resources  that  tend  to  wealth 
and  prosperity  than  any  other  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth  and  what  is 
more  important,  He  has  endowed  us  with  a  people  who  are  so  patriotic  and 
filled  with  business  and  other  integrity  as  to  develop  that  which  He  placed  within 
our  borders.  And  so,  my  friends,  let  us  first  of  all  realize,  all  of  us,  that  in  this 
great  Continent  of  ours  we  are  placed  with  reference  to  natural  resources  that 
only  require  our  enthusiastic  endeavor  to  bring  about  prosperity  and  happiness 
to  all  the  people  of  our  countries. 

Many  people,  famous  in  life,  like  to  see  great  monuments  reared  when  suc- 
cessful, to  the  perpetuation  of  their  memory,  great  arches,  great  buildings,  great 
memorials.  I  have  always  said  that  as  for  me,  if  the  future  ever  wishes  to  re- 
member me,  there  is  nothing  I  so  much  desire,  Mr.  Chairman,  as  to  see  great 
rows  of  flaming  smokestacks  and  furnaces  that  shall  mark  the  monument  of  my 
American  endeavor. 

I  am  a  manufacturer  of  steel,  primarily.  On  the  East  Coast  I  believe  the 
great  future  development  is  going  to  come.  We  must  depend  upon  our  friends 
in  the  south  for  the  raw  materials  to  make  the  East  the  successful  steel  manu- 
facturing center  of  the  United  States  and  so  much  confidence  have  I  and  my 
company  in  the  honorable  intentions  and  treatment  of  American  capital  that  I  am 
risking  my  all,  my  fortune,  my  reputation,  my  company  upon  the  basis  of  se- 
curing the  raw  supplies  of  ore  and  other  materials  from  our  South  American 
Republics. 

I  have  recently,  as  many  of  you  know,  opened  at  very  great  expense  in 
Chile  on  the  west  coast  the  largest  docks  and  shipping  facilities  in  South  Amer- 
ica. I  have  now  under  construction  and  under  way,  just  started,  since  the  war 
is  over,  twenty  of  the  largest  cargo  ships  that  have  ever  been  built  to  carry 
twenty  thousand  tons  of  iron  ore  in  each  cargo  to  ply  between  the  west  coast  of 
South  America  and  the  eastern  ports  of  the  United  States. 

We  here  are  just  as  anxious,  perhaps,  for  your  complete  cooperation  as 
you  may  be  anxious  for  our  cooperation  in  this  country.  ^  We  realize  that  mutual 
fairness  must  prevail  for  successful  outcome  of  this  business.  I  have  never  had 
any  other  than  the  pleasantest,  the  most  straightforward  and  the  happiest  out- 
come to  all  the  business  that  I  have  ever  done  in  South  America,  pur  friends  in 
the  South,  and  I  am  not  afraid  to  risk  anything  that  may  develop  in  that  line  in 
the  future. 

Our  distinguished  Director  General  here  is  a  very  diplomatic  sort  of  a 
man  and  it  made  me  think  a  little  when  he  placed  me  on  the  platform  between 


302  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

the  most  distinguished  American  banker  and  one  of  the  richest  and  most  dis- 
tinguished bankers  in  Chile.  I  wondered  if  he  knew  my  propensity  for  borrow- 
ing money.  There  is  no  man  in  America  to  whom  I  will  take  second  place  in 
my  ability  to  borrow  money. 

I  love  to  tell  a  story  of  Vanderlip  about  that  He  is  very  serious  these 
days  but  he  is  not  so  serious  at  other  times.  He  is  the  charming,  hospitable,  de- 
lightful gentleman  of  the  true  American  type.  But  I  love  to  tell  this  story  about 
him.  One  time  I  went  to  my  friend  Stotesbury  in  Philadelphia,  a  great  banker,  to 
borrow  money.  I  borrow  all  I  can  get.  I  said,  "Stotesbury,  I  must  have  a  lot 
of  money  for  my  developments  down  in  Chile."  I  said,  "I  need  it  in  the  Fall. 
How  much  can  I  get  from  you?"  "Will  half  a  million  do?"  I  said,  "No  good! 
I've  got  to  have  much  more  than  that.  Why,  there's  my  friend  Vanderlip  in  New 
York — he  scarcely  knows  me  and  he  has  given  me  more  than  that."  "Well," 
said  Stotesbury,  "that's  the  reason  he  has  given  it  to  you." 

Now,  my  friends,  as  I  stand  here — and  I  am  going  to  conclude  at  once — 
and  I  gazed  at  the  ceiling  of  this  room  as  I  came  in  and  I  saw  how  appropriately 
that  word  was  in  the  four  corners  of  this  room,  covering  the  representation  of 
this  entire  western  hemisphere,  that  word  "PAX,"  Peace — we  are  now  past  this 
great  war  and  in  a  state  of  peace,  at  least  peace  is  at  hand,  not  the  conditions 
that  will  follow  the  war  that  Mr.  Vanderlip  has  so  ably  described  that  we  have 
all  got  to  meet  seriously,  but  we  are  through  this  great  struggle  and  conflict 
of  arms,  we  are  coming  to  a  condition  of  affairs  that  people  talk  much  of — 
the  reconstruction  industrially  and  otherwise. 

They  are  great.  We  must  all  recognize  and  act  accordingly  and  act  con- 
sistently. I  am  one  of  the  people  that  believes  in  being  consistent.  Someone 
said  to  me  the  other  day,  "Are  you  a  Prohibitionist?"  Well,  I  thought  a  little 
about  that  and  thought  I  would  better  not  commit  myself.  I  said,  "Yes,  under 
one  condition:  That  everybody  is  treated  alike.  I  don't  believe  in  Prohibition 
that  will  enable  me  or  Mr.  Vanderlip  and  other  rich  men  to  store  their  cellars 
with  wines  and  whiskies  for  the  rest  of  our  lives  and  the  other  ordinary  people 
who  haven't  the  money  to  do  without  it." 

I  believe  in  fair  play  for  all.  If  we  are  going  to  have  something  to  drink, 
let  us  have  it.  If  we  are  not,  let  us  all  do  without  it.  I  do  not  care  which  it 
is,  but  let  us  be  consistent. 

So,  I  say  we  must  be  consistent  in  our  treatment  of  everybody.  There  is 
no  aristocracy  any  more.  The  old  aristocracy  of  wealth  and  birth  have  long 
gone  by.  The  aristocracy  of  the  future  will  be  the  aristocracy  of  the  man  who 
does  something  for  the  good  of  his  fellow  man  or  his  country.  Now,  let  us  not 
talk  about  it  but  let  us  act  accordingly,  imd  what  is  true  of  individuals  is  true 
of  nations.  Let  us  act  collectively  as  human  beings,  doing  the  best  we  can  for 
ourselves  and  mankind.  Let  us  live  the  life  that  is  worth  living,  a  life  of  hap- 
piness and  a  life  of  freedom  of  thought,  a  life  of  manly  uprighteousness  and  in- 
tegrity and  when  we  have  finished  this  life  of  material  usefulness,  let  us  hold 
up  our  head  and  say  with  the  proudest  aristocrat  that  has  ever  lived,  "I  have 
done  my  duty  and  I  take  my  rank  with  the  best  of  men." 


INVESTMENTS  IN  LATIN  AMERICA 

BY  JULIUS  G.  LAY,  FOREIGN  TRADE  ADVISER,  STATE  DEPARTMENT. 
(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

When  we  discuss  investments  in  Latin  America,  we  are  discussing  not  only 
an  opportunity  but  a  responsibility.  It  is  not  merely  a  question  of  comparing 
the  relative  attractiveness  and  safety  of  South  and  Central  American  securities 
with  the  inducements  held  out  to  capital  by  enterprises  at  home.  Our  new  po- 
sition as  the  only  great  nation  with  large  reserves  of  capital  available  for  invest- 
ment abroad,  and  with  resources  and  productive  power  almost  unscathed  by  the 
war,  not  only  obliges  us  to  assist  our  allies  in  Europe  in  rebuilding  their  national 
economic  life,  but  imposes  upon  us  the  duty  of  assuming  the  place  formerly  oc- 
cupied by  European  investors  in  financing  the  development  of  the  natural  re- 
sources of  the  other  nations  of  this  continent. 


FINANCING  TRADE  303 

Before  the  war,  American  investments  in  Mexico  were  estimated  at  about 
one  billion  dollars.  Approximately  another  billion  had  been  invested  in  other 
Latin  American  countries,  especially  in  Cuba.  Our  holdings  in  South  America 
were  relatively  very  small.  A  .much  larger  amount  of  Latin  American  securi- 
ties was  held  in  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  and  Belgium.  British  holdings 
were  estimated  at  over  five  billion  dollars,  of  which  $2,350,000,000  had  been  in- 
vested in  railways,  $1,500,000,000  in  government,  state,  and  municipal  bonds, 
and  the  remainder  in  manufacturing,  agriculture,  mining,  and  other  industries. 
The  French  investments  were  estimated  at  one  and  one-half  billions  of  dollars. 
Every  year  large  amounts  of  new  foreign  capital  were  placed  in  government  loans 
or  in  private  enterprises.  This  source  of  capital  has  now  been  cut  off.  The  coun- 
tries which  had  purchased  Latin  American  securities  in  the  past  need  their  funds 
for  restoring  their  own  industries  and  repairing  the  damages  wrought  by  the 
war.  Since  1914  the  Latin  American  countries  have  been  forced  to  look  to  the 
United  States  for  the  new  funds  which  they  required.  Unfortunately  they  have 
not  so  far  been  notably  successful  in  obtaining  these  funds,  although  considerable 
amounts  of  American  capital  have  been  invested  during  the  war  in  railway  and 
mining  securities.  The  exportation  of  our  capital  has  of  course  been  restricted 
since  our  own  entry  into  the  war,  and  the  sale  of  new  securities  in  our  markets 
has  been  discouraged  even  since  the  signing  of  the  armistice  by  the  necessity 
of  floating  loans. 

Now  that  our  capital  is  relatively  free  to  engage  in  foreign  enterprises, 
however,  we  may  anticipate  great  demands  upon  it  from  all  of  our  Latin  Amer- 
ican neighbors.  In  Europe,  the  countries  which  in  the  past  have  purchased  South 
and  Central  American  securities  will  need  all  of  their  resources  for  restoring 
their  own  industries  and  repairing  the  damages  wrought  by  the  war.  Although 
the  greater  part  of  our  own  capital  will  probably  find  useful  employment  at  home, 
we  shall  still  have  considerable  amounts  available  for  investment  abroad.  Our 
bankers  are  already  turning  their  attention  to  the  requests  for  funds  which  they 
are  receiving  from  nearly  every  Latin  American  country. 

The  opportunities  for  investment  in  Latin  America  will  fall  into  three 
classes.  In  the  first  place,  nearly  all  of  our  neighbors  need  loans  to  restore  the 
stability  of  their  government  finances  and  of  their  currency  systems,  since  both 
have  been  subjected  to  a  severe  strain  by  the  war.  In  the  second  place,  there  will 
be  a  demand  for  new  capital  for  building  railways  and  for  the  development  of  in- 
dustrial, agricultural,  and  mining  enterprises.  In  the  third  place,  we  must  be 
prepared  to  absorb  considerable  quantities  of  the  Latin  American  securities  for- 
merly held  in  Europe. 

Many  of  the  Latin  American  governments  are  at  the  present  time  in  press- 
ing need  of  funds  for  the  rehabilitation  of  their  fin<Tnces.  The  war,  of  course, 
completely  disorganized  the  commerce  of  the  continent,  and  in  doing  so  cut  off 
the  revenues  from  customs  duties,  which  is  the  main  reliance  of  the  treasury  in 
each  of  the  Latin  American  countries.  This  has  made  it  very  difficult  to  meet 
the  current  expenses  of  government,  and  has  rendered  it  necessary  to  float  in- 
ternal loans  and  to  adopt  other  temporary  expedients  for  tiding  over  the  gov- 
ernment until  the  restoration  of  normal  conditions.  Some  of  those  countries 
which  were  hit  the  hardest  by  the  reduction  of  exports  and  imports  have  been 
unable  to  meet  the  service  of  their  foreign  debts,  and  have  been  forced  to  enter 
into  arrangements  for  the  temporary  suspension  of  payments.  All  of  this  finan- 
cing has  been  carried  on  under  great  difficulties,  owing  to  the  restrictions  upoh 
the  exportation  of  capital  from  the  belligerent  nations.  Most  of  the  temporary 
arrangements  contemplated  the  liquidation  of  the  advances  made  or  the  resump- 
tion of  payments  within  a  short  time  after  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  Con- 
sequently, at  the  present  time,  we  find  that  nearly  every  Latin  American  country 
is  in  need  of  financial  assistance  from  outside  to  enable  it  to  meet  its  obligations 
and  to  restore  the  normal  condition  of  its  financial  affairs. 

There  is  one  aspect  of  this  question  of  government  finance  which  touches 
our  commercial  interests  very  closely.  Several  of  our  South  and  Central  Amer- 
ican neighbors  are  handicapped  in  their  relations  with  the  outside  world  by  the 
defects  of  their  currency  systems.  Some  even  of  the  countries  whose  money  had 
been  based  upon  a  sound  gold  standard  before  the  war  have  been  unable  to  main- 
tain this  standard,  either  because  of  the  drain  upon  their  gold  reserves  caused 
by  the  disorganization  of  international  exchanges,  or  because  an  overwhelming 


304  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL     CONFERENCE 

need  of   funds  has  led  them  to  issue  unsecured,  or  inadequately  secured,  paper 
money. 

In  the  countries  having  a  silver  standard,  the  high  price  of  that  metal  had 
led,  despite  export  restrictions  and  prohibitions,  to  the  exportation  of  so  large  a 
part  of  the  metallic  currency  of  the  country  as  to  cause  an  acute  currency  short- 
age. Some  countries  have  been  forced  to  suspend  specie  payments  and  to  issue 
paper  money.  In  the  countries  which  had  an  unsecured  paper  currency  before  the 
war,  an  equally  disastrous  situation  has  resulted.  The  value  of  the  local  money 
naturally  declined  sharply  with  the  stagnation  of  commerce  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war.  When  trade  began  to  revive,  the  rate  of  exchange  reacted  sharply  in 
the  other  direction,  with  the  result  that  exporters  and  producers  suffered  severe 
losses,  while  the  laboring  classes,  who  might  otherwise  have  benefitted  by  the 
appreciation  of  the  money  in  whi^a  their  wages  were  paid,  profited  little  be- 
cause the  merchants  did  not  adjust  their  prices  to  the  new  conditions,  fearing  a 
reaction  in  the  other  direction.  In  the  republics  which  do  not  possess  stable  cur- 
rency systems,  the  unsettled  condition  of  trade  has  caused  very  sharp  fluctua- 
tions in  exchange  rates,  which  have  reinforced  the  conviction  already  entertained 
by  their  statesmen  and  financiers  that  the  currency  systems  must  be  reformed 
and  placed  on  a  gold  standard  before  their  commerce  and  industries  can  develop 
as  they  ought  to. 

Our  Government  is  very  deeply  interested  in  the  question  of  stabilizing  ex- 
change rates  with  our  Latin  American  neighbors,  because  our  commercial  relations 
with  these  countries  can  never  be  so  mutually  profitable  nor  so  extensive  as  they 
should  be  until  exporters  and  importers  both  here  and  in  South  and  Central 
America  are  secured  against  the  losses  which  result  from  sharp  fluctuations  in 
these  rates.  For  this  reason  the  United  States  Government  stands  ready  to  af- 
ford any  assistance  which  it  can  in  the  efforts  of  its  neighbors  to  reorganize 
their  currency  systems.  It  will  be  glad  to  aid  them  in  securing  skilled  advice  for 
devising  means  to  place  their  money  on  a  gold  basis,  and  to  exert  its  good  offices 
with  American  bankers  to  procure  the  funds  which  are  necessary  for  this  purpose. 
The  question  of  currency  reform  has  a  bearing  upon  investments  in  Latin 
America,  not  only  because  a  stable  monetary  system  is  necessary  to  encourage 
investment  of  foreign  capital  and  to  secure  the  investor  against  losses  from  the 
depreciation  of  the  gold  value  of  his  property;  but  also  because  loans  for  this 
purpose,  and  the  establishment  of  banks  which  may  be  entrusted  with  the  duty 
of  administering  the  reform,  offer  one  "'of  the  principal  opportunities  for  in- 
vestment. 

In  the  past,  American  bankers  have  perhaps  been  somewhat  over-cautious 
in  dealing  with  loans  to  Latin  American  governments  because  of  the  troubled 
financial  history  of  some  o£  these  governments.  It  is  not  fair,  however,  to  as- 
sume that  loans  made  at  the  present  time  would  be  unsafe,  simply  because  the 
borrowers  have  had  difficulties  with  their  creditors  in  the  past.  In  most  cases  the 
blame  for  these  difficulties  lies  by  no  means  entirely  upon  the  side  of  the  debtor. 
Comparatively  early  in  their  history  as  independent  states,  many  of  the  Latin 
American  countries  contracted  loans  in  Europe  from  which  (for  various  reasons) 
they  received  little  return,  while  they  assumed  an  obligation  which  imposed  a 
heavy  and  sometimes  an  intolerable  burden  on  their  treasury.  Too  often  little 
attempt  was  made  on  the  part  of  the  underwriters,  or  even  on  the  part  of  the 
borrowing  government,  to  make  sure  that  the  revenues  and  resources  of  the 
country  contracting  the  loan  were  sufficient  to  meet  the  service  of  the  bonds. 
The  bankers  appeared  less  interested  in  many  cases  in  the  soundness  of  the  se- 
curities which  they  sold  to  the  public  than  in  the  profits  which  they  made  by 
purchasing  the  securities  from  the  debtor  government  at  a  small  proportion  of 
their  face  value.  A  debt  of  this  kind  did  not  receive  the  same  scrupulous  con- 
sideration which  would  have  been  accorded  to  a  fairer  transaction. 

A  very  different  situation  confronts  American  bankers  contemplating  loans 
to  Latin  American  countries  at  the  present  time.  The  governments  have  learned 
much  from  their  past  experience,  and  they  have  especially  learned  to  appreciate 
the  value  of  a  sound  national  credit.  With  the  exception  of  those  which  have 
made  special  arrangements  with  their  creditors  on  account  of  war  conditions, 
nearly  all  of  the  Latin  American  countries  are  scrupulously  maintaining  the  ser- 
vice of  their  foreign  debts.  One  or  two  have  not  yet  been  able  to  adjust  these 
debts,  by  agreement  with  their  creditors,  to  a  point  where  they  are  financially 


FINANCING  TRADE  305 

able  to  make  interest  and  sinking  fund  payments,  but  there  is  reason  to  hope  that 
these  countries  also  will  soon  take  steps  to  redeem  their  credit.  It  is  felt,  there- 
fore, that  loans  made  under  present  conditions  offer  an  attractive  and  secure 
investment,  for  their  standing  would  be  entirely  different  from  that  of  the  loans 
contracted  under  entirely  different  circumstances  half  a  century  ago.  The  De- 
partment of  State  desires  to  offer  every  assistance  to  American  bankers  and  to 
our  Latin  American  neighbors  in  conducting  negotiations  for  government  loans 
on  terms  which  will  be  beneficial  to  both  parties. 

Turning  from  government  loans  to  investments  in  private  enterprises,  we 
find  a  field  which  offers  even  more  attractive  opportunities.  It  is  a  truism  to 
say  that  Latin  America  has  tremendous  natural  resources,  which  only  await  the 
investment  of  foreign  capital  for  their  development.  This  capital,  under  present 
conditions  must  come  from  the  United  States.  If  we  do  not  finance  the  con- 
struction of  railways,  the  development  of  mines  and  of  agricultural  enterprises, 
the  establishment  of  banks,  and  the  extension  of  commercial  credits,  the  progress 
of  our  Latin  American  neighbors  will  be  retarded  for  years,  with  incalculable 
injury  not  only  to  them  but  to  ourselves.  Every  dollar  invested  in  such  enter- 
prises at  the  present  stage  in  the  development  of  these  countries  means  a  return 
of  many  dollars  in  increased  productive  capacity,  not  only  to  the  investor,  but 
to  the  community  at  large.  New  railways,  especially,  are  needed  to  open  up  dis- 
tricts which,  despite  their  fertility,  are  at  present  almost  undeveloped  because 
they  lack  means  of  communication  with  the  outside  world.  Great  mineral  re- 
sources are  not  available  to  the  world's  commerce  because  capital  has  not  been 
found  to  exploit  them.  The  agricultural  resources  of  the  tropics  have  hardly 
been  touched.  Only  a  few  products,  like  coffee,  bananas,  and  cacao,  have  been 
grown  on  a  large  scale.  Other  products,  which  could  easily  be  grown  in  quan- 
ities  sufficient  to  feed  millions  of  people  in  the  thickly  settled  industrial  regions 
of  the  world,  are  as  yet  almost  unknown  in  the  world's  markets.  In  the  future, 
with  the  increase  of  population  in  the  industrial  regions  of  the  world,  we  shall 
have  to  look  more  and  more  to  the  tropics  for  our  food  supply.  Since  tropical 
agriculture  involves  large  scale  production  and  the  application  of  comparatively 
large  amounts  of  capital,  there  will  be  attractive  opportunities  for  investment  in 
plantations,  cattle  ranches,  canning  factories,  packing  plants,  and  all  sorts  of 
equipment.  The  people  of  the  countries  in  which  these  new  enterprises  are 
established  will,  of  course,  be  the  chief  beneficiaries,  because  they  will  be  brought 
into  closer  contact  with  the  outside  world  and  will  be  given  opportunities  which 
they  never  had  before  to  obtain  manufactured  articles  and  luxuries  from  other 
parts  of  the  world. 

Our  own  industries  will  benefit  by  possessing  an  assured  supply  of  raw 
materials,  for  many  of  the  raw  materials  which  are  most  necessary  for  our  man- 
ufacturing plants  are  products  of  Latin  America,  and  are  obtained  by  us  chieflv 
from  that  part  of  the  world  at  the  present  time.  In  view  of  the  competition  f •  -r 
many  of  these  products  between  the  great  manufacturing  nations,  it  is  very  im- 
portant that  companies  controlled  by  American  capital  should  be  in  a  position  to 
supply  them  to  our  factories. 

Investments  in  Latin  America  will  have  a  direct  bearing  on  our  export 
as  well  as  our  import  trade.  The  construction  of  a  railway  or  a  factory  or  the 
establishment  of  a  mine  or  a  plantation  by  American  capital  leads  inevitably  to 
the  purchase  of  machinery  and  equipment  in  the  United  States,  not  only  at  the 
time  of  the  original  investment,  but  from  time  to  time  subsequently  as  repairs 
or  extensions  are  undertaken.  Moreover,  the  new  purchasing  power  of  the 
country  whose  exports  are  increased  by  these  investments  and  whose  people  re- 
ceive wages  from  the  foreign  corporations,  leads  naturally  to  an  increase  in  im- 
ports, and  a  large  part  of  these  imports  will  come  from  the  United  States.  A 
direct  demand  for  American  goods  will  follow  the  establishment  of  American 
mining,  railway,  and  agricultural  enterprises  because  the  needs  of  the  workmen 
employed  by  these  enterprises  will  in  large  part  be  supplied  from  commissaries 
maintained  by  the  companies,  which  will,  of  course,  purchase  their  stock  chiefly 
in  our  markets. 

The  United  States  Government  has  a  very  direct  interest  in  the  question 
of  establishing  American  enterprises  in  Latin  America,  aside  from  its  desire  to 
increase  our  commerce  and  to  aid  our  neighbors  in  developing  their  natural  re- 
sources. Large  foreign  enterprises  are  almost  invariably  established  in  Latin 


306  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CO-NFERENCE 

American  countries  under  concessions,  which  define  the  privileges  granted  to 
and  the  obligations  assumed  by  them.  In  the  past  these  concessions  have  too 
frequently  been  a  source  of  friction  between  this  Government  and  its  neighbors. 
Latin  American  governments  have  had  inadequate  facilities  for  ascertaining  the 
reputation  and  financial  responsibility  of  companies  seeking  special  privileges, 
with  the  result  that  the  conduct  of  these  companies  has  sometimes  brought  dis- 
credit on  all  American  enterprises  and  has  led  to  unpleasant  diplomatic  incidents. 
The  concessions  themselves  have  often  included  provisions  which  were  unfair  to 
the  people  of  the  country  concerned,  or  which  were  a  bar  to  the  establishment 
of  other  foreign  enterprises.  The  State  Department,  therefore,  has  a  direct  in- 
terest in  seeing  that  these  concessions  are  granted  to  concerns  which  are  capable 
of  carrying  out  their  provisions,  and  these  provisions  are  fair  both  to  the  people 
of  the  country  granting  the  concessions  and  to  other  foreign  interests.  It  be- 
lieves that  it  can  be  helpful  both  to  our  neighbors  and  to  American  investors, 
through  exerting  its  good  offices  to  assist  in  the  establishment  of  mutually  prof- 
itable relations  between  them. 

The  purchase  of  Latin  American  securities  now  held  in  Europe  is  of  less 
importance,  perhaps,  than  the  investment  of  money  in  new  enterprises,  but  it 
nevertheless  offers  an  opportunity  which  should  not  be  neglected.  As  a  conse- 
quence of  the  impending  readjustment  of  the  finances  of  some  of  the  Latin 
American  Governments,  many  issues  of  bonds  now  held  in  France  and  England 
are  likely  to  be  refunded  with  American  money.  Other  securities  will  be  sold 
in  this  country  as  a  partial  payment  of  the  ever  increasing  debt  owed  to  us  by 
the  European  countries.  The  purchase  of  these  securities  has  two  important 
aspects.  In  the  first  place,  our  increased  participation  in  established  enterprises 
will  necessarily  stimulate  our  trade  with  Latin  America,  to  nearly  the  same  ex- 
tent as  the  investment  of  capital  in  new  enterprises.  In  the  second  place,  the 
investment  of  money  in  European  securities,  and  in  the  securities  of  other  coun- 
tries which  are  now  held  in  Europe,  is  absolutely  necessary  if  our  exports  to 
European  countries  are  to  continue,  because  these  countries  cannot  pay  for  the 
supplies  of  which  they  are  desperately  in  need  in  any  other  way. 

Many  of  the  bankers  of  the  United  States  have  shown  that  they  are  fully 
aware  of  the  opportunities  which  exist  for  investment  in  Latin  America  and  of 
the  desirability  of  making  investments  there.  The  recent  establishment  of  the 
Foreign  Bond  and  Share  Corporation  is  a  hopeful  indication  that  these  oppor- 
tunities are  being  considered  in  connection  with  the  broader  interests  of  our  com- 
merce. The  problem  at  present  is  to  educate  the  investing  public,  in  order  that 
there  may  be  a  wide  market  for  Latin  American  securities  in  this  country.  As 
I  have  already  said,  the  public  must  realize  that  it  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  bal- 
ancing the  immediate  return  to  be  derived  from  similar  investments  in  the  United 
States.  The  vast  potentialities  of  development  in  Latin  America,  and  the  im- 
portance of  this  development  to  our  own  commerce,  make  these  investments  a 
matter  not  only  of  private  profit  but  of  national  interest.  They  offer  us  an  op- 
portunity, furthermore,  not  only  to  benefit  ourselves,  but  to  cement  our  own  re- 
lations with  and  to  assist  in  the  development  of  the  nations  which  are  closest  to 
us,  not  only  in  actual  distance  to  be  travelled,  but  in  historical  affiliations  and 
political  ideals. 


FINANCIAL  AND  COMMERCIAL  RECIPROCITY 

BY  H.  H.  MERRICK,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  CHICAGO  ASSOCIATION  OF  COMMERCE. 
(Delivered  at  Morning  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Mr.  Director  General,  Friends  of  this  Conference,-  The 
noon  hour  is  here  and  as  Mr.  Schwab  said,  it  is  decidedly  warm,  so  just  a  few 
minutes  from  what  we  call  the  Central  States — the  Middle  West.  Speaking  for 
Chicago,  for  the  Association  of  Commerce,  to  this  great  conference,  we  bring 
you  a  message  of  greeting  of  good  will  from  that  great  district  of  the  United 
States.  It  just  seems  to  me,  speaking  for  the  Mississippi  Valley — more  than  one- 
half  of  the  United  States,  that  this  meeting  here  in  Washington,  where  you  have 
such  a  remarkable  attendance  from  all  of  the  States  to  the  south,  from  all  of  the 


FINANCING  TRADE  307 

United  States,  in  itself  is  a  measure  of  the  success  that  has  attended  the  efforts 
centered  in  the  Pan  American  Union  in  these  last  several  years. 

We  are  discussing  today  in  Paris  and  again  here  in  Washington  at  the 
Capitol,  world  problems  primarily  concerning  the  European  and  Asiatic  nations, 
and  we  are  attempting,  as  are  our  Allies,  to  settle  these  questions  for  the  long 
future  that  peace  may  be  present  in  the  -world.  It  seems  to  me  in  thinking  of 
this  Conference,  that  in  a  large  measure  we  have  worked  out  these  problems  in 
the  Americas,  North  and  South,  that  in  our  ability  to  gather  together  under 
this  roof,  to  discuss  problems  as  neighbors,  as  friends,  we  have  the  solution  really 
in  our  hands. 

But  that  realization  is  far  better  if  it  can  only  be  brought  about  for  the 
world  and  that,  in  reality,  whatever,  system  and  plan  shall  be  arrived  at  in  Paris, 
the  influence  of  this  successful  neighborhood  and  combination  of  nations  will  be 
all  powerful  for  the  future. 

Recently,  we  formed  at  New  Orleans  what  we  called  the  Mississippi  Vallej 
Association  and  we  gave  it  final  form  in  April  in  Chicago.  Director  General  Bar- 
rett was  one  of  our  chief  guests  of  honor.  He  brought  to  us  then  the  message 
of  the  importance  of  this  Pan  American  relation  in  that  association,  (I  believe  it 
is  worth  while  to  comment  upon  it  now),  we  have  fifty-six  million  people  of 
these  United  States.  We  have  twenty-two  states  and  parts  of  four  others,  and 
tonight  as  the  guests  of  that  association  the  Senators  of  those  twenty-six  states 
will  sit  around  one  table. 

Primarily,  the  Mississippi  Valley  in  its  derivation  is  Latin,  French  and 
Spanish,  if  I  understand  and  read  history  correctly,  and  we  of  the  Valley  believe 
that  we  understand  this  Pan  American  Union,  its  purposes,  its  plans,  its  ideals, 
its  actual  practical  accomplishment,  better  by  reason  of  that  admixture  of  Latin 
blood  which,  from  north  to  south,  is  present  in  that  great  region,  than  would 
otherwise  be  the  case. 

And  so,  in  these  few  words,  after  you  have  heard  from  men  like  Mr. 
Vanderlip  .and  Mr.  Schwab  and  our  friends  from  Latin  America,  we  of  the  Valley 
say  to  you  of  this  Conference  that  we  believe  the  future  of  America,  the  future 
of  the  United  States  as  a  part  of  America,  lies  in  this  Pan  American  Union  and 
in  the  development  of  friendship,  the  spirit  that  one  neighbor  should  have  for 
another,  and  we  believe  that  that  progress  is  occurring  rapidly  and  that  the  trade 
and  commerce  we  have  together  will  fortify  that  friendship,  that  exploitation 
lies  far  in  the  past,  that  the  progress  must  be  mutual.  We  of  the  Valley  believe 
that  in  this  mutual  progress  whereby  Latin  American  countries  shall  be  enabled 
to  make  use  of  the  resources  we  have  accumulated  in  their  development,  that 
so  far  as  it  shall  be  along  banking  and  trading  lines  it  need  not  be  by  the  mere 
training  of  our  people  of  the  United  States  to  go  out  to  conduct  this  business 
and  this  banking,  but  that  we  shall  use  all  that  exists  in  the  states  to  the  South 
in  that  progress. 

And  so  far  as  we  shall  establish  banks,  we  of  the  Valley  hope  to  do  so  in 
the  several  American  Republics  under  the  conditions  and  under  the  legislation 
that  exists  there  and  to  man  those  banks  and  those  trading  offices  with  men  of 
those  countries.  For  I,  in  my  twenty-one  years  of  business  life,  have  found  as 
Charles  M.  Schwab  well  said,  that  the  men  of  Latin  America  are  not  only  shrewd 
and  keen  and  well  trained  in  commerce  and  in  finance  but  they  are  highly  hon- 
orable, and  in  twenty-one  years  of  actual  trade  for  the  great  house  of  Armour 
and  Company  throughout  the  world  I  say  to  you  today  nowhere  has  my  experi- 
ence been  so  widely  satisfactory  as  in  Latin  America. 


SURETYSHIP   AS    AN   ESSENTIAL    AID    TO    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCE 

BY  JARVIS  W.  MASON,  VICE-PRESIDENT  AMERICAN  SURETY  COMPANY  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Suretyship  has  been  an  essential  of  commerce  and  an  aid  to  many  of  the 
more  intimate  incidents  of  life  from  the  earliest  ages.  In  fact,  among  the  stone 
tablets  discovered  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  in  the  ruins  of  ancient 
Sumar,  which  tablets  form  part  of  the  libraries  of  kings  and  rulers  who  lived  cen- 
turies before  the  days  of  Abraham,  we  learn  that  a  merchant  about  to  depart  into  a 
far  country  and  willing  to  convey  the  goods  of  another  merchant  to  the  purchaser 


308  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

in  that  far  country  gave  surety  that  he  would  deliver  the  goods  as  agreed,  collect 
the  price  and  pay  it  over  to  the  seller.  Again  we  learn  that  a  man  about  to  depart 
upon  the  "way  of  the  king"  (upon  a  military  expedition)  took  surety  from  his 
steward  that  he  would  faithfully  administer  his  estate  in  his  absence. 

Coming  to  a  period  with  which  we  are  more  familiar,  it  would  be  remembered 
that  Benjamin  was  held  by  his  brother  Joseph  as  surety  that  his  brother  would  re- 
turn into  Egypt.  In  the  days  of  Solomon,  King  of  Israel,  suretyship  was  so  common 
that  it  seemed  wise  to  the  King  to  caution  his  people  not  to  become  surety  for  a 
friend.  But  suretyship  as  a  business  or,  as  I  prefer  to  think  of  it,  as  a  profession, 
dates  from  the  early  part  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  and  originated  so  far  as  I 
have  been  advised  in  London,  England,  where  the  business  was  developed  to  a 
certain  extent,  being  confined  to  what  we  now  call  fidelity  suretyship  and  from 
there  was  transplanted  to  this  country  some  thirty  or  forty  years  since,  and  in 
that  time  there  have  developed  in  this  country  eight  or  nine  companies  transacting 
suretyship  as  a  business  and  strong  enough  to  furnish  their  clients  with  satisfactory 
service,  besides  a  number  of  other  smaller  but  very  useful  companies. 

Suretyship  has  been  best  defined  as  the  guaranteeing  the  fidelity  of  persons 
holding  positions  of  public  or  private  trust,  the  guaranteeing  the  performance  of 
contracts  other  than  insurance  policies,  and  the  ex£c.uting  or  guaranteeing  bonds 
or  obligations  in  actions  or  proceedings  or  by  law  allowed. 

I  think  a  single  reading  of  this  definition  will  convince  the  reader  that  the 
field  is  a  broad  one  and  covers  every  branch  of  credit  not  covered  by  banks.  Should 
the  question  occur  to  you,  in  what  way  can  suretyship  aid  foreign  commerce,  the 
answer  will  be  equally  obvious,  that  it  does  so  by  making  the  credit  of  a  business 
man  who  at  home  is  entitled  to  that  credit  equally  good  anywhere  in  the  world, 
whether  he  be  known  there  or  not,  so  that  one  entitled  thereto  can  be  placed  upon 
the  same  credit  footing  in  Buenos  Aires  or  Rio  de  Janeiro  as  he  finds  himself  in 
his  home-town  of  Indianapolis  or  St.  Louis. 

Specifically,  if  a  foreign  buyer  requires  suretyship  that  goods  will  be  delivered 
in  accordance  with  contract,  the  surety  company  will  furnish  a  bond  signed  by  a 
local  surety  satisfactory  to  that  foreign  buyer  that  the  American  merchant  will 
fulfill  his  contract. 

If  in  a  foreign  country  where  you  are  relatively  unknown  suit  is  brought 
against  you  in  the  courts,  or  if  you  desire  to  bring  suit  therein,  tht  bonds  necessary 
to  enable  you  to  postpone  payment  pending  litigation,  of  the  claim  asserted  or  to 
maintain  your  action  and  obtain  the  necessary  remedies^will  likewise  be  furnished 
by  a  surety  satisfactory  to  the  court.  Should  you  desire  to  transact  business  in  a 
foreign  country  whether  it  be  one  requiring  a  franchise  or  not  a  like  surety  will 
be  obtained  on  your  franchise,  your  license,  or  your  permit  bond.  Should  you  de- 
sire to  qualify  as  trustee  of  the  estate  of  a  deceased  or  an  insolvent  debtor  in  order 
to  best  protect  your  interests  the  surety  company  here  who  knows  you  will  be  pre- 
pared to  furnish  a  satisfactory  local  surety. 

Likewise  should  a  native  of  any  Latin  American  country  be  in  need  of 
similar  suretyship  in  the  United  States  it  would  be  possible  for  him,  through  the 
correspondent  in  that  country  of  a  surety  company  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
to  obtain  suretyship  in  any'  State  in  the  United  States  where  such  suretyship  is 
needed  provided  his  credit  or  the  collateral  offered  entitled  him  thereto. 

For  convenience  suretyship  has  been  divided  into  certain  general  classes, 
some  of  which  are  not  at  all  likely  to  be  required  in  connection  with  foreign  com- 
merce. But  the  following  are  all  quite  likely  to  be  needed  at  some  time  by  anyone 
transacting  business  abroad :  Fidelity  (all  classes)  ;  Fiduciary ;  Customs  and  Internal 
Revenue;  Contract  Depository;  Court;  License,  Franchise  and  Permit;  Lost 
Security;  Lease. 

Suretyship  is  based  as  I  have  said  upon  credit  just  as  much  as  banking,  and 
that  credit  is  based  upon  character,  capacity  and  financial  responsibility.  The  pos- 
session of  something  of  each  one  of  tliese  qualities  is  required  in  connection  with 
almost  every  branch  of  suretyship  but  the  proportion  in  which  they  enter  into  surety 
underwriting  varies  according  to  the  nature  of  the  bond  required.  But  always  all 
three  must  be  present,  for  you  may  not  safely  write  a  bond  as  surety  of  a  principal 
of  known  bad  character  even  though  you  hold  the  best  collateral  to  the  full  amount, 
nor  may  you  safely  become  surety  for  one  who  lacks  the  capacity  _  to  perform  that 
which  he  has  undertaken,  and  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent  financial  responsibility 
is  always  involved. 

In  the  case  of  fidelity  suretyship,  the  predominating  quality  is  character.  If 
the  applicant  is  of  good  character  unless  his  lack  of  capacity  is  very  marked  it  may 


FINANCING  TRADE  309 

be  presumed  that  the  employer  has  inquired  into  and  satisfied  himself  that  the 
proposed  employee  is  capable,  and  financial  responsibility  enters  into  the  question 
only  in  so  far  as  one  must  know  that  the  employee's  resources  and  obligations  are 
in  proper  proportion  to  each  other.  On  the  other  hand,  when  one  executes  a  bond 
in  a  judicial  proceeding  generally  speaking  the  only  inquiry  as  to  character  and 
capacity  is  to  ascertain  that  the  principal  be  in  good  repute  among  his  associates, 
the  emphasis  being  upon  his  financial  ability  to  meet  the  demand  when  it  matures 
and  for  that  reason  quite  frequently  collateral  is  required. 

In  the  case  of  a  contract  bond  all  three  elements  enter  into  the  question  for 
a  principal  of  questionable  character  cannot  be  trusted  to  perform  his  contract  if 
it  appears  to  him  to  be  contrary  to  his  interests  so  to  do.  If  he  lacks  capacity  he 
will  be  unable  to  perform,  and  if  he  lacks  financial  responsibility  he  is  quite  likely 
no  matter  how  capable  he  may  be  to  find  himself  unable  to  perform  his  contract. 

It  will  be  apparent  from  these  comments  that  suretyship  is  based  fundament- 
ally upon  credit  just  as  much  as  banking.  It  will  be  obvious  that  credit  must  be 
based  upon  acquaintance  and  confidence  and,  therefore,  a  person  should  apply  for 
suretyship  to  one  who  knows  him: — preferably  to  one  who  knows  him  at  home. 
Therefore,  it  seems  best  to  so  arrange  that  when  an  American  desires  suretyship 
abroad  he  should  apply  to  a  company  in  America  and  that  company  should  pro- 
cure and  indemnify  a  foreign  surety,  and  equally  when  one  not  a  resident  of  the 
United  States  desires  suretyship  for  use  here  he  should  apply  to  a  surety  at  his 
home  who  will  procure  and  indemnify  the  surety  here. 

May  I  hope  that  this  short  article  may  advise  some  not  familiar  with  cor- 
porate suretyship  of  its  value  in  the  promotion  of  Pan  American  trade  and  thereby 
assist  in  developing  that  intimate  business  relationship  between  the  various  countries 
in  America  which  we  all  desire  and  to  hasten  which  we  have  met  here  in  this 
beautiful  building. 

INVESTMENTS  IN  LATIN  AMERICA 

BY  MR.  ALFRED  O.  CORBIN,  MANAGER  FOREIGN  DEPARTMENT,  A.  B.  LEACH  &  Co., 

NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  As  Manager  of  the  Foreign  Depart- 
ment of  A.  B.  Leach  &  Co.,  Inc.,  New  York,  I  am  particularly  pleased  to  be  able 
to  say  a  few  words  with  regard  to  foreign  investments,  because  it  seems  to  have 
become  customary  to  eliminate  the  investment  houses  from  any  of  the  discussions 
at  conventions,  although  every  one  is  telling  every  one  else,  that  we  have  to  buy 
foreign  securities  in  order  to  promote  foreign  trade. 

This  last  point,  no  doubt,  is  perfectly  correct  and  logical,  but  in  the  final 
analysis,  the  investment  houses  will  have  to  do  the  buying  and  the  distributing  of 
such  securities;  they  are  thus  closely  interlinked  with  the  foreign  trade  develop- 
ment and  they  should  therefore  be  consulted  and  heard,  especially  so  as  the 
problems  which  we  are  facing  today  are  well  nigh  unheard  of  in  the  history  of 
finance. 

I  am  going  to  be  short,  sincere  and  to  the  point ! 

What  are  we  going  to  buy,  and  how  are  we  going  to  buy? 

Do  you  all  sufficiently  appreciate  the  untold  difficulties  with  which  we  are 
confronted  today  and  which  make  things  almost  impossible  for  us? 

Take  for  instance  Europe!  Her  exchange  situation  is  already  perplexing — 
Sterling  is  down  to  4.60,  Francs  to  6.40,  Lire  to  8.10,  Danish  Crowns  to  23.50, 
Norwegian  and  Swedish  Crowns  to  25,  Dutch  Guilders  to  38%,  Austrian  Crowns 
to  4  cents,  German  Marks  to  8  cents,  etc. 

The  dollar  is  yet  at  a  discount  in  Spain  and  Switzerland,  but  that  is  only 
a  matter  of  a  few  more  weeks,  and  what  will  be  the  future  of  all  the  exchanges 
when  all  those  countries  will  have  to  import  practically  everything  from  us,  unless 
we  make  up  our  minds  to  come  across  and  loan  them  money? 

We  have  to  buy  foreign  bonds,  but  the  only  things  we  can  buy  over  there, 
without  being  reasonably  certain  that  we  cannot  buy  them  cheaper  within  a  few 
months  from  now,  are  dollar  securities,  and  this,  I  am  sure,  will  be  done  before 
we  are  much  older. 

I  am  not  one  of  those  who  claim  that  Europe  is  bankrupt.     Far  from  it! 

Europe  today  offers  us  opportunities  like  we  have  never  had!  Not  only 
does  she  offer  to  buy  our  goods,  but  also  to  sell  us  her  securities  at  attractive  prices ; 


310  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

and  once  she  gets  those  goods  she  will  begin  the  great  task  of  her  rehabilitation: 
and  meanwhile  our  investments  will  enhance  in  value  and  will  be  repurchased  by 
her,  long  before  they  become  due. 

America  was  never  more  God's  country  than  she  is  today:  No  opportunity 
like  this  was  ever  bestowed  upon  any  nation. 

They  all  want  money  over  there  and  they  will  pay  for  it  too.  Little  do  the 
allied  or  the  neutral  countries  care  what  they  pay,  so  long  as  they  get  it  fairly 
reasonably.  The  goods  which  they  will  get  from  us  will  only  cost  so  much  more. 
What  does  that  matter,  so  long  as  they  get  them  and  can  begin  their  work? 

Europe  is  going  to  be  helped,  and  she  will  be  helped,  in  two  ways:  (a)  by 
long  term  credits;  (b)  by  the  sale  of  securities;  and  the  above  will  materialize 
before  you  and  I  are  much  older.  And  apart  from  Europe,  there  is  Central  and 
South  America  to  which  we  have  to  turn  our  investment  attention.  But  optimis- 
tic and  full  of  good-will  as  we  all  may  be,  this  field,  large  as  it  may  seem,  is  yet 
small — very  small  from  the  investors  point  of  view. 

A  few  of  the  Governments  may  be  able  to  successfully  float  an  issue:  Some 
cities  like  Rio,  Sao  Paulo,  Montevideo,  Buenos  Aires,  Valparaiso,  Lima  may  be 
taken  here,  but  until  such  time  as  there  will  be  a  more  thorough  understanding 
of  each  other's  good  qualities  and  of  the  wealth  and  possibilities  of  all  the  Central 
and  South  American  nations,  until  all  these  countries  will  have  a  modern  currency 
system:  and  until  this  democratic  Government  will  adopt  a  different  attitude  to 
Mexico,  there  can  naturally  not  yet  be  as  ready  a  market  for  such  securities  as 
we  would  so  much  like  these  to  be. 

Our  investors  are  very  conservative:  much  more  so  than  anywhere  else, 
and  big  as  the  U.  S.  A.  may  be,  they  all  seem  to  thrive  on  the  fertile  plains  of 
Missouri.  Some  of  our  financial  leaders  have  been  advocating  the  formation  of 
investment  trust  along  the  lines  of  those  existing  in  England,  in  order  to  facilitate 
the  placing  of  foreign  securities  in  general,  and  Central  and  South  American 
securities  in  special,  but  I  am  not  a  believer  in  this  kind  of  a  bond  for  our 
American  investors.  It  is  not  the  kind  of  an  investment  which  would  go  in  any 
large  quantities,  and  apart  from  a  great  many  other  objections,  it  lacks  "scenery" 
and  is  too  much  akin  to  the  old  ill-fated  blanket  mortgage  debentures. 

The  American  public  will  buy  Central  and  South  American  securities  but 
it  will  come  along  the  lines  of  the  least  resistance,  and'  it  will  require  a  long  period 
of  education.  And  it  is  therefore  that  I  wish  to  urge  all  of  you,  gathered  here 
today,  representing  the  various  countries  of  Central  and  South  America,  to  go  back 
to  your  countries  and  tell  them,  that  they  can  probably  sell  securities  in  America 
but  that  they  can  only  do  this  on  any  large  scale  if  they  teach  the  American  public 
that  these  countries  are  the  most  wonderful  countries  on  the  face  of  the  globe: 
That  their  credit  is  sterling;  that  their  currency  systems  are  reformed  and  up-to- 
date,  that  their  business  methods  are  second  to  none,  and  that  the  American  in- 
vestor will  have  better  protection  there  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 

That  will  be  your  task  and  for  that  a  prolonged  campaign  of  education  and 
propaganda  will  be  necessary,  and  I  am  sure  that  if  you  go  about  it  in  the  right 
way,  that  you  will  find  the  Americans  pretty  good  students. 

And  it  will  furthermore  be  of  the  greatest  importance  that  you  should 
establish  the  proper  banking  facilities,  so  that  your  securities  would  always  be 
regularly  taken  as  collateral  by  the  American  banks,  one  of  the  points  which  so 
often  is  overlooked,  and  better  yet,  your  banks  should  come  over  here  and 
establish  such  facilities  on  a  large  scale. 

And  to  Washington  I  would  say:  "help  us,"  and  don't  leave  us  like  the 
lonely  caller  in  the  desert  the  moment  we  go  ahead! 

I  am  an  optimist;  I  see  a  wonderful  world  in  the  near  distance  and  at  the 
horizon  of  that  wonderful  reborn  world  I  see  in  silver  letters  the  words  "Pan- 
Americanism"  like  so  many  stars  in  Heaven.  May  it  be  so. 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  311 

ENGINEERING  AIDS  TO  COMMERCE 

RAILWAYS    IN   THE   AMERICAS 

BY  PERCIVAL  FARQUHAR,  NEW  YORK. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

In  the  Americas  railways  have  preceded  wagon  roads  and  have  been  the 
means  of  transportation  and  development  of  the  interior  in  a  sense  not  true  with 
the  eastern  hemisphere. 

There  is  a  general  similarity  of  conditions  between  South  America  and  the 
United  States  as  distinguished  from  Europe  outside  of  Russia  in  that  transportation 
averages  large  distances  to  the  seaports  owing  to  the  great  bulk  of  the  countries, 
compelling  attention  to  grades,  train  loads,  etc.,  not  necessary  in  Western  Europe 
where  no  portion  of  any  country  is  distant  more  than  a  few  hundred  miles  from  a 
seaport  on  the  Atlantic  or  on  the  North,  the  Baltic,  the  Mediterranean,  the  Adriatic 
and  the  Black  Seas  penetrating  the  continent  in  so  many  places. 

In  the  United  States  railways  have  been  constructed  by  private  initiative  and 
capital  with  the  one  exception  practically  of  the  mountain  and  desert  link  of  the 
first  transcontinental  line,  and  their  location  and  construction  were  carried  out  with  a 
view  to  operating  results  as  the  only  expectation  of  remuneration  was  from  the 
net  earnings  to  be  obtained  through  the  transportation  of  freight  and  passengers. 
Trunk  lines  with  low  grades,  capable  of  carrying  heavy  train  loads  have  enabled 
transportation  in  the  United  States  to  be  carried  at  the  lowest  rates  of  any  part 
of  the  world.  The  well  distributed,  cheaply  mined  coal  of  good  quality  has  con- 
tributed to  this  also.  As  a  result  railways  in  United  States  paralleling  river  and 
canal  navigation  have  largely  superseded  the  latter  in  the  economical  handling  of 
freight. 

One  great  problem  that  railways  in  new  countries  have  to  meet  is  the  open- 
ing of  sparsely  settled,  undeveloped  territory  in  order  to  permit  of  its  settlement 
and  development.  Here,  unless  railways  come  first,  the  development  may  be  long 
delayed  and  this  has  led  many  South  American  countries  to  foment  the  construction 
of  railways  by  a  guarantee  of  interest  on  the  capital  necessary  to  construct  them. 
Where  this  has  taken  the  form  of  a  guarantee  per  kilometer  or  mile  of  railway 
construction,  it  has  led  to  the  location  of  the  railway  with  a  view  to  cheap  con- 
struction for  such  unit  of  length  and  a  constant  use  in  both  directions  of  the 
maximum  of  grade  allowed  in  the  concession;  with  the  result  usually  that  such 
railways  cannot  transport  the  produce  of  the  country  from  more  than  a  few  hun- 
dred miles  in  the  interior,  and  can  never  be  made  into  an  efficient  apparatus  of 
transportation  no  matter  how  much  money  may  be  spent  on  them.  This  character 
of  construction  should  be  limited  to  branches  of  well  located  trunk  lines  and  in 
cases  where  they  themselves  could  not  become  trunk  lines  or  have  a  heavy  traffic. 
In  many  cases  the  temptation  of  the  meter  gauge  railway  has  been  yielded  to  owing 
largely  to  the  sharper  curves  of  which  it  admits  and  some  small  economies  of  con- 
struction. But  the  penalty  paid  in  the  operation  of  the  narrow  gauge  railway 
increases  with  its  length  and  the  lessened  stability  of  the  trains  requires  much 
better  upkeep  of  the  track  than  is  the  case  with  the  standard  gauge,  and  for  obvious 
reasons  when  once  fastened  on  a  country  the  narrow  gauge  is  difficult  to  be  gotten 
rid  of.  In  a  country  like  Argentine,  where  in  general  there  are  no  cuts,  no  fills  and 
no  bridges,  the  narrow  gauge  adopted  by  some  foreign  railway  interests  and  by 
the  Argentine  Government  lines  has  the  less  defense.  The  bulk,  however,  of  the 
railways  of  Argentine  by  an  accident  of  some  old  Crimean  rolling  stock  are  10 
inches  wider  than  the  standard  gauge  and  yet  the  cars  and  locomotives  are  no  wider 
than  American  standard  gauge  cars,  which  deprives  these  railways  of  the  great 
advantage  of  the  heavier  train  loads  which  the  wider  gauge  should  give  them. 

The  largest  of  the  European  countries  and  one  which  at  present  would  hardly 
be  considered  a  guide  for  anything  in  the  economical  sense,  Russia,  has  successfully 
used  a  formula  for  railway  construction  which  not  only  is  theoretically  sound  but 
has  worked  unusually  well  in  practice.  Under  this  the  so-called  private  railways 
were  constituted  with  somewhat  less  than  one-half  of  the  railway  mileage  of 
European  Russia  and  gave  an  efficient  transportation  system  with  the  next  lowest 
rates  in  the  world  to  those  of  the  United  States.  The  principle  was  that  of  enabling 
capital  to  be  raised  at  the  lowest  rate  of  interest  possible  by  loan  of  Government 


312  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

credit,  at  the  same  time  securing  efficiency  in  the  expenditure  of  this  capital  in  the 
construction  of  the  railways  and  in  their  operation  afterwards  through  private 
management  with  a  sufficient  financial  stake  in  the  results.  The  State  furnished 
!%o  of  the  capital  in  the  form  of  guaranteed  bonds  and  private  capital  ^o  in  the 
form  of  stock.  The  net  earnings  went  somewhat  as  follows:  2  per  cent  on  the 
guaranteed  4a/£  per  cent  bonds,  then  say  2  per  cent,  on  the  stock,  then  1  per  cent  on 
the  bonds,  and  then  2  per  cent  on  the  stock,  then  the  balance  1^  per  cent  on  the  bonds, 
completing  the  4%  per  cent  interest  guaranteed,  and  then  2  per  cent  on  the  stock,  com- 
pleting 6  per  cent  dividends,  after  which  the  surplus  net  earnings  were  divided, 
in  some  cases  four-fifths  to  the  State  and  one-fifth  to  the  stock,  or  in  some  cases 
nine-tenths  to  the  State  and  one-tenth  to  the  stock,  that  is,  in  a  proportion  either 
four-fold  or  two-fold  greater  to  the  stock  than  the  proportion  of  money  repre- 
sented by  it. 

The  directors  were  elected  by  the  stockholders  of  the  company  and  the  rail- 
way was  operated  with  a  keen  sense  of  the  advantage  of  valorizing  the  property 
in  the  interest  of  the  stockholders.  As  a  matter  of  fact  before  the  war  the  stocks 
of  these  private  railways  earned  so  well,  even  at  the  lowest  rates  of  transportation 
of  any  railways  in  Europe,  that  they  sold  from  200  per  cent  to  500  per  cent  on  their 
invested  capital,  and  no  one  grudged  their  returns,  as  the  State  fared  so  well  on 
its  proportion. 

The  feature  of  this  plan  is  to  make  it  at  all  times  the  interest  of  the  private 
capital  and  its  managers  to  locate  and  construct  the  railway  with  a  view  to  its 
operation  and  to  manage  its  operation  efficiently,  and  this  is  one  of  the  reasons  the 
Government  gives  the  stock  some  of  the  results  before  it  gets  the  full  return  on 
the  bond  capital. 

The  formula,  with  some  variations,  might  well  suit  the  conditions  of  railway 
development  in  the  Americas,  especially  South  America. 

In  fuel  South  America  has  been  handicapped  compared  with  the  United  States 
and  with  Europe.  The  further  increase  of  miners'  wages  and  reduction  of  the 
hours  of  labor  in  Wales,  hitherto  South  America's  chief  source  of  supply,  empha- 
size her  need  to  develop  local  fuel :  powdered  Brazilian  and  Chilean  coal  which  gives 
good  efficiency  and  the  great  areas  of  oil  of  the  Andean  slopes  both  East  and 
West-  Oil  is  the  widest  distributed  of  fuels  and  is  found  in  quantity  where  for- 
merly geologists  considered  it  impossible  to  exist,  and  is  not  unlikely  to  be  found 
in  other  areas  of  South  America  where  it  is  not  now  known.  Cheap  fuel  is  a  key  to 
the  problem  of  cheap  transportation  in  South  America,  and  cheap  fuel  is  not  likely 
to  be  obtained  from  another  hemisphere. 

New  railway  construction  in  the  Americas  now  confronts  special  difficulties — 
the  high  cost  of  rails,  rolling  stock,  material,  supplies  and  labor  for  construction  and 
also  fuel  for  operation,  likely  to  continue  indefinitely,  and  the  indisposition  on  the 
part  of  public  authorities  and  public  sentiment  in  all  countries  to  allow  railways 
to  make  much  profit  even  in  the  rare  cases  where  their  rates  and  concessions  would 
permit  them  to  do  so,  to  say  nothing  of  the  present  unusual  demands  from  so 
many  sources  converging  on  the  money  markets  of  the  world.  It  is  not  easy  to 
foresee  just  how  the  requirements  for  railway  development  of  the  Americas  in 
the  near  future  are  to  be  met. 

This  is  a  grave  enough  problem  in  the  United  States,  concerning  the  danger 
of  not  meeting  which  we  have  had  repeated  warning  from  one  of  our  greatest 
railway  authorities,  Jas.  J.  Hill,  but  it  is  even  more  serious  for  our  South  American 
neighbors  whose  total  railway  mileage  is  45,000,  compared  with  270,000  in  the 
United  States,  half  the  area  of  South  America.  This  disproportion  is  even  greater 
than  it  seems,  as  half  of  the  area  of  the  United  States  is  arid,  semi-arid  or  roughly 
mountainous,  which  is  several  times  the  proportion  of  South  America  which  must 
be  subtracted  from  possible  area  of  development. 

Nothing,  however,  can  be  worked  out  which  will  result  in  serious  railway 
development  until  public  sentiment  has  been  educated  to  the  point  of  view  that 
capital  invested  in  railways  is  just  as  much  entitled  to  a  remuneration  as  capital 
in  industries  such  as  steel  mills  or  motor  companies.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  is 
possible  to  have  the  public  arrive  at  this  realization  without  too  much  delay,  as  the 
railways  are  the  arteries  of  the  national  development,  and  nothing  would  be  more 
prejudicial  to  the  public  interests  than  to  have  them  atrophied  in  any  way — a  state 
to  which  they  are  too  nearly  approaching  in  this  country. 

I  have  left  out  of  account  as  a  possible  method  of  handling  railway  con- 
struction and  operation — that  of  State  owned  and  operated  railways,  as  recent  ex- 
perience of  Governmental  operation  in  the  United  States  and  in  England  has  been 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  313 

of  a  nature  to  open  the  eyes  of  many  previous  partisans  of  this  course  to  the  in- 
evitable objections  to  it.  The  palsy  which  at  once  creeps  through  the  organization 
upon  the  entry  of  Government  management  has  been  too  apparent  to  the  traveling 
and  shipping  public. 

In  addition  to  new  construction  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  deferred  better- 
ments on  the  existing  railways  in  the  Americas — additional  rolling  stock,  sidings, 
new  rails,  additional  terminal  facilities,  etc.  The  legislation  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  in  connection  with  turning  back  the  railways  here  will  determine 
to  what  extent  these  betterments  here  can  be  financed  and  carried  out. 

The  railways  in  Latin  America  have  been  financed  practically  entirely  with 
European,  especially  British  capital,  and  the  railway  companies  concerned  have  been 
organized  as  a  rule  in  the  countries  furnishing  this  capital.  It  cannot  now  be  de- 
termined to  what  extent  Great  Britain  and  other  European  countries  will  be  able 
to  finance  the  requirements  of  their  railway  companies  in  this  hemisphere,  but  it 
would  seem  that  the  demands  on  them  for  capital  at  home  and  from  their  colonies 
might  not  leave  available  sufficient  funds  for  their  railways  in  Latin  America  so 
that  they  may  wish  the  United  States  to  join  in  this  financing  which  will  run  into 
large  figures.  This  at  the  same  time  would  be  in  the  interest  of  the  stability  of  the 
investment. 

In  such  a  case  some  formula  must  be  worked  out  which  would  enable  the 
United  States  to  join.  As  the  world's  peace  depends  largely  upon  the  ability  of  the 
present  allies  to  continue  to  work  closely  together,  industrial  cooperation  in  invest- 
ment in  foreign  fields  would  be  helpful. 


LIGHT    RAILWAY    TRANSPORTATION    SYSTEMS 

BY  CHARLES   F.  LANG,   PRESIDENT,  LAKEWOOD  ENGINEERING   CORPORATION, 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO. 

(Read  by  Mr.  Lloyd  Brown,  Vice-President,  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of 
Thursday,  June  5) 

The  amazing  use  of  the  light  railway  by  all  the  belligerents  during  the 
world  war  has  very  naturally  given  rise  to  the  question  as  to  whether  this  method 
of  transportation  has  received  in  the  past  the  attention  which  it  deserves  as  a 
means  for  solving  one  of  the  most  important  phases  of  transportation,  namely, 
a  cheap  method  for  the  initial  transport  of  agricultural  products  as  well  as  cer- 
tain minerals  and  other  raw  materials  from  the  place  of  their  origin  either  to  some 
trunk  line  railway  or  to  a  nearby  market.  During  the  war  many  thousands  of 
miles  of  light  railway  were  built  and  used  by  all  the  warring  powers  on  all  fronts. 

As  is  well  known,  the  trunk  line  railways  furnished  the  back  bone  of  sup- 
port for  the  armies  during  the  war.  These  trunk  lines  had  to  be  protected  and 
held  at  all  costs  because  of  the  tremendous  quantities  of  supplies,  food  and  ammu- 
nition which  were  daily  needed  by  the  armies.  The  great  defense  trench  systems, 
therefore,  were  developed  some  substantial  distance  in  advance  of  the  trunk  line 
system  to  be  supported,  the  trunk  line  railway  being  sufficiently  in  the  rear  of  the 
trench  lines  to  be  entirely  beyond  the  range  of  artillery  fire  from  the  enemy. 
Means  of  transport  had  to  be  provided  from  the  trunk  line  railway  to  the  supports 
in  the  front  line  trenches.  To  accomplish  this  end,  means  of  transportation  had 
to  be  used — horses,  mules,  carts,  wagons,  automobile  trucks,  and  last  but  not 
least,  the  light,  narrow  gauge  military  railway ;  this  latter  because  it  can  be  made 
available  not  only  for  use  on  or  alongside  the  main  highways  which  were  also  used 
by  the  horses  and  motor  drawn  vehicle,  but  also  because  it  could  be  laid  in  any 
direction  through  the  fields  so  as  to  reach,  by  the  most  direct  route,  any  desired 
point.  By  the  liberal  use  of  switches,  these  narrow  gauge  railways  could  radiate 
and  extend  in  all  directions  from  the  main  trunk  line,  radiating,  fan-like,  all  over 
the  country  to  be  served. 

On  these  railways  much  heavier  loads  were  transported  and  in  longer  trains 
than  had  ever  been  considered  possible  before  the  war.  This  was  largely  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  ties  used  were  of  a  special  oval  channel  form,  nearly  twice 
as  heavy  as  the  ties  heretofore  used  on  light  railways;  and,  moreover,  these  ties 
were  spaced  only  two  feet  from  center  to  center  of  tie^and  the  channel  dished 


314  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

formation  wedging  itself  into  the  soil  made  the  track  more  rigid  than  was  possible 
in  the  more  common  commercial  uses  of  light  railways. 

The  story  of  the  light  military  railways  will  undoubtedly  be  written  by 
some  engineer  historian,  as  it  deserves  to  be,  and  the  study  of  such  a  history 
should  lead  to  a  rapid  development  of  the  light  railway  for  commercial,  agricul- 
tural and  industrial  development  throughout  the  world. 

The  marvelous  development  of  the  standard  gauge  railway  within  the  past 
century  has  opened  up  for  development  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  square 
miles  of  territory  throughout  the  world,  but  in  many  countries  as  yet  this  develop- 
ment sticks  close  to  the  line  of  the  railway  itself. 

Railways  being  even  yet  a  new  system  of  transportation,  many  mistakes 
have  been  made  in  the  building  of  standard  gauge  railway  lines  through  sections 
which  could  not  support  and  maintain  such  railways.  This  has  been  especially 
true  in  the  western  part  of  the  United  States  and  even  in  some  sections  of  the 
east,  with  the  result  that  hundreds  of  miles  of  railways  have  been  permanently 
unprofitable,  and  many  have  been  totally  abandoned;  and  as  a  result  of  the  atten- 
tion called  to  this  fact  by  the  unusual  conditions  growing  out  of  the  war  the 
abandonment  of  many  more  is  even  now  being  seriously  considered. 

Another  method  of  transportation  which  has  existed  from  time  immemorial, 
but  which  has  only  recently  begun  to  have  had  serious  consideration  on  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  is  the  highway.  The  economic  value  of  a  well-built  high- 
way has  been  recognized  in  Europe  since  the  time  of  the  Romans,  and  it  is  as- 
tonishing that  this  system  of  transportation  should  have  received  so  little  con- 
sideration by  the  progressive  peoples  of  South  and  North  America. 

I  regret  that  I  am  not  able  to  speak  from  knowledge  regarding  highway 
construction  in  South  America,  but  in  North  America,  both  Canada  and  the 
United  States,  we  have  awakened  to  the  necessity  for  well  constructed  and  well 
maintained  highways,  and  both  countries  have  entered  upon  an  enormous  program 
for  road  construction  which  gives  promise  of  exceeding  in  volume,  the  great 
rapid  growth  of  railroad  construction  which  followed  the  Civil  War  in  the 
United  States. 

It  is  my  belief,  however,  that  neither  the  standard  gauge  railway  nor  the 
well  constructed,  paved  highway  will  ever  solve  the  transportation/  problem  in 
countries  of  the  Western  Hemisphere.  The  highway  will  aid  greatly  in  develop- 
ing the  sections  of  the  country  through  which  it  passes,  just  as  the  standard 
railway  has  done,  but  the  development  will  necessarily  remain  close  to  the  high- 
way. The  highway  also  will  do  much  toward  relieving  the  short-haul  problem 
to  a  nearby  local  market,  this  short-haul  having  always  heretofore  been  one  of 
the  sources  of  loss  to  the  standard  gauge  railway. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  highway  construction,  at  least  the  paved, 
hard  surfaced  highway,  is  so  expensive  to  build  of  sufficient  strength  to  stand  up 
for  years  under  the  weight  of  traffic  which  passes  over  it  that  only  fairly  well 
settled  communities  can  afford  to  make  the  investment.  In  other  words,  the  high- 
way will  be  largely  built  through  communities  already  settled  and  developed  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  care  of  the  traffic  which  this  developed  territory  creates. 

We  have  then  still  before  us  the  problem  of  some  cheap  method  of  trans- 
portation for  sparsely  settled  or  undeveloped  stretches  of  territory,  or  for  the 
purpose  of  connecting  up  large  plantations  or  farms  with  their  nearest  markets 
or  with  their  nearest  trunk  line  railway.  This  problem  has  received  more  atten- 
tion in  South  America  than  in  North  America,  and  it  is  also  being  given  serious 
consideration  in  such  distant  countries  as  the  Philippines  and  South  Africa  where 
long  stretches  of  country  now  have  as  their,  only  means  of  transportation  the 
ox-cart.  These  countries,  confronted  with  the  necessity  for  providing  some  bet- 
ter means  of  transportation,  find  it  difficult  to  justify  the  building  of  expensive 
highways  through  long  stretches  of  sparsely  settled  country,  and  yet  must  reach 
many  points  considerable  distances  from  the  few  trunk  line  railways  in  the 
country. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  within  the  very  brief  limits  of  this  paper  to  go  into 
the  engineering  problems  involved,  nor  into  the  cost  either  of  constructing  or 
maintaining  light  railways,  nor  to  compare  such  construction  and  maintenance 
costs  with  similar  costs  for  standard  gauge  railways  or  paved  highways.  It  is 
my  intention  and  desire  simply  to  briefly  outline  the  possibilities  of  the  value  and 
economy  of  this  method  of  transportation  over  the  other  two  systems  referred  to. 

The  limitations  of  the  standard  gauge  railway  are  so  evident  that  it  is 
unnecessary  to  refer  further  to  them  here.  The  paved  highway  is  such  a  new 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  315 

development  in  the  Americas  that  the  most  experienced  engineers  are  constantly 
revising  their  opinions  and  judgment  regarding  them,  due  largely  of  course  to 
the  advent  of  the  automobile  and  the  auto  truck  with  its  trailers.  Highway  engi- 
neers with  wide  experience  will  verify  the  fact  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  make 
in  advance  any  road  census  over  a  particular  stretch  of  road.  The  development 
is  so  new  that  it  is  difficult  to  judge  in  advance  how  much  traffic,  either  passenger 
or  freight  tonnage,  will  be  diverted  to  the  improved  highway  once  it  is  built. 
This  difficult  question  has  been  further  complicated  by  the  very  rapidly  increas- 
ing number  of  passenger  automobiles  and  the  ever-increasing  number  of  automo- 
bile trucks  with  their  constantly  increasing  tonnage  capacity,  and,  recently,  the 
development  of  trailers  for  trucks,  that  even  the  most  farsighted  of  American 
engineers  have  been  compelled  to  throw  up  their  hands,  and  mile  after  mile  of 
improved  highways  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  have  been  completely  worn 
out  and  destroyed  within  a  very  short  time  after  their  completion,  due  to  the 
constantly  increasing  traffic  over  them. 

With  the  entry  of  the  United  States  into  the  war,  the  congestion  which 
developed  upon  its  railways  necessitated  a  tremendous  use  of  the  highways  for 
military  transport  ,of  all  kinds,  and  hundreds  of  miles  of  well  constructed  high- 
ways throughout  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States  were  practically  destroyed 
by  this  unexpected  use  to  which  they  were  subjected;  and  yet  the  value  of  the 
highway  as  a  means  of  military  transport  was  recognized  as  never  before,  and  is 
therefore  receiving  very  serious  consideration. 

The  highway,  however,  permits  only  of  the  haulage  of  comparatively  small 
loads  by  power  drawn  vehicles  with  perhaps  only  a  limited  possible  future  develop- 
ment of  the  trailer  and  haulage  in  short  trains  behind  the  automobile  truck  itself. 
These  trains  necessarily  must  always  be  short  and  of  limited  tonnage  because  of 
the  congestion,  confusion  and  danger  of  accident  which  would  occur  were  many 
long  trains  hauled  even  if  such  a  development  were  ever  possible. 

There  are  also  many  other  items  which  should  be  considered  aside  from 
the  maintenance  of  the  highway,  namely,  the  large  investment  by  individuals  in 
motor  trucks  and  other  equipment  for  operation  over  the  highway,  the  deprecia- 
tion and  maintenance  of  such  equipment,  interest  on  the  investment,  cost  of  operat- 
ing, provision  for  housing,  etc. 

The  light  railway  in  practically  all  countries  in  North  and  South  America 
can  be  built  and  can  be  maintained  with  a  smaller  investment  than  a  well  paved 
highway.  On  it  much  longer  trains  can  be  hauled  at  a  lower  per  ton  mile  cost. 
Such  a  railway  could,  as  might  be  more  advantageous,  either  be  built  alongside 
of  and  paralleling  unimproved  highways  now  existing,  or,  following  the  practice 
of  standard  gauge  railways,  could  be  built  more  directly  from  point  to  point 
without  following  the  meanderings  of  the  average  highway.  At  a  comparatively 
small  expense,  every  plantation  owner  or  farmer  could  have  one  or  more  switches 
with  branch  lines  running  to  his  barns  or  to  his  fields,  and  could  load  his  products 
directly  into  the  railway  car  either  in  the  field  or  at  his  barn,  hauling  the  car  by 
means  of  horses,  oxen  or  mules  to  the  main  line  of  the  narrow  gauge  railway 
where  it  could  be  switched  into  the  train  for  transportation  to  market. 

In  the  operation  of  the  system,  the  conductor  of  the  train  could  be  pro- 
vided with  the  necessary  bills  of  lading,  so  that  proper  documents  could  be  pre- 
pared at  each  farm  to  cover  the  articles  to  be  transported,  saving  to  all  the  farmers 
on  the  route  the  necessity  for  taking  their  own  time  to  transport  their  goods  to 
local  markets  or  to  a  standard  gauge  railway  station  for  retransportation  to 
distant  markets. 

Trains  could  be  run  with  greater  or  less  frequency  as  the  traffic  may  demand 
so  that  operating  costs  would  be  quite  flexible  with  the  traffic.  It  has  even  been 
suggested  that  in  sparsely  settled  territories  which  might  not  warrant  the  ex- 
pense for  a  first-class  highway,  the  narrow  gauge  railway  could  be  used,  first, 
for  the  construction  of  a  cheaper  improved  highway  which  would  be  sufficient 
to  carry  light  passenger  traffic,  and,  second,  the  railway  hayfng  been  used  for 
such  construction  could  be  used  as  a  railway  for  the  heavier  traffic,  both  the 
railway  and  highway  put  together  costing  less  per  mile  than  a  hard  surfaced  road 
would  cost  at  the  present  time  in  the  United  States  or  Canada. 

It  has  been  my  intention  merely  to  present  this  skeleton  suggestion  of  a  cheap 
method  of  transportation,  realizing  full  well  the  many  engineering  problems  in- 
volved in  the  development  of  such  a  system,  among  which  would  be  better  methods 
of  laying  track,  various  improved  types  of  cars  for  different  kinds  of  produce  and 
freight,  the  question  of  whether  the  car  bodies  should  not  be  of  such  type  as  they 


316  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

could  be  transferred  from  the  narrow  gauge  trucks  onto  standard  gauge  trucks 
at  the  standard  gauge  railway  without  the  necessity  for  unloading  from  narrow 
gauge  cars  into  standard  gauge  cars,  the  matter  of  more  satisfactory  locomotives 
or  motive  power  for  such  railways,  whether  such  railways  should  be  privately 
owned  and  operated  or  owned  and  operated  by  the  national  government  or  the 
local  community  government.  These  questions  would  be  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
time  allowed,  but  I  believe  the  whole  question  merits  the  very  serious  considera- 
tion of  the  engineers  of  North  and  South  America. 


AERIAL    WIRE    ROPE    CONVEYORS    AS    FEEDERS    FOR    RAILWAY    AND 

SHIP    LINES 

BY  DR.  WALTER  C.  KRETZ,  M.  E.,  JOHN  ROEBLING  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

In  South  and  Central  America  transportation  is  one  of  the  most  urgent  prob- 
lems. There  are  many  localities  rich  in  mineral  or  timber,  or,  again,  capable  of 
being  developed  into  agricultural  centers  which  are  not  utilized  because  the  product 
cannot  be  brought  to  market  and  because  the  workers  could  not  be  kept  supplied 
with  the  necessities  of  life,  and  there  are  others  to  which  access  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult and  costly  under  present  conditions.  The  result  is  that  the  population  is  largely 
concentrated  at  certain  points  where  a  great  proportion  of  it  lives  very  poorly,  while 
productive  areas  lie  waste.  Many  of  these  centers  are  connected  by  trunk  line 
railways  with  each  other,  or  with  seaboard,  but  branch  lines  opening  up  the  inter- 
vening stretches  are  scarce.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  as  yet  the  southern  conti- 
nent is  but  sparsely  inhabited,  and  that  so  far,  at  least,  the  rate  of  increase  is  slow. 
There  is  not  sufficient  tonnage,  therefore,  to  be  moved  from  and  to  points  off  the 
main  line  to  make  standard  gauge  branches  a  paying  proposition,  and  the  prospects 
of  developing  such  tonnage  through  speculative  construction — as  was  done  in  the 
United  States — are  not  sufficiently  good  to  tempt  capital.  And  even  of  those  dis- 
tricts which  have  direct  rail  connection  to  seaboard  many  are  held  back  due  to  the 
great  difficulty  and  sometimes  danger  of  transporting  freight  and  passengers  be- 
tween the  shore  and  the  vessel.  This  is  particularly  true  on  the  West  Coast. 

That  these  conditions  must  be  improved  before  South  and  Central  America 
can  be  developed  effectively  is  not  open  to  doubt,  and  a  discussion  of  one  method 
of  transportation  which  has  proved  very  useful  in  certain  cases  should  therefore 
prove  of  interest.  This  method  is  that  of  transportation  by  means  of  aerial  wire 
rope  conveyors. 

There  are  two  classes  of  such  conveyors,  viz. :  "Cableways"  and  "Tramways." 
Of  the  former  there  are  two  general  types,  namely,  "Transporting"  and  "Hoisting- 
Transporting,"  and  of  the  latter  there  are  also  two  types,  namely,  "Single  Rope" 
and  "Double  Rope."  In  both  cableways  and  tramways  the  loads  are  suspended  from 
carriers  by  means  of  appropriate  devices,  and  these  carriers  are  taken  from  one 
point  to  another  free  from  the  ground  by  means  of  wire  rope.  Usually  the  car- 
riers are  equipped  .with  wheels  which  run  on  a  rope  stretched  from  tower  to  tower 
as  a  track,  the  motion  being  controlled  by  a  second  rope  called  the  "traction  rope," 
but  in  one  type  of  plant  the  carriers  are  fixed  directly  to  this  traction  rope  which 
moves  them  along  and  supports  them  at  the  same  time. 

The  difference  between  a  cableway  and  a  tramway  is  that  in  the  former  the 
carrier — of  which,  with  very  few  exceptions,  only  one  is  used — may  be  moved  in 
either  direction  along  the  track  cable,  while  in  the  latter  the  carriers — of  which 
now  there  is  generally  quite  a  large  number — travel  in  one  direction  only.  Cable- 
ways  may  be  so  arranged  that  they  merely  transport  loads  between  two  fixed 
points — this  being  the  "Transporting"  type — or  so  that  they  can  pick  -up  or  lower 
a  load  at  any  point  along  the  run,  and  also  carry  it  from  point  to  point,  this  being 
the  "Hoisting-Transporting"  type. 

The  transporting  type  of  cableway  is  the  cheapest  form  of  aerial  wire  rope 
conveyor  which  can  be  built.  It  requires  but  a  single  track  cable,  a  single  carrier, 
and  an  endless  traction  rope  operated  by  a  simple  reversible  engine;  or,  if  gravity 
can  be  used  as  the  motive  power,  two  track  cables,  two  carriers,  and  a  brake- 
system,  but  no  engine.  A  plant  has  been  built  at  the  Rosas  Mine  in  Sardinia,  where 
two  carriers  run  on  one  cable,  one  going  up  while  the  other  goes  down,  and  the  two 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  317 

» 

being  arranged  to  pass  each  other  by  means  of  a  rail  carried  on  top  of  each  in  a 
special  manner,  but  this  system  is  unusual. 

While  the  type  last  mentioned  is,  as  stated,  the  cheapest  to  build  and  operate, 
it  has  very  limited  applicability,  for  the  restriction  that  only  one  carrier  can  be 
used  on  one  track  cable  necessarily  results  in  a  low  capacity,  except  when  the  dis- 
tance is  quite  short — say  800  meters  or  less — and  the  contour  of  the  ground  over 
which  the  line  runs  is  of  a  special  nature  so  that  the  track  cable  can  be  stretched 
in  a  single  span  and  individually  large  loads  can  be  moved  at  high  speed.  As  soon 
as  the  track  cable  must  be  supported  at  points  intermediate  to  the  two  ends,  the 
speed  at  which  the  carrier  may  be  moved  along  it  is  cut  down  to  a  maximum  of 
200  meters  per  minute,  which,  of  course,  makes  the  operation  quite  slow.  So  that 
this  type  of  conveyor  is  in  general  used  only  for  specific  cases,  such  as  that  of  a 
mine  on  a  side-hill  located  some  hundreds  of  meters  away  from  and  some  distance 
above  a  railway  track,  or  for  mines  with  a  small  output — of  say  25  tons  per  day — 
which  are  located  a  few  kilometers  from  the  nearest  loading  point. 

On  a.  hoisting-transporting  cableway  the  carriers  and  engine  are  so  arranged, 
as  previously  stated,  that  a  load  may  be  picked  up  and  deposited  at  any  point  along 
the  run.  This,  of  course,  necessitates  the  use  of  at  least  three  ropes,  namely,  a 
track-cable,  an  endless  rope  for  moving  the  carriage  back  and  forth,  and  a  hoisting 
rope  for  raising  and  lowering  the  load,  and  an  engine  with  two  independent  drums. 

Owing  to  these  complications  the  length  to  which  a  hoisting-transporting 
cableway  can  be  built  is  definitely  restricted  to  that  at  which  a  cable  of  the  maximum 
useful  size,  when  stretched  in  a  single  span  between  two  supports,  will  safely  carry 
the  loads.  Of  course,  the  greater  the  sag  which  the  track-cable  has,  the  less  the 
stress  in  it,  and  consequently  with  a  large  sag,  or  deflection,  a  long  span  could  be 
installed,  but  as  the  sag  is  a  percentage  of  the  span,  a  heavy  sag  would  mean  ex- 
cessively high  end  supports  except  under  unusual  conditions,  and  it  is  objectionable 
also,  because  the  load  has  to  climb  a  very  steep  grade  near  the  towers.  So  that, 
on  the  whole,  400  meters  is  about  the  maximum  length  if  loads  of  several  tons  are 
to  be  transported,  and  1,000  meters  could  probably  not  be  exceeded  under  any 
conditions. 

Hoisting-transporting  cableways  also  are  quite  expensive  to  build,  and  for  all 
these  reasons  they  are  useful  only  where  a  very  large  mass  of  material  distributed 
over  a  reasonable  small  space  is  to  be  moved  to  a  certain  point.  Stone  quarries  or 
heavily  timbered  areas  offer  good  examples.  In  both,  cableways  have  proved  very 
valuable  in  collecting  blocks  of  stone  or  logs,  and  moving  them  to  railway  cars  on 
a  siding  running  near  one  of  the  towers  and  under  the  track  cable. 

A  certain  modification  of  the  hoisting-transporting  cableway  is  sometimes 
found  of  service.  This  is  known  as  the  "radial  type."  In  plants  of  this  nature 
one  tower  has  a  fixed  position,  but  may  be  revolved  around  its  vertical  axis,  while 
the  other  tower  may  be  moved  around  the  periphery  of  a  circle  having  the  fixed 
tower  as  a  center  and  the  span  of  the  cable  as  radius.  Such  installations  are  pos- 
sible only  where  the  country  is  fairly  level.  A  plant  of  this  sort  has  been  built  to 
handle  the  material  of  a  placer  gold  mine,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  caliche 
could  be  collected  more  cheaply  in  some  localities  with  such  a  cableway  than  with 
present  methods. 

From  all  that  has  gone  before,  it  will  be  seen  that  cableways  are  useful  in 
specific  cases  for  bringing  material  to  a  railway  or  to  some  other  fixed  point  from 
contiguous  territory.  For  long  distance  transportation  wire  rope  tramways  can 
often  be  employed  to  advantage. 

As  stated  before,  there  are  two  types  of  tramways,  the  "Single  Rope"  and 
the  "Double  Rope."  In  the  former  an  endless  rope  to  which  carriers  are  permanently 
attached  at  intervals,  rests  on  sheaves  located  on  the  two  sides  of  each  of  a  number 
of  towers  set  in  a  straight  line  and  as  far  apart  as  the  nature  of  the  ground  and 
the  strength  of  the  rope  will  permit.  At  one  end  the  rope  passes  around  a  tension 
sheave,  and  at  the  other  around  a  friction  sheave,  which  latter  is  connected  either 
to  a  brake  if  the  plant  is  operated  by  gravity,  or  to  an  engine  if  it  is  operated  by 
power. 

In  the  double  rope  tramway  heavy  fixed  cables  (called  track  cables)  are 
stretched  from  tower  to  tower,  one  on  each  side,  on  which  run  carriages  equipped 
with  wheels,  the  loads  being  suspended  from  these  carriages  by  means  of  appropriate 
carriers.  The  carriages  are  connected  to  a  relatively  light  endless  traction  rope 
resting  on  and  running  over  sheaves  on  the  towers  near  to  the  two  track  cables. 
This  traction  rope,  as  in  the  single  rope  system,  runs  around  a  tension  wheel  at  one 
end  of  the  line  and  around  a  friction  wheel  at  the  other,  and  is  controlled  by  a 


318  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

brake  or  power  as  the  case  may  be.  It  is  evident  that  double  rope  plants  can  be 
built  to  have  a  much  greater  capacity  than  single  rope  ones,  as  a  large  part  of  the 
dead  weight  is  supported  by  the  fixed  track-cables,  and  also  that,  while  a  double 
rope  tramway  costs  more  to  build  in  the  first  place  than  the  other  kind,  the  expense 
of  upkeep  is  smaller,  as  the  traction  rope — which  is  the  one  subject  to  the  greatest 
wear — is  lighter  and  the  weight  on  the  sheaves  over  which  this  rope  travels  is 
smaller. 

The  two  end-stations  of  wire  rope  tramways  are  known  as  terminals.  In 
most  cases  the  amount  of  material  moved  along  a  tramway  in  one  direction  is  far 
greater  than  that  going  in  the  other,  and  the  end  station  at  which  the  majority 
of  the  loads  are  placed  on  the  line  is  therefore  known  as  the  loading  terminal,  while 
the  other  is  known  as  the  discharging  terminal.  The  side  over  which  the  majority 
of  the  loads  pass  and  which  is  the  one  on  which  the  carriers  run  from  the  loading 
to  the  discharging  terminal  is  known  as  the  loaded  side,  and  the  other  as  the  empty 
or  unloaded  side.  On  very  long  double  rope  tramways  it  is  found  necessary  to 
have  intermediate  anchor  stations  so  as  to  keep  the  track-cables  taut.  These  are 
usually  from  two  to  four  kilometers  apart.  At  these  intermediate  stations  it  is 
possible  to  attach  additional  loads  to  the  line,  but  the  system  is  somewhat  compli- 
cated. The  terminals  and  intermediate  stations  are  by  far  the  most  expensive  indi- 
vidual items  of  a  tramway,  and  hence  the  cost  per  meter  becomes  excessively  high 
if  these  stations  are  too  close  together.  Consequently,  tramways  of  less  than  a 
kilometer  in  length  say,  or  where  much  switching  in  is  to  be  done,  are  not,  as  a 
rule,  paying  propositions. 

As  far  as  the  maximum  length  of  line  goes,  the  distance  between  terminals 
is  limited  by  the  strength  of  the  traction  rope,  which  rope  is  rarely  made  more 
than  25  m.m.  in  diameter,  on  the  double  rope  system,  as  otherwise  it  becomes  too 
heavy.  It  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  loads  are  attached  to  the  traction  rope 
at  fixed  intervals,  which  usually  run  in  the  neighborhood  of  100  meters,  that  the 
longer  the  line,  the  greater  the  weight  which  this  rope  must  pull.  If  the  territory 
is  level  friction  alone  has  to  be  overcome,  but  if  there  are  grades  the  traction  rope 
must  not  only  pull  but  also  lift  the  total  mass.  Consequently  the  length  between 
terminals  is  dependent  on  the  size  of  the  traction  rope,  the  weight  and  spacing  of 
the  loads,  and  the  inclination  of  the  track,  and  it  can  rarely  be  made  to  exceed  10 
kilometers.  It  is,  however,  not  a  difficult  matter  to  increase  the  total  length  by 
building  several  tramways  end  to  end,  each  with  its  separate  traction  rope  and 
engine  equipment.  The  stations  at  which  one  ends  and  the  other  begins  are  known 
as  intermediate  terminals.  The  carriers  can  be  passed  from  one  traction  rope  to 
the  other  automatically  at  these  intermediate  terminals,  so  that  attendants  here  are 
not  actually  necessary,  although  it  is  usual  to  have  them.  Also  switching  of  loads 
in  and  out  at  these  points  is  easily  done,  and  a  turn  in  the  direction  of  the  line 
causes  no  difficulty.  So  that  the  maximum  length  of  a  system  of  tramways  of  this 
sort  is  limited  only  by  the  question  as  to  how  far  it  pays  to  move  the  material 
which  is  to  be  handled. 

In  double  tramways  the  carriages  are  connected  to  the  traction  rope  either  by 
means  of  grips  fixed  onto  the  frame  of  the  carrier  and  which  can  be  attached  to 
or  detached  from  the  rope  at  will,  or  by  means  of  some  device  on  the  carrier 
which  engages  lugs  permanently  clamped  onto  the  rope  at  fixed  intervals.  The 
former  is  in  general  the  better  system,  as  it  gives  greater  flexibility  and  also  pre- 
serves the  traction  rope,  for  it  is  found  that  the  wires  of  this  rope  ultimately 
break  at  the  ends  of  the  lugs  due  to  the  constant  bending  back  and  forth  at  these 
points. 

Tramways  can  be  erected  almost  anywhere  on  land,  and  even  out  to  sea  in 
some  cases;  ravines  and  rivers,  and  steep  mountain  slopes  offer  no  insurmountable 
obstacles.  Their  range  of  capacity  runs  from  ten  to  about  one  hundred  tons  per 
hour — and  tramways  therefore  offer  a  means  of  mechanical  transportation  for  ton- 
nages which  are  too  small  to  be  handled  economically  on  a  railway.  _  They  func- 
tion, if  properly  constructed,  with  nearly  absolute  safety  and  regularity,  and  the 
operating  costs  are  low.  The  limitations  of  wire  rope  tramways  are,  in  the  first 
place,  that  loads  can  be  placed  onto  and  taken  off  the  line  only  at  specific  points, 
v/hich  points  should,  for  the  sake  of  economy,  be  several  kilometers  apart,  and 
are  further  determined  by  the  nature  of  the  territory  over  which  the  line  runs.  In 
the  second  place  the  speed  of  travel  is  rather  low,  as  185  meters  per  minute  cannot 
well  be  exceeded.  In  the  third  place  the  size  of  individual  loads  which  can  be 
moved  is  limited.  Tramways  can  be  built  to  carry  several  tons  on  one  carrier,  but 
in  that  case  the  plant  will  be  much  too  heavy  and  unnecessarily  expensive  for 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  319 

lighter  units.  In  other  words,  the  load  per  carrier  should  be  reasonably  uniform, 
and,  in  most  cases,  will  have  to  be  one  ton  or  less.  In  the  fourth  place,  tramways 
must  be  built  in  a  straight  line,  or  in  a  line  consisting  of  several  straight  sections, 
and  each  one  several  kilometers  long.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  while  turns 
can  be  made  anywhere,  such  angles  complicate  the  design  materially,  and  it  is  usual, 
therefore,  to  confine  them  to  intermediate  terminals,  where  the  carriers  are  trans- 
ferred from  one  traction  rope  to  another  and  such  terminals  are,  as  already  stated, 
expensive,  and  it  is  not  well,  therefore,  to  multiply  them. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  if  satisfaction  is  to  be  obtained,  that  tramways 
be  properly  designed  and  erected.  This  work  should  be  done  by  experts,  and  it 
is  a  great  mistake  to  think  that  troubles  are  easily  avoided.  To  mention  merely  a 
few  points,  we  might  call  attention  to  the  following:  In  the  first  place,  the  height 
and  location  of  towers  must  be  carefully  studied  and  as  the  material  must  usually 
be  built  on  the  basis  of  a  survey  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  this  be  accurate.  A 
few  feet  of  error  in  contours,  or  failure  to  state  that  certain  points  offer  unsafe 
foundations,  or  are  subject  to  snow-slides,  etc.,  may  cause  endless  difficulties.  Next 
the  class  of  material  to  be  handled  must  be  accurately  known.  If  the  output  of  a 
mine  is  to  be  transported,  for  example,  and  an  incorrect  weight  per  cubic  meter  is 
assumed,  all  of  the  buckets  will  be  of  the  wrong  size.  The  nature  of  the  grip  is 
also  important.  A  good  grip  must  hold  the  load  safely  on  every  grade  on  the  line, 
and  if  the  tramway  is  built  in  sections  it  must  automatically  adjust  itself  to  varia- 
tions in  the  diameter  of  the  traction  rope,  besides  having  other  characteristics.  The 
width  of  the  towers  also  is  an  item.  Cases  are  known  where  during  a  storm 
empty  and  loaded  buckets  collided  and  locked,  and  sections  of  the  traction  rope  from 
one  side  were  blown  over  and  entangled  with  the  track-cable  on  the  other  side, 
causing  great  expense  and  loss  of  time.  Even  such  a  simple  thing  as  the  shape 
of  the  saddles  carrying  the  track  cable  is  of  moment,  for  on  this  depends  to  a 
large  extent  the  service  which  the  track-cable  will  give.  These  cables  are  destroyed 
partly  by  the  rolling  friction  of  the  wheels  running  over  them,  and  also  by  pounding 
on  the  saddles  and  by  vibration,  the  effect  of  the  latter  being  concentrated  at  a 
point  near  the  supports.  And  so  there  are  a  number  of  details,  all  of  which  must 
be  properly  taken  into  consideration  if  a  successful  plant  is  to  be  built. 

Probably  the  majority  of  tramways  which  have  been  put  into  service  so  far 
are  used  for  the  transportation  of  ore,  as  a  mine  located  within  a  reasonable  dis- 
tance of  a  railway  offers  the  most  ideal  conditions.  The  material  is  compact  and 
heavy,  the  output  fairly  constant,  and  loading  at  one  definite  point  is  easily  accom- 
plished. A  number  of  tramways  have  also  been  erected  for  the  transportation  of 
timber  from  the  woods  to  a  shipping  point.  These  have  some  special  features, 
necessitated  by  the  fact  that  long  logs  must  be  handled  differently  from  single 
buckets.  In  many  instances  they  are  very  successful.  So,  for  example,  there  is 
one  in  Mexico  which  is  operated  by  six  men  and  transports  75  to  100,000  board 
feet  of  lumber  daily,  doing  the  work  of  some  hundred  wagons,  six  hundred  mules 
and  four  hundred  men.  Another  one  in  what  was  German  East  Africa  handles 
cedar  logs  up  to  14  meters  long  and  weighing  as  high  as  a  ton  each  over  a  distance 
of  about  9  kilometers.  This  line  negotiates  at  one  point  a  grade  of  86  per  cent 
and  is  built  through  exceedingly  difficult  territory.  Tramways  are  also  used  to 
some  extent  for  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  general  freight.  So  there  is 
one  in  the  Argentine  Republic  from  the  end  of  the  railway  line  at  Chilecito  to 
Upulungos,  a  mining  town  34.67  kilometers  away,  and  3,510  meters  higher  in 
elevation.  The  chief  freight  is  ore  which  is  sent  down  at  the  rate  of  40  tons  per 
hour,  but  miscellaneous  supplies,  machinery,  water  and  passengers  also  are  carried 
over  it.  This  tramway,  which  is  in  nine  separate  sections,  is  at  present  the  longest 
in  the  world. 

Other  than  as  railway  feeders,  tramways  are  useful  also  for  loading  and  dis- 
charging vessels,  especially  in  open  roadsteads  where  the  beach  is  shallow,  rocky 
or  of  such  a  nature  that  it  is  impossible  for  vessels  to  anchor  close  to  shore.  Such 
installations  require  few  and  comparatively  light  supports,  which  offer  no  barrier 
to  the  flow  of  water  and  which  are  not  likely  to  be  injured  by  wind ^  or  waves. 
The  method  employed  is  to  build  a  pier — which  is  practically  a  small  island — out 
at  sea  beyond  the  breakers  and  in  water  deep  enough  to  float  whatever  vessels 
may  come,  and  then  to  connect  this  pier  with  the  shore  by  means  of  a  tramway, 
over  which  freight  ancjL,,  passengers  are  carried  in  both  directions.  _  It  seems  as 
though  the  West  Coas't  of  South  America  should  offer  opportunities  for  the 
profitable  application  of  this  system. 


320  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

From  what  has  gone  before  it  will  be  seen  that  aerial  wire  rope  conveyors 
will  solve  many  difficult  transportation  problems ;  many,  indeed,  which  can  be 
solved  in  no  other  manner.  And  that  they  would  be  very  useful  feeders  to  railway 
systems,  useful  especially  where  the  railways  end  at  the  foot  of  rugged  mountains, 
as  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  or  run  between  high  ranges  as  in  many  places  in 
Chile  and  Peru,  goes  without  saying.  But,  like  every  other  valuable  mechanical 
device,  cableways  and  tramways  cannot  be  built  cheaply.  Many  people  seem  to 
labor  under  the  idea  that  the  cost  per  meter  of  a  tramway  should  only  be  slightly 
more  than  the  cost  of  four  meters  of  wire  rope  of  the  proper  size ;  they  forget 
that  every  hundred  meters  or  so  there  are  two  carriers  with  carriages  and  grips, 
that  every  few  hundred  meters  is  a  tower,  that  there  are  anchor  stations,  terminals 
and  an  engine  to  be  considered  and  that  the  expense  of  erecting  also  is  frequently 
high.  While  no  definite  figures  can  be  given,  as  the  variations  are  too  wide,  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  few  tramways  can  be  installed  at  a  cost  of  less  than  $10.00  per 
meter. 


IRRIGATION    AND    ENGINEERING    ENTERPRISE    IN    LATIN    AMERICA 

BY  C.  W.  BUTTON,  CONSULTING  ENGINEER,  NEW  YORK. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5.) 

Mr.  Barrett's  telegram  inviting  me  to  prepare  a  paper  specified  the  above 
subject  and  the  paper  has,  therefore,  been  worked  out  along  lines  aiming  to  co- 
ordinate irrigation  and  engineering  in  Latin  America  from  a  broader  commercial 
as  distinguished  from  a  narrower  technical  point  of  view.  We  are  chiefly 
interested  to  treat  of  irrigation  in  that  quality  and  relationship  which  it  has  as 
an  enterprise  or  business  undertaking.  Owing  to  the  need  of  great  brevity  we 
can  only  attempt  to  develop  the  simplest  underlying  principles  or  to  design  an 
appropriate  attitude  for  the  situation,  in  Latin  America. 

There  as  well  as  in  the  older  tracks  of  human  migration  in  Europea, 
Asia  and  Africa,  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions  have  constituted  habitats  where 
by  means  of  irrigation  the  human  race  has  been  able  to  build  its  first  enduring 
foundations  of  culture.  The  arid  and  semi-arid  regions  of  Mexico  and  Peru 
presented  to  us  at  the  time  of  the  Conquistadores,  the  highest  types  of  culture 
at  that  time  shown  by  the  American  race.  Some  historians  have  pointed  out 
that  the  Conquistadores,  having  found  a  highly  perfected  system  of  irrigation 
works  and  institutions,  constituting  the  basis  of  material  culture  among  the 
Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  they,  the  Conquistadores,  and  their  successors  have 
done  rfttle  or  up  to  the  last  20  years  had  done  little  to  improve  the  conditions 
of  the  16th  century  in  these  respects. 

We  may  admit  the  criticism  of  our  progress  in  the  use  of  irrigation  so 
far  as  this  criticism  applies  to  fact  as  distinguished  from  inference.  Although 
since  the  time  of  the  Conquistadores  we  have  developed  a  science  of  hydraulics 
and  an  art  in  the  design  of  structures  which  did  not  exist  even  in  the  shadowiest 
suggestion  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  and  although  we  have  added  to  our 
tools  and  materials  of  construction  innumerable  new  types,  and  have  widened 
our  scales  of  production  and  consumption  to  a  bewildering  degree,  yet  up  until 
the  last  10  or  20  years  the  irrigated  area  of  America  was  very  little  in  excess 
of  that  which  existed  at  the  time  of  the  Conquistadores. 

The  inference  has  often  been  made  both  here  and  in  Latin  America  that 
the  governmental  system  or  the  political  conditions  were  to  blame.  Before  making 
that  inference,  however,  it  would  be  well  to  compare  the  economic  and  institu- 
tional media  in  which  the  old  irrigation  works  operated  with  those  in  which 
the  modern  works  must  operate. 

It  would  be  evident  that  the  great  distinction  lies  in  the  non-existence 
at  that  time  of  a  capitalist  economy,  as  contrasted  with  a  more  and  more  highly 
complex  phase  of  such  an  economy  since  the  Conquest.  It  is  also  true,  I  be- 
lieve, that  in  that  primitive  medium  supporting  the  old  American  irrigation 
works  and  institutions,  the  general  cultural  progress  was  5,000  years  behind  the 
stage  which  the  Conquistadores  introduced  in  Amejica.  That  old  medium  was 
grotesque,  inert,  static,  monotonous.  In  substituting  a  democratic,  ^  so-called,  or 
individualistic  system  of  politics  and  business  for  the  narrow  and  rigid  despotisms 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  321 

of  primitive  America,  the  only  criticism  that  can  be  made  of  Europe  is  that 
the  change  was  too  abrupt  to  provide  for  continuity  of  action  from  the  one 
medium  to  the  other. 

So  that  if  it  is  true  we  have  learned  a  great  deal  about  the  technology 
of  irrigation  and  engineering  since  the  time  of  Columbus,  we  have  not  either 
in  Latin  America  or  anywhere  else  in  America  developed  to  entire  satisfaction 
a  medium  in  which  irrigation  enterprises  thrive  under  purely  laissez  faire  policies. 
Our  inclination  to  let  these  enterprises  spring  up  as  they  can  without  conscious 
political  effort  to  establish  an  appropriate  institutional  environment  has  probably 
been  our  chief  error  and  one  inherent  in  the  first  efforts  to  establish  and  de- 
velop vigorous  individualism.  We  have  sought  to  allow  or  invite  irrigation  enter- 
prise to  create  itself  out  of  the  merely  technical  knowledge  of  the  engineer  on 
the  casual  or  local,  interest  of  isolated  enterprisers. 

During  the  last  twenty  years,  however,  this  error  has  been  recognized 
throughout  America.  Students  of  the  question  will  be  found  on  record  to  the 
effect  that  the  problem  of  irrigation  lies  in  the  legal,  administrative  and  insti- 
tutional phases  rather  than  in  the  technological  ones.  Governments  have  every- 
where had  to  intervene  in  these  enterprises  either  to  establish  an  equitable  system 
of  water  rights  and  administration  or  to  stimulate  and  finance  the  settlement 
of  lands  and  the  successful  growing  of  crops.  The  experience  of  North  America 
suggests  that  the  fundamental  troubles  have  originated  in  two  mistakes;  first, 
the  construction  of  works  in  advance  of  a  demand  by  those  able  to  use  profitably 
the  costly  benefits  of  irrigation;  second,  the  failure  to  extend  aid,  or  as  I  should 
prefer  to  put  it,  create  a  medium  in  which  men  of  small  capital  could  overcome 
initial  obstacles. 

These  mistakes  or  their  palpable  consequences  have  led  some  financiers  and 
economists  to  say  that  irrigation  was  not  a  national  problem,  or  that  it  was  not 
an  economic  enterprise.  Why  should,  in  fact,  the  average  man  seeking  a  farm, 
if  the  average  man  ever  does  seek  one  these  days,  pay  $100  an  acre  for  an  irri- 
gated tract  in  the  desert  when  he  can  buy  land  in  the  humid  districts  nearer  to 
the  centers  of  the  exchange  of  products  and  amenities,  for  $50  an  acre?  But  if 
it  is  true  that  in  the  United  States  where  25%  of  our  continental  area  is 
in  improved  farm  holdings,  nearly  all  lying  within  districts  where  the  rainfall  in 
no  month  of  the  year  falls  below  4  inches,  irrigation  may  not  be  a  national 
problem,  in  Mexico  where  all  over  the  Republic  the  rainfall  is  very  capricious 
in  seasonal  distribution,  and  where  over  half  the  countrv  is  distinctly  semi-arid 
or  arid,  and  where  probably  not  more  than  10%  of  the  area  of  the  country 
can  ever  be  made  into  improved  farms,  in  Peru  where  the  humid  areas  are 
sequestered  behind  one  of  the  most  formidable  mountain  barriers  in  the  world, 
in  Chile  where  conditions  similar  to  those  pertaining  in  Peru  exist  over  one- 
third  of  the  domain  with  the  emphatic  distinction  that  there  is  not  even  the 
consolidation  of  a  hinter-land,  and  in  Argentina  where  the  most  attractive  and 
extensive  domains  are  arid  or  semi-arid,  in  these  countries  irrigation  is  distinctly 
a  national  problem.  In  these  countries  governments  and  business  men  continue 
to  be  concerned  about  this  problem. 

A  review  of  the  question  in  America  and  throughout  the  world  will  show, 
I  believe,  that  given  the  requisite  physical  condition,  irrigation  will  thrive  as  an 
industry  wherever  land  values  are  high  and  the  political  and  institutio'nal  media 
are  satisfactory  for  the  life  of  other  industries  requiring  capital  and  skill.  What 
are  the  elements  constituting  such  media?  They  may  be  stated  as  two  principal 
ones; — first,  a  corporate  habit;  second,  such  a  general  environment  as  sustains 
the  use  of  national  and  private  income  to  produce  national  and  private  credit. 
If  we  were  to  point  out  the  things  which  have  held  back  irrigation  enterprise 
in  particular  and  engineering  enterprise  in  general  in  Latin  America,  I  believe 
we  would  indicate  the  lack  of  these  two  things,  always  of  course  to  a  relative 
degree.  The  lack  of  these  things  is  of  more  importance  in  irrigation  than  in 
some  other  engineering  enterprises  only  if  we  separate  irrigation  enterprise  from 
those  projects  aimed  to  develop  respective  localities  as  a  whole.  Such  a  separa- 
tion, however,  is  not  possible  in  business.  When  we  create  irrigation  works 
in  a  previously  unirrigated  country,  we  aim  to  create  a  new  community  or  to 
extend  an  old  one  to  new  limits,  and  this  involves  the  construction  of  all  the 
public  utilities  and  works  which  form  the  paraphernalia  of  a  completely  equipped 
community. 


322  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Regarded  from  the  point  of  view  of  private  enterprises  of  limited  scope, 
this  is  always  recognized  by  the  enterpriser.  He  considers  his  irrigation  works 
as  part  of  an  ensemble  of  capital  goods  going  to  make  up  a  complete  block  of 
productive  capital.  He  considers  himself  responsible  for  general  administrative, 
social  and  industrial  conditions  controlling  within  the  limits  of  his  estate  the 
use  of  that  block  of  capital.  When  large  communities  are  to  be  served 
and  large  amounts  of  capital  employed  in  irrigation,  works  alone,  it  has  been 
found  that  the  community  itself  must  in  some  way  make  itself  responsible  for 
the  social,  political  and  industrial  conditions,  outside  of  the  power  of  any  one 
individual  or  small  group  of  individuals  to  control.  This  means  generally  the 
employment  of  community  credit  in  some  form  and  implies  even  to  that  extent  the 
existence  of  some  form  of  corporate  habit  or  habit  of  association  for  productive 
purpose. 

This  medium  in  which  the  existence  of  the  corporate  habit  and  the  capi- 
talization of  income  into  credit  are  the  vitalizing  elements,  cannot  it  would  seem, 
be  created  by  governmental  fiat.  They  must  arise  as  spontaneous  growths  of 
the  regional  economy  and  while  this  growth  may  be  hastened  or  delayed  by  the 
course  of  national  or  international  politics,  it  cannot  be  independent  of  the  de- 
mand for  capital  and  of  the  established  and  slowly  changing  currents  of  trade 
and  investment. 

^Must  we  then  wait  for  something  like  nature  to  take  its  course  in  order 
that  irrigation  and  engineering  enterprise  may  come  into  more  active  life  in 
Latin  America?  I  do  not  by  any  means  wish  to  make  such  a  statement,  but 
only  to  call  attention  to  certain  limiting  conditions.  Within  these  limiting  condi- 
tions, local  and  national  governments  and  communities  can  do  a  great  deal.  The 
war  has  pointed  out  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  the  older  economists  call 
a  freely  reproducable  commodity.  If  this  is  true,  then  the  relatively  non-repro- 
ducable  character  of  land  and  capital  is  emphatic,  and  conscious  cooperative 
effort  to  make  the  most  of  them  will  be  more  and  more  requisite. 

Irrigation  enterprise  and  engineering  enterprise  in  general  is  concerned  with 
the  use  of  somebody's  land  and  somebody's  income  to  produce  more  income.  In 
Latin  America  we  have  for  example  relatively  indefinite  extensions  of  land 
and^  water  resources  within  communities  receiving  a  certain  income  insufficient 
in  itself  by  mere  physical  accumulation  to  pay  for  any  important  irrigation  or 
other  engineering  enterprise  as  fast  as  these  are  required.  A  bank  in  coopera- 
tion with  some  sufficiently  authorized  governmental  institution  could  capitalize 
this  income  and  build  the  works  at  once,  which  for  lack  of  cooperation  between 
the  bank  and  the  government  is  not  built. 

Again,  where  lands  to  be  irrigated  lie  in  such  a  way  as  to  invite  private 
construction  and  operation  then  with  some  advisory  control  on  the  part  of  the 
local  community  or  government  and  the  banking  community,  the  issue  of  shares 
of  stock  could  be  facilitated  among  many  local  subscribers,  where  such  issue 
today  cannot  be  made  because  of  the  lack  of  this  kind  of  action. 

From  this  condition  of  things  it  is  but  a  step  to  a  condition  where  Latin 
American  governments,  desiring  to  carry  put  extensive  programs  of  public 
works  and  to  create  a  medium  in  which  private  enterprise  can  be  successfully 
operated  toward  the  social  ends  desired — could,  through  the  creation  of  a  na- 
tional bank  dove-tailing  in  with  foreign  banking  institutions  forming  fiscal 
agencies  abroad  of  the  respective  governments,  create  reservoirs  of  credit  into 
which  the  little  streams  of  local  credit  would  combine  with  the  bigger  ones  of 
national  credit,  to  be  redistributed  to  the  security  markets  of  the  world  with  a 
multitude  of  guarantees  not  now  existing. 

In  resumption,  it  is  my  opinion  that  the  chief  problem  in  irrigation  and 
engineering  enterprise  generally  in  Latin  America,  is  related  to  a  more  vigorous 
corporate  habit  and  some  system  of  more  active  cooperation  between  local 
communities  represented  by  their  governments,  and  a  banking  institution  or  in- 
stitutions of  a  national  or  quasi-national  character.  Although  governments  can- 
not create  a  corporate  habit  in  a  community  nor  bring  about  by  themselves  the 
organization  of  incomes  implied  in  investment  securities,  they  can  do  a  great 
deal  to  foster  the  natural  development  of  these  things.  I  hope  that  some  sug- 
gestions as  to  ways  and  means  may  be  brought  out  in  the  discussion. 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  323 

HIGHWAYS    AS    RAILWAY    FEEDERS    IN    SOUTH    AND    CENTRAL 
AMERICAN    COUNTRIES 

BY    CHARLES    WHITING   BAKER,    CONSULTING    ENGINEER,    NEW    YORK. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

Economical  transportation  has  the  closest  relation  to  national  prosperity. 
No  nation  can  be  prosperous  today  without  a  well-planned  and  economical  system 
of  transportation  routes  covering  its  territory.  There  is,  however,  a  very  gen- 
eral misunderstanding,  even  in  the  engineering  profession,  of  what  constitutes 
economical  transportation.  It  is  often  assumed  that  the  more  expensive  a  road 
is  in  first  cost,  the  more  economical  it  will  be  in  handling  traffic.  Untold  millions 
have  been  wasted  by  engineers  during  the  past  half  century  in  building  transpor- 
tation lines  which  were  too  costly  for  the  traffic  they  had  to  handle.  Mistakes  of 
this  sort  have  been  made  both  on  roads  built  by  Governments  and  on  roads  built 
by  private  enterprise.  On  the  other  hand  vast  wealth  goes  to  waste  annually  for 
lack  of  transportation  facilities  and  other  great  sums  are  spent  in  carrying  on 
transportation  that  might  be  saved  by  investment  in  better  roads. 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point,  therefore,  to  define  what  is  meant  by  economi- 
cal transportation.  The  most  economical  transportation  route  or  system  for  a 
certain  location  is  that  which  enables  the  traffic  to  be  carried  over  it  at  the  lowest 
total  cost,  including  in  this  cost  not  only  the  direct  cost  of  moving  the  goods  or 
passengers,  but  the  expense  due  to  building  and  maintaining  the  roadway  used. 

The  first  question  in  determining  the  most  economical  transportation  route 
for  a  given  location  is  what  volume  of  traffic  will  pass  over  it?  In  a  remote, 
sparsely  populated  district  where  only  a  few  hundred  tons  a  year  will  be  carried 
over  a  road,  the  most  economical  road  may  be  a  narrow  trail  for  pack  animals 
if  the  road  is  in  a  mountain  region,  or  a  mere  wheel  track  if  the  route  lies  across 
a  level  prairie.  If  a  few  thousand  tons  are  to  be  carried  it  will  pay  to  cut  down 
the  cost  of  its  transportation  by  spending  money  to  drain  and  grade  the  roadway, 
to  give  it  better  grades  so  that  heavier  loads  can  be  hauled  and  to  improve  bad 
stretches  where  teams  become  stalled.  If  the  volume  of  traffic  is  still  greater,  say 
for  example,  10,000  to  25,000  tons  per  year,  it  may  become  worth  while  to  spend 
money  to  secure  a  still  better  roadway,  to  give  it  a  hard  surface,  so  that  it  can  be 
used  in  wet  weather  and  so  that  the  resistance  to  the  movement  of  vehicles  over 
it  will  be  less.  For  a  road  of  still  heavier  traffic,  a  still  more  costly  road  may  be 
economical  and  when  the  traffic  becomes  sufficient  in  volume,  a  railway  will  be  a 
cheaper  means  of  transportation  than  any  highway.  Finally  the  railway  which 
handles  a  heavy  traffic  say  of  several  million  tons  a  year  can  have  a  much  larger 
amount  expended  on  its  construction  to  advantage  than  a  branch-line  railway 
which  carries  only  a  thin  traffic. 

These  principles  have  long  been  applied  by  engineers  engaged  in  the  loca- 
tion of  railways.  A  distinguished  American  engineer,  Mr.  E.  H.  McHenry,  many 
years  ago  defined  an  engineer  as  a  man  who  makes  a  dollar  earn  the  most  in- 
terest. He  referred  to  the  formulas  which  he  has  worked  out  by  which  an  engi- 
neer after  determining  the  volume  of  traffic  which  a  projected  railway  would 
handle  computed  how  much  the  company  building  the  railway  could  afford  to 
spend  during  construction  in  cutting  down  the  grades  of  the  railway. 

Exactly  the  same  principles  apply  in  determining  the  economy  of  any  trans- 
portation line,  be  it  a  highway,  a  railway,  or  a  waterway.  The  question  that 
should  always  be  asked  is  what  road  or  route  or  method  of  transport  will  give 
the  lowest  cost  of  transportation  per  ton-mile? 

It  is  true  that  an  exact  determination  is  never  possible,  for  the  amount  of 
traffic  to  be  handled  can  never  be  certainly  known,  and  other  quantities  also  have 
to  be  estimated ;  but  a  determination  sufficiently  close  to  be  a  valuable  practical 
guide  can  be  made  by  the  engineer  who  is  thoroughly  competent,  and  some  attempt 
at  solution  should  always  be  made.  Without  it  grave  errors  are  very  apt  to  occur 
and  great  sums  of  money  will  be  wasted. 

Computing  the  Cost  of  Transportation. 

In  order  that  this  matter  may  be  clearly  understood  the  method  of  com- 
puting the  cost  of  transportation  over  a  given  road  is  here  illustrated.  The  quanti- 
ties to  be  estimated  are  the  following: 


324  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

1.  The  probable  average  volume  of  traffic  over  the  roads  in  tons  per  year. 
If  the  traffic  varies  on  different  parts  of  the  road,  then  determine  its  average 
density  in  terms  of  the  ton-miles  transported  per  year  per  mile  of  road.     This  is 
done  of  course  by  dividing  the  ton-miles  of  transportation  over  the  entire  road  in 
a  year  by  the  length  of  the  road  in  miles. 

2.  The  average  cost  per  mile  of  building  the  road. 

3.  The  rate  of  interest  on  the  money  expended  in  the  road's  construction. 

4.  The  average   annual   cost  of   repairs    on  the   road  to  keep   it   in   good 
condition. 

5.  The  probable  life  of  the  road,  that  is,  the  number  of  years  before  the 
road  will  require  complete  or  partial  reconstruction. 

6.  The  cost  of  such  reconstruction  and  how  much  value  will  be  left  at  that 
time  of  the  original  construction. 

7.  The  cost  of   transporting  goods  over  the  road  per  ton-mile. 

The  use  of  these  quantities  in  the  computation  may  be  best  illustrated  by  an 
example. 

Suppose  a  road  is  to  be  built  from  a  railway  station  to  a  town  20  miles 
distant,  passing  through  another  town   10  miles   from  the  railway.     Suppose  the 
town  20  miles  away  has  3000  tons  of  freight  a  year  to  send  out  and  requires  1000 
tons  brought  in  and  the  town   10  miles  away  ships  out  2000  tons  and  brings   in 
1000.    Then  the  total  traffic  over  the  road  in  ton  miles  per  annum  will  be 
4000  x  20=80,000   ton   miles 
3000  x  10=30,000  ton  miles 
total  traffic  110,000  ton  miles 
and  the  ton  miles  per  year  per  mile  of  road  will  be: 

110,000-^20=5500. 

Assume  further  that  a  road  is  built  at  a  cost  of  $2000  per  mile  for  con- 
struction, that  the  average  cost  per  year  for  maintenance  is  $200,  that  the  rate  of 
interest  on  the  money  to  build  the  road  is  6  per  cent.,  that  the  road  will  require 
rebuilding  at  the  end  of  10  years,  but  at  that  time,  there  will  still  be  left  $1000 
of  the  amount  originally  expended  in  the  value  of  right  of  way,  grading,  culverts, 
etc. 

Then  the  annual  expense  per  mile  of  road  will  be : 

Interest    on    $2000   at   6   per    cent $120. 

Annual   cost    for   repairs 200. 

Annual  sinking  fund  charge  to  offset  the  depreciation        76. 

$396 

Dividing  this  quantity  by  5500,  the  tons  passing  over  this  mile  of  road  in 
a  year,  we  have: 

$396-^-5500=7.2   cents 

as  the  cost  per  ton  mile  chargeable  to  the  use  of  the  road  for  every  ton  passing 
over  the  road. 

If  this  road  will  enable  freight  to  be  hauled  over  it  at  an  average  cost  of 
30  cents  per  ton  mile,  the  total  cost  of  transportation  will  be  37.2  cents  per  ton 
mile. 

The  method  thus  illustrated  is  general  in  application  and  may  be  used  for 
any  type  of  transportation,  either  the  common  road,  the  railway  or  the  river,  or 
even  for  special  types  of  transportation  such  as  the  wire  ropeway. 

By  this  simple  method  of  computation  it  may  be  quickly  determined  whether 
an  expensive  roadway,  requiring  large  investment  for  construction,  but  saving  in 
annual  cost  of  repairs  and  in  the  cost  of  hauling  over  the  road  will  really  be  a  gain 
economically. 

The  local  conditions  is  an  unsettled  country  are  taken  into  account  in  this 
method  of  computation.  This  in  a  prosperous  and  wealthy  country  like  many  parts 
of  the  United  States,  money  can  be  borrowed  by  states  or  counties  for  road  con- 
struction at  5  per  cent.  In  remote  regions  where  capital  is  scarce  on  the  other 
hand,  the  rate  of  interest  may  rise  to  10  per  cent  or  more.  This  will  greatly  in- 
crease the  annual  charges  for  interest  and  depreciation  on  the  road,  and  will  thus 
make  a  less  costly  road  the  more  economical  road  for  a  given  amount  of  traffic 
than  would  be  the  case  over  most  of  the  United  States. 

This  condition  deserves  further  emphasis,  for  one  of  the  very  common 
errors  where  money  for  highway  construction  is  spetit  under  the  control  of 
politicians  is  to  concentrate  the  expenditure  on  a  few  miles  of  costly  roads  in  the 
vicinity  of  large  cities  and  ignore  the  need  of  roads  over  the  country  at  large. 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  325 

Furthermore,  as  a  result  of  the  great  war  and  the  unsettled  conditions  which 
have  followed,  the  whole  world  faces  a  scarcity  of  capital  for  investment.  In 
every  country  of  the  world,  even  the  most  wealthy,  the  amount  of  money  which 
can  be  raised  or  borrowed  for  building  and  maintaining  highways  is  far  below 
what  is  needed.  The  limited  amount  of  money  which  can  be  devoted  to  this  pur- 
pose ought  to  be  spent  on  the  roads  where  it  will  yield  the  greatest  return  in  reduc- 
ing the  total  cost  of  transportation. 

In  many  countries  of  Central  and  South  America  the  greatest  public  benefit 
will  often  be  attained  by  building  a  large  mileage  of  cheap  and  primitive  roads  to 
open  up  districts  now  without  transportation  facilities  rather  than  by  concentrating 
expenditure  on  a  small  mileage  of  costly  roads  in  the  regions  of  dense  population, 
solving  the  problem  whether  on  a  given  route  a  highway  or  a  railway  will  furnish 
the  cheapest  transportation. 

The  method  of  computation  which  is  above  explained  is  applicable  also  to 
solving  the  problem  whether  on  a  given  route  a  highway  or  a  railway  will  furnish 
the  cheapest  transportation. 

There  is  of  course  no  room  for  doubt  that  where  the  volume  of  traffic  is 
sufficient,  the  railway  can  haul  freight  far  below  the  cost  of  highway  transport. 
Freight  hauling  on  even  the  most  improved  type  of  highway  costs  usually,  under 
conditions  prevailing  in  the  United  States,  from  20  cents  to  50  cents  per  ton-mile. 
On  main  line  railways  in  the  United  States,  where  freight  is  moved  in  cars  of 
30  tons  to  100  tons  capacity,  assembled  in  trains  carrying  2000  to  5000  tons  of 
paying  freight,  the  railway  can  move  traffic  at  a  cost  sometimes  falling  as  low 
as  one-fifth  of  a  cent  per  ton  mile,  and  in  general  not  a  hundredth  part  of  the 
cost  of  hauling  over  a  highway. 

But  the  cost  of  hauling  by  rail  rapidly  increases  as  the  volume  of  traffic 
falls  off.  Even  under  the  favorable  conditions  in  the  United  States,  branch  line 
railways  of  thin  traffic  do  not  pay,  and  the  building  of  such  lines  has  practically 
ceased. 

In  other  American  countries  where  capital  is  scarce  and  interest  rates  are 
high,  where  coal  for  locomotive  fuel  has  to  be  transported  across  the  ocean,  and 
where  steel  and  machinery  of  all  sorts  for  the  building  and  maintenance  of  a 
railway  must  be  brought  from  foreign  lands,  the  building  of  low  cost  railways 
to  handle  light  traffic  economically  is  far  more  difficult  than  in  the  United  States. 

Highways  as  Feeders  to  Railways. 

The  railway  needs  a  heavy  volume  of  traffic  in  order  to  prosper.  It  can 
obtain  such  traffic  if  there  are  facilities  for  bringing  traffic  to  and  from  the  rail- 
way stations.  This  is  so  well  recognized  that  prominent  railway  officers  in  the 
United  States  have  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  good  roads  movement  there.  The 
improvement  of  highways  during  the  past  twenty  years  in  the  United  States  has 
been  of  great  value  to  the  railways  in  increasing  the  amount  of  business  brought 
to  them. 

Further  than  this,  a  network  of  public  highways  to  economically  collect  a 
country's  products  and  economically  distribute  manufactured  goods  is  as  essential 
to  a  country's  prosperity  as  is  its  railway  system.  The  remarkable  growth  and 
prosperity  of  the  United  States  in  the  last  century  would  have  been  impossible 
except  for  the  complete  network  of  public  roads  which  was  extended  over  the 
entire  country  as  fast  as  its  settlement  progressed.  It  is  true  that  a  large  portion 
of  these  roads  are  inadequate  to  the  present  traffic  upon  them,  but  at  the  time 
they  were  built  they  were  all  that  the  country  could  afford.  Compared  with 
the  highways  of  any  other  country,  except  the  long  settled  countries  of  Europe, 
whose  road  system  is  the  product  of  centuries,  the  United  States  road  system  repre- 
sented a  great  advance. 

The  roads  of  the  past  century  in  the  United  States  were  built,  however, 
under  such  knowledge  (or  lack  of  knowledge)  as  the  pioneer  days  afforded.  The 
technical  knowledge  of  the  engineer  was  seldom  brought  into  requisition.  In  fact 
it  has  only  been  within  very  recent  years  that  it  come  to  be  understood  how  im- 
portant it  is  to  economical  road  construction  and  maintenance  to  utilize  the  skill 
and  experience  of  the  highway  engineer.  This  does  not  apply  merely  to  the  con- 
struction of  roads  having  a  permanent  surface  pavement.  Even  in  the  location 
and  construction  of  very  ^primitive  highways  the  services  of  an  engineer  should 
be  utilized. 


326  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

It  is  little  realized  of  what  great  importance  to  the  future  welfare  of  a 
country  is  the  proper  location  of  its  transportation  routes.  In  the  older  sections 
of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
millions  of  dollars  are  spent  annually  for  transportation  over  highways  which 
would  be  saved  if  these  highways  had  been  originally  located  with  more  favor- 
able grades.  The  pioneers  who  originally  located  these  roads  in  the  wilderness 
did  so  with  little  knowledge  of  the  country  through  which  they  were  passing  and 
they  carried  roads  over  steep  hills  when  they  might  have  gone  around.  Once  the 
road  was  located  and  the  country  built  up  the  cost  of  changes  was  very  great. 

The  Most  Useful  Roads  Radiate  From  Railway  Stations. 

Turning  now  to  the  sort  of  roads  suitable  for  railway  feeders  in  other 
countries  of  America,  it  should  be  emphasized  at  the  start  that  all  highways  should 
be  considered  as  feeders  to  railways.  It  is  not  only  the  main  roads  which  radiate 
from  a  railway  station  over  which  goods  are  brought  to  and  from  the  railway, 
but  the  entire  network  that  serves  this  purpose.  It  may  well  be  emphasized 
here,  too,  that  this  is  the  proper  economic  function  of  the  highway  in  a  country's 
transportation  system.  Only  in  the  most  densely  populated  and  wealthy  sections 
of  the  United  States  and  for  handling  special  limited  classes  of  traffic  can  the 
highway  compete  with  the  railway  as  an  avenue  for  cheap  transportation.  If  an 
entirely  new  country  were  to  be  provided  with  an  economical  transportation  system, 
therefore,  the  network  of  highways  should  radiate  from  the  railway  station. 

Selection  of  Economic  Highivay  is  a  Local  Problem. 

Another  fact  which  deserves  special  emphasis  is  that  the  highway  problem 
necessarily  must  be  a  local  problem ;  that  is  to  say,  the  proper  type  of  highway  to 
build  is  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  local  conditions — the  climate,  the  rainfall, 
the  character  of  traffic,  the  available  funds,  all  influence  materially  the  character 
of  the  highway  to  be  built.  Before  briefly  discussing  the  types  of  roadway 
adapted  to  specific  conditions,  it  may  be  well  to  point  out  some  of  the  general 
conditions  which  make  highway  construction  in  Central  and  South  American 
countries  quite  different  from  the  problem  as  presented  in  the  United  States. 

The  enormous  amount  of  money  required  to  grid-iron  a  well  settled  and 
wealthy  country  with  a  modern  road  system  is  staggering.  The  United  States 
with  all  its  wealth  and  resources,  has  only  made  a  small  beginning  in  rebuilding 
its  system  of  highways  on  modern  lines  adopted  to  the  traffic  which  now  has  to 
be  handled.  The  probabilities  are  that  it  will  take  fully  half  a  cetnury  to  effect 
such  a  reconstruction  of  its  present  highway  system  as  is  now  believed  to  be 
necessary. 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  when  the  era  of  good  road  building  began  in  the 
United  States,  it  was  generally  considered  that  a  mile  of  good  road  could  be 
built  for  about  $5000.  The  coming  of  the  automobile  revolutionized  highway  con- 
ditions, multiplied  the  cost  of  construction  two  or  three  times,  and  increased  in 
an  equal  proportion  the  annual  cost  of  maintenance.  The  motor  truck,  Tor  freight 
transportation  on  highways,  has  again  revolutionized  the  highway  construction 
engineer's  problem.  All  this,  together  with  the  rising  scale  of  prices  due  to  war 
conditions,  has  made  the  cost  of  a  first-class  road  in  the  eastern  United  States 
at  the  present  time  from  $30,000  to  $40,000  or  more  per  mile. 

Only  a  small  beginning  has  been  made  in  the  United  States  in  building 
expensive  roads  of  this  class.  Many  wealthy  and  densely  populated  States  of 
the  Union  still  have  no  roads  with  any  other  surface  than  the  natural  earth. 

The  problem  in  most  countries  of  Central  and  South  America  is  to  make 
whatever  sum  is  appropriated  for  road  construction  cover  as  large  a  territory  as 
possible.  In  most  of  these  countries  such  large  areas  are  still  unprovided  with 
roads  of  any  sort  that  it  is  better  in  general  to  extend  the  network  with  even  very 
crude  types  of  roads,  rather  than  spend  large  amounts  of  money  on  the  improve- 
ment of  short  stretches  of  highway  close  to  the  large  cities.  Even  the  poorest 
road  is  better  than  no  road  at  all. 

A  mistake  that  has  often  been  made  by  highway  engineers  is  the  building 
of  much  more  expensive  roads  than  the  country  which  the  roads  penetrate  can 
afford  to  build  and  to  maintain.  There  was  excuse  for  this  action  on  the  part  of 
highway  engineers  up  to  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  Prior  to  that  time  very 
little  attention  had  been  paid  by  engineers  to  any  other  type  of  road  than  the 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  327 

standard  broken-stone  macadam  highway.  It  was  not  supposed  that  the  technical 
knowledge  and  skill  of  an  engineer  could  be  of  any  service  in  bettering  the  con- 
dition of  roads  built  with  the  ordinary  local  materials.  Since  that  time  a  great 
deal  has  been  done  in  this  field.  It  is  now  well  recognized  by  engineers  that  an 
expensive  road  surface  should  only  be  laid  down  where  the  volume  of  traffic  will 
justify  it  and  where  the  money  to  build  and  to  maintain  it  can  be  provided.  The 
gravel  road,  the  sand-clay  road,  and  the  road  drag  are  some  of  the  developments 
that  have  taken  place  during  the  past  quarter  century  which  have  done  much  to 
effect  vast  improvements  in  the  condition  of  ordinary  highways. 

Cost  of  Coal,  Steel  and  Machinery. 

In  the  United  States  there  are  many  places  where  a  heavy  volume  of  traffic 
is  flowing  to  a  railway  line  over  a  considerable  distance  where  the  construction  ojc 
a  branch-line  railway  would  effect  more  economical  transportation  than  the  use 
of  even  the  best  class  of  highway.  This  condition  is  materially  changed  in  the 
countries  south  of  the  United  States  by  the  high  cost  of  locomotive  fuel,  of  steel 
and  of  machinery,  and  the  long  distance  from  manufacturers  where  repairs  can  be 
obtained.  These  conditions  make  it  much  more  expensive  to  build  and  to  operate 
a  light-traffic  railway  line  in  these  countries  than  in  the  United  States. 

These  conditions  also  affect  the  use  of  certain  machinery  in  highway  con- 
struction. Many  of  the  power-operated  machines  used  in  the  United  States  in 
roadbuilding  operations  would  be  of  doubtful  value  in  distant  countries  where 
fuel  is  expensive  and  difficult  to  obtain  and  where  a  breakdown  of  a  machine  in 
the  wilderness  may  mean  months  of  delay  before  a  duplicate  part  can  be  pro- 
cured. Nevertheless,  the  use  of  such  machines  should  be  carefully  investigated. 
No  matter  how  cheap  hand  labor  may  be  (and  it  is  rapidly  becoming  more  costly 
the  world  over)  steam  power,  gasoline  power  or  animal  power  costs  only  a  trifle 
compared  with  the  power  exerted  by  human  muscles  and  its  work  is  far  more 
rapid. 

Climatic  Conditions. 

One  very  favorable  feature  for  highway  construction  applying  to  nearly  all 
work  in  South  America  is  the  absence  of  severe  frost.  This  removes  one  of  the 
chief  difficulties  that  road  builders  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  United  States 
have  to  contend  with. 

It  is  a  common  saying  that  the  greatest  problem  of  the  highway  engineer 
is  drainage.  This  is  especially  true  in  countries  where  frost  prevails  but  it  is  hardly 
less  important  where  rainfall  is  exceptionally  heavy  and  the  soil  washes  readily. 
The  constant  erosion  of  the  roadway  surface  and  of  the  side  ditches  by  flowing 
water  makes  the  drainage  problem  one  of  the  first  magnitude.  In  swampy  sec- 
tions the  pioneer  roadbuilder  in  the  United  States  has  long)  used  the  corduroy 
road,  made  of  straight  sections  of  small  tree  trunks  laid  side  by  side  to  bridge 
over  the  soft  earth.  In  its  use  in  tropical  countries  the  attack  by  insects  of  wood 
used  in  construction  must  be  considered.  It  will  only  be  feasible  to  use  such  a 
foundation  where  the  moisture  is  constant  enough  to  protect  the  wooden  sub- 
structure from  attack. 

The  attack  of  wooden  structures  by  insects  makes  very  difficult  in  many 
sections  also  the  cheap  and  durable  wooden  bridges  so  largely  used  in  the  United 
States  on  country  roads.  The  use  of  steel  structures  is  also  objectionable  where 
everything  must  be  brought  from  distant  countries  and  where  regular  painting  to 
preserve  from  corrosion  is  likely  to  be  neglected.  Cement  is  also  costly  so  that 
concrete  will  be  used  sparingly.  The  road  engineer  will  resort  to  tjie  use  of  stone 
arches  wherever  the  material  can  be  obtained  locally  and  the  span  is  not  too  great. 
For  longer  spans,  reinforced  concrete  and  light  suspension  structures  promise  the 
greatest  economy. 

Earth  Roads. 

About  nine-tenths  of  the  public  highways  of  the  United  States  have  no  sur- 
facing whatever  other  than  the  natural  soil  of  the  country  through  which  they  are 
built.  It  will  be  readily  agreed,  therefore,  that  in  the  grid-ironing  of  South  Ameri- 
can countries  with  a  network  of  public  highways  the  earth  road  must  long  con- 
tinue to  be  the  main  reliance.  The  problem  is,  what  can  be  done  to  lower  the  cost 
of  construction  and  maintenance  of  these  earth  roads  and  make  them  more  economi- 
cal for  traffic?  The  answer  to  this  question  is,  first,  to  locate  the  road  originally 
so  that  it  will  not  only  have  favorable  grades  for  traffic  but  for  drainage.  The 
last  is  as  important  as  the  first.  It  will  often  be  better  to  adopt  a  ridge  location 


328  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

rather  than  a  valley  location  for  a  main  highway  in  a  country  of  very  heavy 
rainfall  in  order  to  avoid  the  heavy  maintenance  cost  inevitable  if  the  road  has  to 
take  the  drainage  of  a  large  area  on  its  upper  side.  In  districts  of  heavy  rainfall, 
also,  provision  for  culverts  and  side  drains  is  as  important  as  the  location  of  the 
road.  Where  money  must  be  saved  in  the  construction  of  a  road,  as  is  nearly 
always  the  case,  it  can  usully  best  be  done  by  decreasing  its  width.  Reference 
is  now  made,  of  course,  to  country  highways  in  districts  of  sparse  traffic  and  not 
to  roads  in  the  vicinity  of  cities  where,  as  is  well  known,  the  prevalence  of  high- 
speed automobile  traffic  makes  necessary  an  increase  in  width  over  standards  com- 
monly in  force. 

For  the  country  highway,  especially  in  a  district  of  heavy  rainfall,  it  is  best 
to  make  the  traveled  portion  of  ^  the  highway  very  narrow,  give  is  a  high  crown 
and  maintain  this  crown  in  condition  and  by  frequent  use  of  the  road  drag  elimi- 
nate ruts  as  fast  as  they  are  formed.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  road 
drag,  where  it  has  been  systematically  and  intelligently  used,  has  revolutionized 
the  condition  of  the  earth  roads  over  a  large  part  of  the  United  States. 

Its  extreme  simplicity  is  one  of  its  great  recommendations.  It  can  be  made 
anywhere  at  a  trifling  cost  from  local  material.  It  may  be  well  to  go  further  and 
to  say  tha^an  ordinary  earth  road,  with  proper  provision  for  drainage,  which  is 
well  maintained  with  a  road  drag  is  a  better  and  more  economical  road  for  traffic 
than  a  costly  waterbound  macadam  road  which  has  been  allowed  to  go  to  pieces 
from  wear  and  weather  and  which  is  found  too  expensive  to  maintain. 

Mistakes  in  Promoting  Macadam  Roads. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  good  roads  movement  in  the  United  States,  very 
few  of  those  who  were  active  in  the  campaign  for  good  roads  construction  realized 
what  a  burden  was  to  be  imposed  upon  the  public  by  the  maintenance  of  the  roads 
that  were  built.  Few  understand  that  the  waterbound  macadam  road,  which  was 
the  standard  of  good  road  construction  for  many  years  and  in  many  places  is  still 
being  built,  not  only  cost  from  $5,000  to  $10,000  a  mile  to  build,  but  would  require 
a  perpetual  expense  of  from  $500  to  $1,000  per  mile  per  annum  to  maintain.  This 
is  now  so  well  established  by  wide  experience  that  there  should  be  no  further 
mistakes  on  this  score.  A  highway  should  be  given  a  hard  surface,  of  course, 
wherever  the  traffic  justifies  it  and  wherever  the  hard  surface  once  built  can  be 
perpetually  maintained.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  however,  then  the  best  thing  to 
do  is  to  build  and  maintain  a  good  earth  road. 

Roads  for  Arid  Districts. 

In  the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions  of  South  America  as  in  large  areas  of  the 
United  States  where  similar  conditions  prevail,  the  road  builders  problem  is  com- 
paratively simple.  There  are  vast  areas  of  level  plains  where  the  natural  soil 
will  support  the  wheels  of  the  ordinary  freighting  wagon,  and  where  almost  no 
preparation  is  required  to  make  a  road  good  enough  for  the  small  amount  of 
traffic  that  will  use  it.  There  are  other  regions  of  course  where  drifting  sands 
or  alkali  flats,  which  become  impassable  when  infrequent  drains  occur,  give  special 
problems  for  the  roadmaker  to  solve.  What  has  been  said  above  with  reference 
to  the  use  of  very  narrow  roadways  does  not  apply  of  course  to  conditions  such 
as  these. 

Surfacing  for  Earth  Roads. 

Where  tne  volume  of  traffic  and  the  other  conditions  are  such  as  to  make 
it  worth  while  to  consider  the  use  of  some  firmer  material  than  the  natural  earth 
for  the  surface  of  a  road,  the  first  resort  will  of  course  be  to  gravel,  provided  of 
course  that  gravel  is  obtainable  within  practical  hauling  distance  of  the  road  to 
be  surfaced.  There  are  all  grades  of  gravel.  The  ideal  gravel  for  road  building 
has  a  mixture  of  coarse  and  fine  particles  with  enough  loam  or  sand  to  fill  the 
interstices  and  make  an  impervious  surface  when  the  road  is  compacted  by  traffic. 
The  poorer  gravels  have  a  large  percentage  of  voids  and  the  soil  which  fills  these 
may  act  as  lubricant  of  the  gravel  particles  allowing  them  to  move  on  each  other 
so  that  the  road  crust  may  be  broken  through  by  heavy  loads. 

Whether  or  not  it  is  worth  while  to  incur  the  cost  of  surfacing  a  road  with 
gravel  may  be  determined  by  such  a  computation  as  has  already  been  described. 
A  good  earth  road,  well  maintained  in  a  favorable  climate,  may  serve  a  very  con- 
siderable traffic  for  a  long  time  before  it  will  pay  to  apply  gravel.  On  the  other 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  329 

hand  an  earth  road  in  a  sticky  clay  which  becomes  a  quagmire  at  certain  seasons 
of  the  year,  and  where  a  good  road  gravel  is  within  easy  reach  should  be  sur- 
faced when  its  traffic  is  much  smaller  than  in  the  preceding  case. 

It  is  safe  to  adopt  a  gravel  road  very  much  sooner  than  it  would  be  safe 
to  go  to  a  broken  stone  macadam  road,  for  the  gravel  road  will  stand  neglect 
much  better  than  a  broken  stone  road  and  it  can  be  maintained  under  moderate 
traffic  at  much  less  expense. 

The  Sand  Clay  Road. 

There  are  occasional  localities  where  gravel  is  not  obtainable  at  reasonable 
expense  and  where  a  road  may  be  surfaced  with  a  mixture  of  sand  and  clay  with 
very  satisfactory  results.  This  road  too,  like  the  gravel  road,  may  be  maintained 
by  use  of  the  road  drag,  which  greatly  reduces  the  cost  of  keeping  the  road  in 
order,  and  also  makes  it  much  more  favorable  for  use  by  traffic.  Ample  informa- 
tion upon  this  type  of  road  is  furnished  in  the  standard  text-books  on  highway 
building  and  maintenance.  It  is  merely  desired  to  point  out  here  the  especial 
applicability  of  this  type  of  roadway  to  the  conditions  in  South  and  Central 
America  where  economy  in  first  cost  is  essential  for  the  reasons  already  set  forth. 

Economic  Haulage   Over  Feeder  Highways, 

The  problem  of  economic  road  construction  and  maintenance  cannot  be  suc- 
cessfully solved  without  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  various  methods  of  haulage 
over  the  completed  highways.  The  road  engineer  must  know  in  advance  whether 
he  is  building  a  highway  for  pack  animals,  for  use  by  wagons,  for  passenger 
automobiles  or  for  freight  transporting  motor  trucks. 

Only  the  best  and  most  expensive  type  of  hard  surfaced  roadway  is  suitable 
for  motor  truck  use.  A  type  of  roadway  somewhat  less  expensive  is  required 
for  satisfactory  use  by  ordinary  passenger  automobiles  the  year  round.  The 
earth  road,  however,  at  all  times  of  the  year  in  an  arid  climate  and  in  dry 
weather  in  a  humid  climate  can  be  traveled  readily  by  passenger  automobiles.  The 
gravel  and  sand-clay  roads,  when  properly  maintained  are  among  the  most  satis- 
iactory  types  of  roads  for  pleasure  use. 

There  are  probably  few  places  at  the  present  time  in  South  and  Central 
America  where  the  volume  of  traffic  moved  over  a  country  highway  is  sufficient 
to  justify  the  use  of  heavy  motor  trucks,  with  the  building  of  the  roads  which 
they  require.  Even  under  the  favorable  conditions  in  the  United  States  where  the 
prices  of  gasoline  and  supplies  are  comparatively  low  and  where  the  question 
of  repairs  is  easily  taken  care  of,  the  expense  of  carrying  freight  by  motor  under 
commercial  conditions  on  the  best  class  of  roads  averages  15  to  30  cents  or  even 
more  per  ton  per  mile.  This  cost  is  greatly  exceeded  where  the  tonnage  to  be 
moved  is  seasonal  in  its  character,  so  that  the  trucks  have  to  lie  idle  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  year. 

Under  pioneer  conditions  in  regions  where  good  roads  are  non-existent 
haulage  with  draft  animals  is  still  in  most  cases  cheaper  than  the  use  of  motor 
trucks.  The  older  method,  too,  has  the  advantage  of  simplicity  and  adaptability  to 
the  use  of  the  local  labor  obtainable.  There  may,  of  course,  be  local  conditions 
where  the  intensive  traffic  of  a  mill  or  a  warehouse  or  the  general  conditions  of 
traffic  around  a  large  town  or  city  may  justify  the  use  of  motor  trucks.  On  the 
country  feeder  lines  to  railways,  which  are  chiefly  here  considered  however,  there 
are  few  cases  where  trucks  will  be  as  economical  as  the  use  of  animal  power. 

Hauling  Lai*ge  Loads. 

It  is  well  to  point  out  in  this  connection  that  for  economic  haulage  the 
attempt  should  always  be  made  to  handle  as  large  loads  as  the  traffic  conditions 
and  the  roadway  will  justify.  An  investigation  by  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture  some  years  ago  showed  that  farm  products  were  being  hauled  to 
market  at  much  lower  cost  per  ton  per  mile  in  the  pioneer  unsettled  regions  of 
the  Rocky  Mountain  and  Pacific  States  where  very  few  good  roads  exist,  than 
they  were  in  the  long-settled  regions  of  the  East  where  there  are  plenty  of  good, 
well-maintained  roads.  The  reason  for  this  was  that  in  the  East  hauling  is  almost 
always  done  with  a  team  of  only  two  animals,  whereas  in  the  pioneer  districts 
of  the  West,  where  hauling  was  done  over  long  distances  and  carried  on  as  a 
business,  large  wagons  carrying  several  tons  load  and  hauled  by  six  to  ten  draft 
animals  were  in  common  use. 


330  SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Broad  Tires, 

Large  wagons  with  heavy  loads  were  usable,  it  should  be  noted,  on  the 
primitive  roads  in  the  far  West  because  of  the  arid  climate.  They  were,  however, 
equipped  with  very  broad  tires.  It  is  well  to  emphasize  that  wherever  traffic 
is  moved  over  an  earth  road,  every  effort  should  be  made  by  those  responsible 
for  the  establishment  of  economic  transportation  to  induce  the  use  of  wide  tires 
on  the  wagons.  With  such  tires  the  cost  of  road  maintenance  is  greatly  de- 
creased and  the  road  is  kept  in  comparatively  good  condition  even  under  a  very 
considerable  traffic,  except  in  extremely  wet  weather.  Laws  and  ordinances  re- 
mitting taxation  on  vehicles  having  tires  of  a  certain  width  have  had  good  results, 
and  it  is  wise  to  go  even  further  and  prohibit  the  use  of  tires  below  a  certain  width. 

The  transportation  system  of  a  nation  is  so  important  to  its  prosperity  that 
such  measures  are  demanded  in  the  public  interest.  It  is  folly,  when  roads  are 
paid  for  and  maintained  out  of  the  proceeds  of  public  taxa^n,  to  allow  the  in- 
dividual to  make  free  use  of  them,  except  with  approved  vehicles  that  will  effect 
the  least  possible  injury  to  their  surface. 


NEED  OF  A  COMMERCIAL  NOMENCLATURE 

BY  DR.  CESAR  ZUMETA,  OF  VENEZUELA 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5.) 

Whenever  a  fresh  effort  is  made  towards  the  harmonious  development  of 
the  Americas  by  bringing  together  men  from  all  their  nations  for  the  study  and 
advancement  of  their  joint  interests  it  is  the  duty  of  all  those  who  have  the  wel- 
fare of  these  continents  at  heart,  to  concur  and  help  their  utmost  to  the  success 
of  such  endeavors,  happily  and  continually  renewed  by  the  greatest  agency  of 
inter- American  friendship,  the  Pan  American  Union ;  as  it  is  also  their  clear 
obligation  to  hamper  and  denounce  any  tendency  contrary  to  that  spirit  of  loyal 
and  friendly  cooperation  and  fair  play,  based  in  the  overwhelming  truth  that  the 
various  interests  of  the  American  commonwealths  are  not  fundamentally  con- 
flicting nor  antagonic,  but  complementary;  that  to  love  one's  country  does  not 
imply  disregard  of,  nor  enmity  to  the  others,  that  all  these  countries  need  each 
other  and  are  each  and  severally  best  served  and  welded  for  their  own  and  the 
world's  good,  by  mutual  respect  and  amity. 

Every  element  of  misinterpretation  is  a  disturbing  and  separating  agency, 
and  not  the  least  of  them  is  the  perplexity  brought  about  by  the  process  of  differ- 
entiation going  on  in  the  language  spoken  in  eighteen  of  those  Republics.  Long 
periods  of,  practically  no  commercial  intercourse  among  them  and  half  a  cen- 
tury of  vertiginous  progress  in  their  trade  with  nations  speaking  other  languages 
and  bringing  forth  new  improvements  and  inventions,  have1  combined  to  create 
such  a  number  of  different  local  names  for  the  same  article  of  commerce  or  in- 
dustry, that  the  resulting  Babelism  bids  well  to  cause  incalculable  economic  wastage 
and  petty  hindrances  to  trade  and  commerce.  Hundred  items  of  an  industrial 
catalogue,  of  circulars  and  statistics,  of  legal,  customs  and  consular  documents 
translated  from  and  into  Spanish,  may  have  the  most  different  meanings  and  un- 
meanings  in  the  various  Spanish  speaking  lands,  or  in  distant  commercial  centres 
of  the  same  political  entity,  and  originate  unending  misunderstandings. 

The  designation  of  Latin  America,  which  to  many  represent  a  somewhat 
homogeneous  whole,  covers  a  vast  multitude  of  divergences.  In  the  same  way 
that  it  is  useless  to  try  to  build  a  trade  in  those  twenty  countries  without  having 
in  each  of  them  a  specialist  acting  as  representative  or  agent  of  the  manufacturer, 
to  advise  him  of  the  thousand  and  one  peculiarities  of  the  market  in  that  line,  so 
it  is  misleading  to  assume  that,  without  experts  in  the  commercial  vocabulary  of 
each  region  you  can  get  along  without  costly  surprises. 

The  Inter-American  conferences  have  given  serious  thought  to  this  matter, 
and  since  its  earliest  days  the  old  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  suggested  the 
convenience  of  preparing  a  nomenclature  giving  the  correct  equivalent  of  the 
several  localisms,  in  each  of  the  four  great  languages  spoken  in  this  hemisphere. 

The  second  American  Conference,  through  the  initiative  of  the  distinguished 
Mexican  delegate,  Senor  Matias  Romero  and  his  able  Peruvian  colleague  Dr. 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  331 

Zegarra,  recommended  "to  the  governments  represented,  the  adoption  of  a  com- 
mon nomenclature  which  shall  designate  in  equivalent  terms  in  English,  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  the  commodities  on  which  import  duties  are  levied,  to  serve  as  a 
basis  for  custom  documents,  etc."  This  is  really  one  of  the  tasks  devolving  upon 
the  Customs  Congress  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  upon  the  Pan  American  Committees 
recommended  by  the  Third  Pan  American  Conference,  at  Rio.  Finally  at  the 
4th  International  Conference  of  the  American  Republics,  at  Buenos  Aires,  at  the 
earnest  instance  of  the  Venezuelan  and  Chilean  Delegations,  heartily  aided  by  the 
illustrious  Cuban  Delegate,  Senor  Montoro,  a  resolution  was  again  unanimously 
adopted  ''urging  the  Pan  American  Union  to  prepare  a  nomenclature  of  the  differ- 
ent expressions  and  synonyms  employed  in  the  countries  of  America  to  designate 
the  same  articles  and  products,  with  their  English,  Spanish,  French  and  Portu- 
guese equivalents."  The  resolution  recommended  further  that  the  Pan  Ameri- 
can committees  should  "formulate  and  communicate  to  the  Union  the  lists  of 
articles,  etc." 

Aside  from  this  repeated  and  unanimous  votes,  nothing  else  has  been  accom- 
plished in  the  premises,  undoubtedly  because  the  several  conferences  did  not  leave 
entirely  and  solely  to  the  Pan  American  Union  the  responsibility  of  the  work  and 
the  charge  of  finding  the  best  way  of  carrying  it  into  effect. 

The  enterprise,  though,  is  of  such  an  urgent  character,  that  from  economic 
and  philological  standpoints  and  also  for  weighty  reasons  of  expediency,  it  is  ad- 
visable to  stop  this  rapid  disintegrating  tendency  towards  the  Ex  unum  pluribus 
in  the  Spanish  language,  and  not  to  delay  any  further  the  compilation  of  what  the 
Chilean  delegates  at  Buenos  Aires  called  a  "dictionary,"  which  should  be  the 
"basis  of  commercial  statistics  and  custom  procedure  in  the  republics  of  this  con- 
tinent." There  must  be  a  standard  guide  that,  giving  due  place  to  every  legiti- 
mate Americanism,  shall  list  all  existing  localisms  and  barbarisms  of  the  American 
countries,  and  give  the  accepted  or  propose  the  acceptable  Spanish  equivalent  and 
the  corresponding  English,  Portuguese  and  French  words. 

It  is,  therefore,  suggested  that  the  Pan  American  Union  be  urged  to  prepare 
a  nomenclature  of  the  different  expressions  and  synonyms  used  in  the  countries 
of  America  to  designate  the  same  articles,  products  and  technical  terms,  with  their 
English,  Spanish,  Portuguese  and  French  equivalents,  in  the  manner  and  with 
the  complementary  data  considered  best  and  most  useful  by  the  Pan  American 
Union. 


NEED  FOR  A  COMMON  TECHNICAL  VOCABULARY  IN  COUNTRIES  OF 

SPANISH     SPEECH 

BY  V.  L.  HAVENS,  EDITOR,  "INGENIERIA  INTERNACIONAL/'  NEW  YORK. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

The  Spanish  language  is  one  of  the  comparatively  few  modern  tongues  that 
is  controlled  almost  absolutely  in  its  growth  by  some  one  central  authority.  The 
Royal  Academy  of  Spain  is,  and  has  been  for  all  the  years  since  its  organization, 
the  most  influential  factor  in  the  maintenance  of  purity  as  well  as  growth  in  the 
Spanish  language. 

From  the  very  nature  of  the  class  of  work  which  the  worthy  members  of 
this  Academy  do,  it  is  natural  that  they  should  be  selected  from  the  literary  or 
pedagogic  class  of  society,  .naturally  inclined  to  lay  great  stress  on  the  immutability 
of  language,  and  naturally  inclined  to  cling  tenaciously  to  the  recognized  forms  of 
speech. 

Unfortunately  the  wonderful  scientific  and  commercial  growth  of  the  world 
during  the  last  century  has  not  been  equalled  by  a  corresponding  expansion  in  the 
Spanish  language,  in  a  great  part  due  to  the  ultra  conservative  attitude  of  the 
Royal  Academy,  although  likewise  due  in  no  small  part  to  the  retarded  industrial 
development  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Spanish  speaking  world. 

We  all  know  that  words  will  be  coined  to  fit  a  given  article  or  idea  utterly 
regardless  of  the  attitude  which  any  language  authority  may  assume.  The  only 
result  which  withholding  the  recognition  of  the  word  may  have  is  to  limit  its 
use  to  comparatively  small  territories. 

The  result  of  ultra  conversatism  in  the  recognition  and  acceptance  of  new 
words  by  the  Academy  either  newly  coined  words  or  words  accepted  from  other 


332  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

languages  has,  no  doubt,  had  an  effect  exactly  contrary  to  that  original  thought 
that  brought  about  the  organization  of  the  Academy.  If  a  certain  industry  requires 
a  certain  tool  for  the  specific  use  and  this  tool  is  invented  to  meet  that  need,  that 
tool  is  going  to  have  a  name  which  will  at  least  be  accepted  where  it  is  made  and 
by  the  purchasers  .who  become  familiar  with  it.  In  course  of  time,  the  idea  of  the. 
tool  or  the  need  for  it  will  reach  distant  centers  and  a  similar  tool  will  be  de- 
veloped, and  perhaps  a  totally  different  name  will  be  applied.  If,  when  this  tool 
is  invented,  the  Royal  Academy  should,  after  consultation  with  competent  men, 
decide  on  the  acceptance  of  the  corresponding  word,  not  only  the  tool  itself  but 
the  idea  and  its  use  would  be  immediately  distributed  throughout  the  world  in 
such  a  way  as  to  be  of  value  to  those  who  read.  If  the  Academy  refuses  to  accept 
the  word  the  result  is  that  a  different  one  will  be  used  in  each  industrial  center 
and  in  course  of  time  as  words  multiply  the  use  of  dialects  become  common  and  that 
is  exactly  the  condition  which  is  encountered  as  regards  modern  tools  throughout 
the  Spanish  speaking  world. 

The  tendency  then  is  that  the  Royal  Academy  should  become  the  repository 
of  the  old  dead  forms  of  speech  which  would  in  many  instances  sink  into  oblivion 
were  they  not  clung  to  so  persistently  and  tenaciously  by  the  academicians,  who 
have  been  accused  more  than  once  of  being  a  retarding  influence  in  the  growth  of 
the  scientific  and  industrial  education  of  their  people. 

Another  contributory  factor  in  the  use  of  varied  technical  terms  is  that 
throughput  Latin  American  there  has  been  an  enormous  investment  of  foreign 
capital  in  those  countries,  this  capital  being  used  for  the  beneficial  purpose  of 
building  up  the  industry  and  developing  the  economic  status  of  the  regions  where 
they  have  located.  However,  the  industries  being  new,  it  was  difficult  to  secure 
skilled  men  in  the  vicinity  of  the  work  to  take  charge  of  the  equipment  and  ma- 
chines and  operate  them.  A  French  engineer  has,  for  example,  been  placed  in 
charge  of  a  certain  smelter  jn  a  particular  mining  camp.  Very  few  of  the  local 
persons  might  be  familiar  with  the  various  machinery  that  goes  into  a  smelter  and 
they  ask  the  French  superintendent,  who,  possibly,  being  ignorant  of  Spanish  per- 
haps explains  the  word  in  French  and  this  word  is  immediately  Spanishized  by 
his  listeners,  the  result  being  a  strange  rare  word  not  found  in  any  dictionary  nor 
acceptable  anywhere  on  earth  except  where  that  particular  French  superintendent 
is  employed.  A  hundred  kilometers  away  there  may  be  another  smelter  in  charge 
of  an  English  speaking  person,  and  they  immediately  proceed  to  manufacture 
their  own  vocabulary  based  on  English  forms  because  the  modern  equipment  may 
not  be  mentioned  in  the  Spanish  dictionary. 

Regardless  of  what  the  attitude  of  the  Royal  Academy  has  been  in  times 
past,  it  is  a  fact  that  they  are  largely  responsible  for  the  comparative  poverty  of 
their  language  in  technical  terms,  and  they  are  largely  responsible  for  the  condition 
that  a  given  machine  may  have  one  name  in  Coruna,  an  entirely  different  one  in 
Mexico  or  Buenos  Aires,  and  yet  another  in  Chile  or  Peru.  There  have  been 
technical  dictionaries  prepared  in  Spanish,  but  unfortunately  those  with  which  the 
speaker  has  come  in  contact  have  been  prepared  by  foreigners  utterly  out  of  touch 
with  the  specific  nomenclature  in  Spain,  or  the  various  countries  of  Spanish 
speech,  and  the  result  of  these  efforts  has  been  a  disillusion.  The  speaker  has  had 
considerable  experience  with  translators  from  English  to  Spanish  and  from  Spanish 
to  English,  and  he  has  yet  to  see  the  translation  of  an  article  of  any  length,  or  book, 
by  any  person  that  had  not  been  subjected  to  criticism  by  others  of  Spanish  speech 
to  the  effect  that  the  translator  had  committed  many  grievious  errors  in  the  use  of 
colloquialisms,  provincialism,  anglicisms,  gallicisms,  and  almost  every  other  kind  of 
ism  of  which  one  might  be  accused  while  really  feeling  that  he  was  innocent. 

During  the  last  year  one  of  the  most  important  corporations  in  the  American 
industrial  field  attempted  the  translation  of  their  catalogue  from  English  to 
Spanish.  Their  representatives  live  in  almost  every  important  commercial  center 
of  the  world,  and  practically  every  representative  of  the  company  in  foreign  cities 
is  well  educated,  not  only  generally,  but  specifically  as  regards  his  own  field,  and 
certainly  should  understand  the  vocabulary  which  is  used  for  the  product  which 
he  sells.  The  translation  of  the  technical  words  representing  the  products  of  this 
great  corporation  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  several  agents  in  Spanish  speaking 
countries,  and  there  was  a  conference  of  these  men  for  the  final  comparison  of 
terms.  Words  which  were  in  common  use  and  acceptance  on  the  west  coast  of 
South  America  were  in  many  cases  utterly  unknown  in  Spain  and  of  very  doubtful 
meaning  on  the  east  coast  of  South  America.  The  reverse  was  likewise  true,  and 
in  one  particular  instance,  a  material  which  is  exported  from  four  or  five  of  the 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  333 

great  industrial  countries,  and  is  commercially  known  to  practically  every  citizen, 
has  at  least  a  half  a  dozen  names  in  South  America,  and  each  representative  of 
this  corporation  was  quite  unwilling  to  admit  the  use  of  any  word  in  the  catalogue 
except  those  which  they  had  found  to  be  of  common  use  among  the  people  where 
they  resided. 

The  above  statement  consists  almost  conclusively  of  adverse  criticism  which 
would  in  no  sense  be  justified  should  it  be  unaccompanied  with  some  suggestions 
that  might  lead  us  to  a  clear  understanding  and  closer  intellectual  relations.  It  is 
indeed  impossible  that  intensive  commercial  or  industrial  relations  be  carried  on 
between  persons  or  peoples  who  cannot  understand  each  other's  minds.  It  is  to  a 
great  measure  due  to  these  conditions  that  so  many  complaints  occur  in  international 
trading.  It  is,  therefore,  suggested  that  through  the  good  offices  of  the  Pan 
American  Union  that  each  of  the  Governments  whose  people  are  represented  in 
this  conference  be  asked  to  select  with  reasonable  care  an  engineer  allied  with  their 
own  National  University,  and  thoroughly  versed  in  the  technical  literature  and  the 
custom  house  terminology  of  their  own  country,  preferably  one  which  is  likewise  fa- 
miliar with  one  or  two  other  tongues,  for  the  purpose  of  clarifying  many  doubtful 
points.  The  engineers  would  no  doubt  be  glad  to  consult  industrials  in  their  own  vicin- 
ity regarding  the  technical  use  of  words  or  the  local  names  of  things.  There  could 
be  one  central  office  or  secretaryship  agreed  upon  and  communication  by  corre- 
spondence established.  It  is  not  expected  that  there  would  be  any  expense  in  con- 
nection with  such  an  unofficial  organization,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  much  good 
could  be  accomplished  thereby.  It  is  suggested  further  that  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  Spain  is  not  represented  in  this  Conference,  but  is  nevertheless  the  country  of 
greatest  population  among  those  of  Spanish  speech,  that  a  recognized  Spanish 
engineer  be  also  asked  to  lend  his  aid.  After  the  choice  of  words  it  would  seem 
desirable  that  each  of  the  National  Universities  represented  by  their  engineer  agree 
to  make  use  of  that  word  as  expressing  the  particular  thought  or  idea  or  thing; 
concerned.  In  order  that  the  results  of  such  correspondence  be  made  known  among 
engineers  it  would  be  desirable  that  they  be  published  in  a  leading  technical  paper 
in  order  that  all  other  engineers  might  learn  the  result  of  the  correspondence  of 
the  unofficial  committee  and  make  other  things  known  should  they  be  adverse  ta 
the  decisions  of  the  committee.  There  is  no  doubt  in  the  speaker's  mind  that  the 
result  of  a  choice  of  words  in  this  manner  would  have  a  considerable  influence 
with  the  Royal  Academy,  and  should  the  dictionary  of  the  Spanish  language  be 
lacking  in  the  corresponding  word,  and  should  the  word  apparently  Have  the  sup- 
port of  those  who  are  most  apt  to  use  it,  it  might  reasonably  be  inferred  that  it 
would  be  incorporated  in  the  current  dictionaries  very  promptly. 

There  would  be  perhaps  an  insurmountable  difficulty  in  finding  an  engineer  in 
each  country  competent  to  express  the  proper  information  regarding  all  technical 
words,  but  it  would  be  expected  that  he  would  consult  the  persons  most  authorized 
in  each  particular  branch,  and  that  he  would  also  consult  and  make  use  of  lexicons. 
_  It  is  hoped  that  this  Conference  will  not  adjourn  without  hearing  an  ex- 
pression from  the  General  Director  of  the  Pan  American  Union  to  use  his  good 
offices  for  the  establishment  of  some  means  of  inter-communication  with  engineers 
and  custom  house  officers  for  the  purpose  of  arriving  at  some  common  under- 
standing regarding  the  use  of  technical  words.  An  agreement  regarding  the  use 
of  a  certain  word  by  such  authorities  would,  of  course,  have  little  value  unless  at 
the  time  of  the  agreement  the  custom  house  authorities  and  other  Government 
officials  be  inclined  to  accept  the  word  which  might  be  selected  or  to  admit  by 
suitable  proclamation  the  word  chosen  as  indicative  of  the  things  or  articles  referred 
to,  even  though  those  things  or  articles  be  legally  defined  in  some  other  terminology 
in  the  Arancel  Aduanera  or  tariff  lists. 


THE    PAN    AMERICAN    ENGINEER 

BY  WM.  Louis  DUNNE,  EXPORT  SERVICE  ENGINEER,  THE  DESELEKTRO  COMPANY, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Commerce,  it  has  been  said,  follows  the  flag;  but  it  is  the  pioneering  spirit 
of  the  engineering  profession  that  points  the  way  and  first  raises  the  flag.  Pan- 
Americanism  in  the  engineer's  life  is  simply  ^  a  matter  of  habit,  and  the  ^North 
American  engineer  has  been  as  much  at  home  in  the  mountain  mines  and  railroads 


334  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

of  Colombia,  Chile,  Peru  and  other  of  the  South  American  countries  as  he  has 
been  in  the  Rockies  of  the  United  States.  No  less  acquainted  with  the  works  of 
the  technical  men  from  the  north  are  the  peoples  of  the  cities  of  Buenos  Aires, 
Rio  Janeiro,  Sao  Paulo,  Lima,  Santiago,  Havana,  Mexico  and  other  populated 
centers. 

The  older  civilization  of  the  great  peoples  antedating  the  advent  of  the 
conquistadores  was  predominantly  that  of  the  engineer,  as  was  found  by  those  who 
came  to  the  lands  of  the  Incas  and  the  Aztecs.  Ancient  works  in  irrigation,  in 
mines  and  in  architecture  are  found  in  all  of  the  Latin-American  countries  and 
where  found  are  marvels  in  execution.  Canal  systems  centuries  old  arouse  the 
admiration  of  the  modern  engineer  from  whatever  nation  he  may  come. 

Whatever  of  difficulty  there  may  be  on  the  part  of  the  visiting  banker, 
manufacturer  or  merchant  to  readily  reach  a  plane  of  common  thought  with  his 
South  American  friend,  between  the  engineers  of  North  and  South  America  there 
is  no  long  preliminary  to  acquaintance  and  friendship,  for  they  meet  on  the  basis 
of  fellow  technicians  and  mutual  appreciation.  The  South  American  sees  in  the 
industrial  development  in  the  United  States  the  fruition  of  his  day  dreams  for  his 
own  country  and  the  North  American  finds  in  the  southlands  every  opportunity 
to  spend  his  lifetime  in  accomplishment. 

The  outstanding  feature  of  the  relationship  ''between  North  and  South 
Americans  in  the  engineering  professions  is  found  in  the  fact  that  many  hundreds 
of  the  technically  trained  men  of  the  South  American  republics  are  products  of 
American  colleges.  Our  institutions  like  the  Universities  of  California,  Texas, 
Wisconsin,  Pennsylvania,  Utah,  Michigan  and  Columbia  are  alma  mater  to  hun- 
dreds of  civil  engineers  from  the  southern  nations  of  Pan-America,  and  in  the 
mining  districts  of  the  southern  continent  there  will  be  hardly  an  operation  that 
will  not  number  among  its  technical  officers  graduates  of  Colorado,  Cornell,  Massa- 
chusetts, Lehigh,  Georgia  Tech.  Mackey  School  of  Mines  or  equally  known  techni- 
cal institutions  in  the  United  States. 

The  Latin  American  excells  in  technical  design.  Particularly  in  the  field 
of  hydraulics  the  opportunity  for  practice  has  been  wide  and  there  are  many  works 
from  Mexico  to  Chile  that  have  brought  deserved  commendation  from  world 
authorities.  In  the  field  of  industrial  engineering  the  South  American  engineer 
in  recent  years  has  been  working  toward  high  ideals,  and  it  is  the  rule  rather  than 
the  exception  that  in  all  of  the  countries  the  most  modern  ideas  and  equipment 
find  place  in  new  industries,  when  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  native  engineers  of 
those  countries. 

The  engineer,  whether  of  North  America  or  South  America,  is  a  potent 
force  in  Pan-American  relations.  In  South  America,  more  than  in  the  United 
States,  the  engineering  profession  furnishes  to  the  nations  not  only  the  leaders  in 
thought,  but  leaders  in  action,  and  it  is  by  no  means  unusual  for  the  Argentine, 
Brazilian,  Chilean,  Peruvian,  Cuban  and  Central  American  engineer  to  enter  the 
field  of  diplomacy  and  politics,  and  the  better  understanding  between  all  of  the 
countries  of  Pan  America  is  due  in  large  part  to  the  broad  views  cultivated  by  the 
engineer-statesmen  in  many  of  the  Latin  American  countries,  for  the  engineer's 
training  embraces  enough  of  the  principles  of  international  equity — in  viewing  all 
things  from  the  practical  standpoint — with  practical  political  economy,  to  make  him 
remain  apart  from  the  narrowness  of  parochial  thought. 

To  those  who,  like  our  bankers,  and  manufacturers,  are  interested  largely 
in  trade  development  I  could  make  no  better  suggestion  than  that  they  consider 
that  future  relations  between  Pan-American  countries  rests  largely  upon  the  en- 

S'neering  profession.  There  are  something  like  nine  hunded  young  South  and 
entral  Americans  now  in  technical  schools  in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
They  are  in  the  colleges  being  trained  as  civil,  mechanical,  electrical,  chemical  and 
agricultural  engineers.  In  a  few  years  they  will  be  the  deciding  factors  in  indus- 
trial and  commercial  development  in  their  countries.  No  more  patriotic  American 
thing  could  be  done  than  to  make  opportunity  for  these  young  men  to  secure  their 
first  practical  training  in  the  United  States.  The  cumulative  results  are  obvious. 
I  am  sure  that  you  will  find  that  Director  General  Barrett  and  the  Pan  American 
Union  will  readily  assist  any  effort  to  bring  to  you  the  opportunity  to  acquaint 
your  product  to  the  young  engineer. 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  335 

LINKING  TOGETHER  THE  TWO  CONTINENTS  WITH  A  HIGHWAY 

BY  DR.  S.  M.  JOHNSON.,  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  BANKHEAD  NATIONAL  HIGHWAY, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

Last  October  a  company  of  gentlemen  of  the  Managing  Board  of  the  "Bank- 
head  National  Highway"  were  guests  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico  and  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  of  Juarez,  Chihuahua,  at  a  banquet  at  Juarez,  just  across  the  Inter- 
national boundary  at  El  Paso,  Texas.  The  business  which  took  us  to  El  Paso 
was  the  establishment  of  a  National  Highway  beginning  at  Washington,  traversing 
the  south,  passing  through  El  Paso  and  reaching  the  Pacific  Ocean  at  San  Diego, 
California. 

At  the  banquet  the  representative  of  the  Government  of  Mexico  stated  that 
his  government  together  with  the  Governors  of  the  several  interested  States  were 
cooperating  to  continue  the  highway  which  we  were  establishing,  from  Juarez 
to  Mexico  City,  and  that  considerable  portions  of  the  road  were  already  in  con- 
dition for  use  by  rapid-transit  vehicles. 

As  one  of  the  Directors  of  the  Bankhead  National  Highway,  I  desire  to 
say  that  I  am  sure  that  the  utmost  encouragement  would  be  given  in  this  country 
to  an  organized  effort  to  extend  this  highway  from  Mexico  City  to  South  America, 
thus  linking  together  the  two  Continents,  the  twenty-one  republics  and  the  people 
of  the  western  hemisphere. 

The  Bankhead  Highway  is  now  definitely  located  from  Washington  to  El 
Paso,  a  distance  of  about  2400  miles.  Automobiles  are  now  using  every  mile  of 
this  road  every  day,  and  by  far  the  greater  part  of  it  can  be  used  with  ease  every 
day  in  the  year,  the  remaining  parts  being  dirt  roads  which  are  hard  to  travel  after 
a  rain.  The  dirt-road  sections  are  now  being  improved  by  the  concentration  upon 
them  of  Federal,  State  and  county  road-construction  and  within  two  years  it  is 
probable  that  one  may  leave  Washington  in  an  automobile  and  travel  thus  to  El 
Paso  over  this  national  highway  reaching  El  Paso  in  advance  of  the  passenger 
who  leaves  Washington  at  the  same  time  and  makes  the  journey  by  railway. 

Within  a  short  time,  permanent  sign-posts  will  be  placed  along  this  road 
throughout  its  entire  length.  These  will  be  of  concrete.  The  marking  will  be  done 
by  the  National  Highway  Marking  Association,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  which  is 
establishing  a  uniform  system  of  permanent  highway  marking  throughout  the 
United  States. 

In  addition  to  this  line  of  travel,  there  are  several  other  lines  reaching  from 
Portland,  Maine ;  Montreal  and  Toronto,  Canada ;  Chicago ;  Winnipeg  and  Van- 
couver, Canada,  to  El  Paso,  all  of  which  are  now  in  usable  condition  for  rapid- 
transit  vehicles.  These  main-lines  may  be  reached  by  automobiles  from  every  one 
of  the  more  than  3000  counties  in  the  United  States. 

On  these  highways  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  now  using  for 
business  and  pleasure  over  6,000,000  automobiles  and  a  half-million  motor-trucks. 
This  number  is  being  increased  so  rapidly  that  the  manufacturers  cannot  keep  up 
with  the  demand.  The  United  States  has  now  entered  on  a  program  of  road 
construction  exceeding  in  magnitude  anything  of  the  kind  known  to  history.  At 
this  moment  22,000  motor  trucks  are  being  shipped  by  the  federal  government 
to  the  48  states  for  exclusive  use  on  the  highways ;  while  shipment  will  soon  be 
made  of  many  thousand  of  trailers  to  go  with  the  trucks.  The  machinery  bought 
with  the  proceeds  of  our  Liberty  Bonds  is  to  be  brought  back  from  Europe  to 
be  used  in  building  roads  at  home;  roads  to  serve  the  ends  of  peace.  With 
rapid-transit  highways  covering  in  one  vast  network  the  entire  national  domain, 
it  takes  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  see  the  day  when  the  entire  population  of 
the  United  States  can  step  into  its  automobiles  at  a  given  signal  and  without 
crowding  enjoy  a  national  joy-ride.  At  this  present  moment  this  could  be  done 
in  the  State  of  Iowa,  which  has  millions  of  inhabitants ;  and  one-third  of  the 
population  of  the  United  States  could  now  be  transported  at  one  time  from  one 
place  to  another  in  privately  owned  automobiles. 

A  similar  development  of  the  rapid-transit  highway  and  the  use  thereon 
of  the  rapid-transit  vehicle  throughout  the  other  republics  of  America  is  inevitable. 
The  linking  together  of  the  highway  systems  of  North  and  South  America  would 
therefore  seem  to  be  most  desirable;  an  undertaking  of  vast  importance;  in  the 


336  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

same  category  with  the  opening  up  of  lines  of  transit  on  the  sea  and  in  the  air. 
The  enterprise  is  worthy  of  immediate  consideration. 

As  the  wonderful  panorama  of  South  American  scenery,  including  the 
world's  greatest  water- fall,  and  the  many  objects  of  deepest  interest  shown  at  this 
Conference,  where  thrown  on  the  screen,  I  could  not  help  asking  myself  "Why 
were  ^all  these  things  fashioned  by  a  benevolent  Creator,  if  they  were  not  to  be 
seen?"  And  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  one  of  the  greatest  assets  of  the 
American  Republics  was  the  attractions  they  offered  to  those  who  desire  to  travel 
and  see  the  wonderful  and  beautiful  things  of  the  earth  traveling  freely  in  the 
open. 

The  idea  of  touring-trips  from  the  United  States  to  South  American  coun- 
tries by  parties  traveling  by  automobile  may  seem  wildly  visionary.  Such  trips 
will  become  reality  just  as  soon  as  the  highways  are  put  in  usable  condition.  Such 
long-radius  trips  are  now  commonplace  in  the  United  States. 

On  July  1st,  if  present  plans  do  not  miscarry,  the  War  Department  of  the 
United  States  will  send  two  companies,  consisting  of  209  men,  traveling  with 
equipment  overland  by  motor-truck  and  other  motor  vehicles  over  the  "Lincoln 
Highway"  from  Washington  to  San  Francisco.  The  itinerary  calls  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  trip  in  47  days.  Motion-pictures  will  be  taken  from  air-planes  of 
the  start,  probably  from  the  "White  House,"  Washington,  and  along  the  route, 
and  careful  records  will  be  made  of  road-conditions,  costs,  etc.  This  army-maneuver 
on  land  corresponds  to  the  practice  of  the  Atlantic  fleet  last  spring  in  Cuban  waters 
and  to  the  mapping  of  air-plane  routes  across  the  continent  and  across  the  Atlantic 
ocean.  It  emphasizes  the  concern  of  this  Government  in  the  development  of  con- 
tinuous highways  and  the  use  of  motor-driven  vehicles  in  long-distance  travel.  It 
is  the  direct  outgrowth  of  the  breakdown  of  railway  transportation  from  Chicago, 
Detroit  and  Buffalo  to  the  Atlantic  seaports  under  war-demands.  This  led  to  the 
use  of  the  motor-truck  on  the  highways.  In  the  convoy  movement  by  motor- 
truck from  the  points  named  and  in  the  period  from  January  to  November  11,  1918, 
the  Motor  Transport  Corps  of  the  War  Department  used  32,403  vehicles  and 
transported  a  cargo-weight  of  6,350,730  pounds  of  war  material  to  the  coast.  The 
truck-train  transcontinental  maneuver  films  will  be  shown  throughout  the  world. 
The  Associated  Press  will  tell  the  story.  The  fact  will  be  made  known  to  America 
that  such  trips  are  feasible.  This  undertaking  should  stimulate  interest  and  effort 
in  the  proposal  to  link  the  two  Americas  together  in  a  new  bond  of  international 
amity  by  a  highway. 

Since  the  State  of  New  Mexico,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  at  this 
Conference,  has  a  citizenship  about  equally  divided  between  Spanish-speaking  and 
English-speaking  people,  I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  we  in  my 
State  have  succeeded  in  doing  in  our  small  way,  what  the  Pan  American  Union 
is  trying  to  do  in  a  large  way,  that  is,  to  bring  about  good  understanding,  kindly 
relations  and  cooperation  in  the  work  of  advancing  civilization  among  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  latin  and  the  anglo-saxon  types.  For  seventy  three  years  these 
two  types  have  lived  together  in  amity  in  New  Mexico.  Hand  in  hand  they  have 
erected  the  structure  of  a  noble  statehood.  They  share  in  equal  terms  the  re- 
sponsibilities and  honors  of  leadership.  Our  two  United  States  Senators  are  of  the 
anglo-saxon  stock ;  our  Representative  in  the  Congress  and  our  Governor  are 
Spanish-Americans.  All  New  Mexico  is  proud  to  have  at  the  head  of  our  State 
our  present  Governor,  O.  A.  Larrazolo,  who  was  born  in  Chihuahua  of  Castilian 
stock,  a  man  of  great  ability  and  strength  of  character,  leading  the  State  to  a 
foremost  position  in  the  improvement  of  the  schools  and  highways,  in  providing 
for  returning  soldiers  and  in  everything  that  uplifts. 

New  Mexico,  therefore,  looking  back  over  73  years  of  life,  work  and  pro- 
gress sends  greetings  to  all  the  other  commonwealths,  expressing  the  hope  that 
the  same  kindly  spirit  which  binds  the  latin  and  the  anglo-saxon  types  together 
may  bind  together  .the  representatives  of  these  two  types  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  America.  We  are  sure  that  the  beneficent  results  which  have  fol- 
lowed from  our  cooperation  here  will  follow  that  larger  cooperation  which  the 
Pan  American  Union  is  bringing  to  pass. 


ENGINEERING     AIDS     TO     COMMERCE  337 

THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY  WATERWAYS  AND  THE  LATIN  AMERICAN  TRADE 

BY  JAMES  E.  SMITH  OF  ST.  Louis,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 
WATERWAYS  ASSOCIATION. 

I  am  pleased  to  respond  to  Mr.  Barrett's  request,  as  the  people  whom  I 
represent  are  anxious  to  increase  their  trade  relations  with  our  neighbors  in  the 
countries  south  of  us. 

That  portion  of  the  United  States  known  as  the  Mississippi  Valley  is  the 
most  fertile,  the  most  productive,  and  the  most  prosperous  portion  of  our  country. 
It  contains  more  than  one-half  of  our  country's  entire  population.  -It  produces 
more  than  two-thirds  of  our  exportable  products,  and  in  turn,  it  consumes  a  large 
proportion  of  the  products  which  are  imported  from  the  countries  with  which  we 
trade. 

In  the  past  both  our  exports  and  imports  have  been  largely  handled  through 
our  Atlantic  ports,  greatly  to  the  disadvantage  of  our  people.  Having  been  brought 
to  a  realization  of  the  handicap  with  which  we  have  been  burdened,  we  are  now 
preparing  to  handle  our  Central  and  South  American  shipments  through  the  port 
of  New  Orleans,  which  is  our  natural  outlet  to  the  sea  as  we  have  water  com- 
munication with  that  port,  which  is  more  than  700  miles  nearer  the  Panama  Canal 
than  is  New  York. 

The  Mississippi  Valley  contains  the  greatest  system  of  natural  waterways 
in  the  known  world.  The  Mississippi  River  and  its  tributaries  embjace  16,000  miles 
of  navigable  rivers.  Through  the  neglect  of  our  national  Government,  water  trans- 
portation has  been  allowed  to  be  driven  from  these  natural  channels  of  commerce, 
but  during  the  past  few  years  there  has  been  a  general  demand  for  its  restoration, 
and  it  is  now  being  re-established. 

Water  transportation  has  already  been  revived  between  St.  Louis  and  New 
Orleans,  affording  us  low  water  rates  between  these  points,  and  we  can  now 
deliver  the  products  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  to  the  countries  south  of  us  more 
quickly  and  at  much  lower  freight  rates  than  we  have  been  able  to  secure  in  the 
past,  and  in  turn,  our  people. can  now  obtain  the  products  of  those  countries  at 
lower  cost  by  shipping  them  direct  to  our  Mississippi  Valley  markets  by  the  all- 
water  route  by  way  of  the  port  of  New  Orleans. 

Arrangements  are  also  being  made  for  regular  steamship  service  between 
the  port  of  New  Orleans  and  the  ports  of  Central  and  South  America  to  the  end 
that  we  may  deliver  the  products  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  at  reasonable  freight 
rates  to  all  of  the  countries  lying  south  of  the  United  States. 

The  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  the  numerous  important  cities  located 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley  are  looking  forward  to  the  establishment  of  closer  and 
more  friendly  relations  with  the  business  interests  of  Central  and  South  America, 
and  let  us  hope  that  these  expectations  may  be  fully  realized  in  the  near  future. 


A  GDANCE  AT  PROGRESS  ON  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  RAILWAY 

BY  W.  A.  REID,  TRADE  ADVISER,  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

From  1910  to  1914  about  156  additional  miles  of  track  were  added  to  the 
Pan  American  Railway.  Very  few  miles  of  road  that  will  form  links  in  the  inter- 
continental system  have  been  constructed  since  the  latter  date,  at  which  time  hos- 
tilities in  Europe  checked  the  usual  flow  of  capital  from  that  part  of  the  world  to 
Latin  American  enterprises.  The  progress  to  date  is  approximately  as  follows : 

The  distance  of  26  miles  separating  the  Mexican  road  at  Mariscal  from 
tapping  the  Guatemalan  road  at  Ayutla  has  been  reduced  to  about  two  miles,  or  a 
gain  of  24  miles. 

The  road  building  from  La  Union,  Salvador,  toward  the  Guatemalan  rail- 
ways has  progressed  approximately  100  miles. 

The  road  being  constructed  from  Cuzco,  Peru,  northward  toward  Santa  Ana 
makes  only  about  three  miles  a  year,  and  work  was  suspended  for  a  number  of 
months  after  the  curtailment  of  Peruvian  activity  in  1914.  Completed,  about  15 
miles. 

The  gap  of  177  miles  between  the  southern  end  of  the  Bolivian  road  and 
railhead  at  La  Quiaca,  Argentina,  has  been  decreased  by  60  miles. 


338  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Branch  of  Chiriqui  R.  R.,  Panama,  from  David  to  La  Concepcion,  18  miles. 

Constructed  from  1910  to  1918  217  miles,  which,  deducted  from  3,672,  leaves 
to  be  constructed  3,455  miles. 

The  distances  follow : 

New  York  to  Buenos  Aires 10,116  miles 

New  York  to  Buenos  Aires  constructed \ 6,661 

New  York  to  Buenos  Aires  to  be  constructed 3,455      " 

(New  York  to  Panama  Sections} 

New  York  to  Mexico  City  (standard  gauge) 3,026  miles  built 

Mexico  City  to  Guatemala 843 

Total  standard  gauge  track 3,869      " 

From  the  border  of  Guatemala,  near  Ayutla,  to  Panama  the  distance  given  is 
1,184  miles;  of  this  distance  the  reports  in  the  Pan  American  Union  show  that 
there  are  in  operation  approximately  632  miles  of  railways.  All  of  these  roads  are 
of  narrow  gauge,  those  in  Guatemala,  Salvador  and  Honduras  having  3-foot  gauge. 
Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica  have  the  3-foot  6-inch  gauge,. 

The  approximate  number  of  miles  of  railway  needed  as  connecting  links  in 
Central  America  to  afford  continuous  rail  from  New  York  to  Panama  is  552. 

In  order  to  run  a  standard  gauge  train  from  New  York  to  Panama  it  would 
be  necessary  to  btoild  1,184  miles  of  standard  gauge  track.  The  addition  of  a  third 
rail  to  the  632  miles  of  narrow  gauge  road  now  in  operation  would  not  make  a 
track  suitable  for  standard  gauge  traffic,  as  on  most  of  the  narrow  gauge  roads  a 
very  light  rail  is  used,  which  answers  for  the  light  freight  and  passenger  cars  in 
operation. 

Summary. — Standard  gauge  track  New  York  to  Guatemalan  border,  3,869 
miles  in  use;  narrow  gauge  track  between  Guatemalan  border  and  Panama,  632 
miles  in  use;  approximate  distance  of  new  roads  needed  to  fill  links,  552  miles. 

In  addition  to  the  railroad  mileage  actually  constructed  the  following  ex- 
tensions have  been  planned  or  started : 

The  extension  in  Ecuador  southward  from  Huigra,  a  station  on  the  Guaya- 
quil and  Quito  Railway,  to  Cuenca,  93  miles,  has  been  started. 

Between  Tupiza,  Bolivia,  and  La  Quiaca,  Argentina,  a  distance  of  60  miles, 
a  French  firm  is  engaged  in  construction  work  in  preparing  roadbed.  The  English 
company  which  held  a  concession  for  building  between  Atocha  and  Tupiza,  Bolivia, 
about  60  miles,  was  compelled  to  abandon  work  on  account  of  shortage  of  cap- 
ital, etc. 

Considerable  progress  has  been  made  in  other  railway  construction  in  So'uth 
America  during  the  last  decade,  all  of  which  has  a  bearing  on  the  progress  of  the 
Pan  American  Railway.  One  may  now  travel  by  rail  from  Lake  Titicaca  to  Puerto 
Montt  in  the  far  south  of  Chile ;  the  traveler  may  also  go  over  railways  from  Lake 
Titicaca  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  via  the  Chilean  Longitudinal,  the  Trans-Andine,  and  the 
several  lines  connecting  Montevideo  and  Buenos  Aires  with  the  railroads  of  Brazil. 


SANITATION  339 

SANITATION 

THE  EFFECT  OF  SANITATION  IN  DECREASING  MUNICIPAL  DEATH  RATES 

BY  GEORGE  A.  SOPER,  PH.D.  (NEW  YORK),  MAJOR,  SANITARY  CORPS,  U.  S.  A. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5,  1919.) 

If  we  take  up  a  consideration  of  the  ways  in  which  communicable  diseases 
of  different  types  have  been  combatted,  we  will  note  that  there  have  been  three 
general  fields  of  effort.  It  is  necessary  to  consider  them  all  in  order  that  the  field 
occupied  by  sanitation  may  be  viewed  in  its  proper  relations. 

Sanitation  Compared  With  Other  Health  Measures. — The  first  may  be  called 
the  field  of  personal  precautions.  Whether  the  effort  is  made  in  the  city  or  coun- 
try, in  the  tropics  or  temperate  zones,  in  highly  civilized  countries  or  in  the  remote 
parts  of  the  world,  the  essential  elements  of  these  precautions  are  the  same.  The 
reason  for  this  is  that  they  are  based  on  purely  personal  instinct — purely  personal 
experience — and  little  else. 

Every  one  exercises  certain  precautions,  consciously  or  unconsciously.  They 
are  a  part  of  the  education  vyhich  we  get  in  the  school  of  experience.  We  learn 
to  avoid  the  presence  of  the  infectious  sick  and  such  common  causes  of  illness  as 
undue  exposure,  excessive  fatigue  and  improper  food. 

The  second  field  of  effort  in  the  control  of  disease  is  board  of  health  work. 
The  intention  here  is  for  the  government,  national,  state  and  municipal,  to  exercise 
a  wholesome  supervision  over  the  public  health.  This  is  done  by  the  enforcement 
of  laws  and  ordinances  which  relate  to  the  collection  of  statistical  and  other  data 
to  indicate  the  birth  and  death  rates  and  the  prevalence  of  infectious  and  other 
causes  of  death.  To  attain  their  greatest  value  vital  statistics  should  record  the 
cases  as  well  as  the  deaths,  but  we  have  not  yet  reached  that  point  of  development 
where  the  importance  of  this  matter  is  generally  appreciated. 

Board  of  health  work  includes,  beside  the  collection,  tabulation,  interpreta- 
tion and  publication  of  statistical  facts  relating  to  population,  sickness  and  death, 
the  supervision  of  food  and  drugs,  the  regulation  of  quarantine,  the  performance 
of  vaccination  and  inoculation  for  the  prevention  of  disease,  the  distribution  of 
curative  sera,  and  the  sanitary  education  of  the  public  through  bulletins,  lectures, 
reports  and  other  methods  of  publicity.  Education  as  a  means  of  reducing  the 
death  rates  is  one  of  the  most  promising  of  all  public  health  measures,  but  so  far 
it  is  in  its  infancy. 

The  third  great  field  of  effort  is  that  of  sanitation.  Sanitation  is  mentioned 
last  here  although  it  is,  in  point  of  fact,  the  most  important.  It  is  pre-eminent  for 
a  number  of  reasons. 

By  sanitation  is  meant  that  branch  of  systematic  health  work  which  requires 
plant  and  a  force  to  maintain  it.  Examples  are  works  for  the  procurement  and 
distribution  of  wholesome  drinking  water,  the  collection  ancj  disposal  of  liquid 
sewage  and  the  gathering  and  final  disposition  of  kitchen  waste,  ashes  and  other 
discarded  material.  These  are  obviously  sanitary  undertakings  but  the  list  of 
improvements  which  go  to  make  a  city  sanitary  does  not  end  here.  Broad,  well 
paved  market  places;  suitable  play  grounds;  bright,  well  ventilated  school  houses; 
in  short,  whatever  the  city  has  in  the  way  of  plant  which  goes  to  prevent  the  in- 
juries to  health  which  result  from  too  densely  segregated  masses  of  people  might 
properly  be  comprised  under  the  head  of  sanitation ;  but  in  every-day  parlance 
they  are  not  so  included. 

Yielding  to  works  of  sanitation  are  not  only  typhoid,  dysentery  and  other 
diarrheal  diseases,  but  many  other  forms  of  sickness.  To  introduce  a  public  supply 
of  pure  water  in  place  of  a  polluted  one,  or  to  build  a  sewerage  system  in  a  town 
which  has  had  no  good  way  of  disposing  of  excrement,  is  to  reduce  the  prevalence 
of  nearly  every  disease  from  which  men  suffer  and  die.  Nothing  that  can  be  done 
is  so  certain  to  lessen  the  death  rate. 

It  would  ^  be  interesting  to  know  exactly  the  extent  to  which  sanitation 
decreases  municipal  death  rates,  but  the  effect  cannot  be  stated  in  numerical  figures. 
Municipalities  which  are  so  backward  as  not  to  possess  good  sanitary  works  are 
usually  too  backward  to  know  how  much  preventable  sickness  and  death  they  have. 
And  unless  we  know  the  sickness  and  death  rates  before  and  after  the  introduction 
of  a  sanitary  improvement  it  is  impossible  to  say  precisely  how  great  the  benefit  is. 


340  SECOND     PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Sanitary  works  possess  a  number  of  advantages  as  compared  with  other 
measures  for  the  prevention  of  disease.  For  one  thing,  they  no  not  require  as 
high  a  degree  of  skill  in  their  administration  as  do  boards  of  health.  For  another, 
they  have  an  advantage  over  personal  precautions  in  not  being  individual  in  applica- 
tion and  uncoordinated  in  action.  Sanitary  works  have  a  wholesale  application.  A 
water  supply  which  is  pure  is  wholesome  for  every  person  who  has  occasion  to  use 
it.  The  street  that  is  well  paved  and  kept  clean  is  of  advantage  to  every  one  who 
travels  over  it  by  vehicle  or  foot.  And  sanitary  works  do  not  hide  their  merits 
under  a  bushel.  Their  good  effects  are  in  plain  sight — a  constant  recommendation 
of  the  good  sense  of  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  welfare  of  the  community. 

How  the  Sanitary  Development  of  the  Modern  City  Has  Been  Accomplished. 
— To  trace  the  progress  of  ^anitation  in  Europe  and  North  America  is  an  instruc- 
tive undertaking,  for  this  history  contains  many  useful  lessons.  In  both  continents 
a  deliberate  intention  exists  to  regulate  the  growth  of  cities  along  lines  which 
make  for  order,  convenience,  comfort,  safety,  health  and  beauty.  From  the  first 
sanitation  has  been  a  feature  of  many  American  cities.  Sanitation,  although  long 
delayed,  when  it  came,  came  like  a  revolution  to  the  continental  cities  of  Europe. 

The  beginnings  of  municipal  sanitation  everywhere  are  due  to  European 
initiative.  Public  water  supplies,  as  we  know  them  today,  and  sewers  to  carry 
away  the  most  offensive  and  dangerous  part  of  a  city's  filth,  are  a  recent  European 
contrivance.  Street  lighting,  good  pavements,  adequate  transportation,  tenement 
house  reforms,  the  construction  of  parks  and  playgrounds,  the  regulation  of 
vehicular  travel  and  street  paving  and  cleaning  having  been  developed  more 
recently.  The  American  city  which  ignores  foreign  practice  in  these  directions 
fails  to  take  account  of  experience  which  can  save  it  a  great  deal  of  money. 

The  sanitary  regeneration  which  European  cities  have  experienced  has  had 
no  counterpart  in  the  United  States.  There  has  been  no  necessity  for  such 
revolutionary  changes.  American  cities  were  small  when  the  world  began  to  learn 
that  sanitation  was  an  indispensable  feature  of  every  municipality.  There  was 
never  such  overcrowding,  such  slums  to  clean,  such  foci  of  filth  to  clear  up  and 
eliminate,  as  existed  abroad  haljF  a  century  ago.  In  1860  there  were  only  sixteen 
cities  in  the  United  States  with  a  population  of  50,000  or  more,  as  against  one 
hundred  and  forty-eight  in  Europe. 

The  significant  feature  of  municipal  growth  in  America  as  compared  with 
that  in  Europe  has  been  less  the  reconstruction  of  cities  already  large  than  the 
construction  of  a  great  number  of  small  cities.  Hundreds  of  these  have  passed 
and  are  now  passing  through  their  periods  of  infancy,  youth  and  ^  adolescence 
toward  a  maturity  which  foreigh  cities  attained  long  ago.  Their  sanitation  takes 
place  as  they  grow. 

The  first  important  sanitary  improvement  to  be  made  in  the  growing  village 
is  the  public  water  supply.  This  leads  to  the  use  of  water  closets  and,  to  accommo- 
date the  drainage  from  these,  cess-pools  are  built.  The  privies,  the  original  pro- 
vision for  the  disposal  of  excrement,  are  then  eliminated.  Street  pavements  are 
presently  considered  and  the  cleaning  of  the  pavement  and  the  collection  of  house 
refuse  by  municipal"  effort  followed.  At  first  garbage  is  collected  by  scavengers 
at  the  private  expense  of  the  householders;  later  it  is  done  at  public  expense. 
The  young  city  may  now  be  said  to  have  passed  through  its  period  of  infancy  and 
entered  that  of  youth. 

A  sewerage  system  is  built  later  in  the  city's  growth.  During  this  period 
the  houses  are  gradually  built  closer  to  one  another  and  in  a  more  permanent 
form  of  construction  until  they  stand  in  a  compact  mass.  More  attention  is  given 
now  to  pavements  and  to  the  cleaning  of  them.  Parks  are  laid  out,  lighting  is 
improved,  ordinances  are  passed  regulating  many  sanitary  matters.  The  city  has 
now  reached  its  period  of  adolescence. 

The  period  of  maturity,  that  is,  the  period  in  which  civic  responsibility  begins 
fully  to  express  itself,  come  last.  The  regulation  of  building  construction,  the  con- 
trol of  traffic  and  the  adoption  of  farsightect  plans  to  insure  public  health  and 
safety  are  often  taken  up  at  this  time.  They  should  have  been  considered  at  a 
much  earlier  period.  It  is  always  easier  to  carry  out  a  plan  which  has  been  made 
before-hand  .than  one  which  has  had  to  be  prepared  after  permanent  constructions 
and  settled  procedures  have  for  some  time  been  in  existence. 

How  to  Get  Better  Sanitation. — It  is  instructive  to  observe  how  often  it  is 
that  a  community  owes  its  sanitary  improvements  to  its  business  men.  It  might  be 
supposed  that  the  principles  of  sanitation  were  more  within  the  grasp  of  profes- 


SANITATION  341 

sional  men  than  of  those  whose  attention  was  chiefly  occupied  with  manufacture 
and  trade  and  that  doctors  and  lawyers  and  ministers  would  be  foremost  to  see 
that  the  health  and  welfare  of  the  public  were  properly  looked  after.  This  is  not, 
however,  always  the  fact.  There  is  no  disposition  to  belittle  the  help  which  pro- 
fessional men  can  give,  but  an  experience  in  public  work  which  covers  many  years 
and  extends  over  many  cities  and  states  shows  that  when  it  comes  to  municipal 
improvements  it  is  the  commercial  element  which  usually  exercises  both  the 
initiating  and  sustaining  influence. 

The  explanation  of  this  is  simple  enough.  The  general  subject  of  sanitation 
is  not  so  complicated  as  to  be  the  exclusive  province  of  any  class  or  profession. 
Certainly  the  need  of  sanitation  and  the  benefits  of  it  can  be  understood  by  every 
intelligent  person.  Business  men  are  accustomed  to  weigh  returns  against  ex- 
penditures and  readily  appreciate  that  sanitation  is  a  sound  investment.  Moreover 
they  are  accustomed  to  action  and  when  they  get  together  to  obtain  action  for  the 
public  welfare  they  are  apt  to  get  it. 

Often  the  important  thing  to  know  is  what  to  do  in  order  to  improve  the 
sanitation  of  a  city.  Why  is  the  death  rate  high?  What  should  be  done  to  reduce 
it  under  the  particular  circumstances  which  exist?  In  answering  these  questions 
many  technical  and  financial  details  may  have  to  be  considered.  This  is  properly 
the  work  of  experts.  An  unprejudiced  expert  should  be  called  on  to  make  a 
report  based  on  a  study  of  the  local  situation  and  on  a  knowledge  of  what  other 
cities  have  done  and  are  doing  under  similar  circumstances.  This  report  should 
serve  as  a  program  behind  which  the  solid  common  sense  -of  the  municipality  can 
array  itself. 

When  a  city  needs  a  health  program,  as  every  city  does,  the  best  way  to  get 
it  is  for  the  business  men  to  demand  it  of  the  municipal  administration  through 
their  commercial  organizations.  If  the  municipality  does  not  possess  the  talent 
for  the  work  an  expert  should  be  called  in  from  outside.  In  many  cases  commercial 
organizations  have  themselves  employed  experts  to  make  'investigations  and  reports 
to  serve  as  a  guide  to  the  citizens  in  demanding  what  is  proper. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  what  can  a  city  afford  to  spend  for  sanitation? 
The  answer  is  that  it  can  afford  to  spend  whatever  is  necessary  in  order  to  make 
it  healthy.  If  it  is  already  healthy  it  need  spend  but  little ;  if  it  is  unhealthy  it  must 
of  course  spend  more.  A  city,  like  a  man,  must  have  health  if  it  is  fully  to  realize 
its  possibilities.  Epidemics  paralyze  business  and  a  high  death  rate  is  a  reflection 
upon  the  good  business  sense  of  a  community.  In  many  cases  investments  for 
sanitation  should  be  looked  upon  as  insurance  policies. 

Every  city  and  every  village  ought  to  have  a  program  of  development;  a 
plan  to  build  to,  a  settled  scheme  of  construction  to  refer  details  to.  This  program 
should  be  prepared  early  in  order  to  keep  the  growth  properly  proportioned  and 
prevent  the  excessive  development  of  some  relatively  unimportant  features  at  the 
sacrifice  of  the  essential.  Paramount  in  such  a  scheme  should  be  suitable  pro- 
visions for  health. 

Although  a  considerable  investment  of  capital  has  to  be  put  into  sanitary 
works,  the  maintenance  charges  are  not  excessive  as  compared  with  the  adminis- 
trative costs  of  hand  labor  which  is  often  used  as  a  substitute  to  accomplish  the 
same  result.  It  must  not  be  expected,  however,  that  good  sanitary  works  can  be 
built  or  that  they  can  be  effectively  operated  without  care.  Skill  and  attention  in 
design  and  construction  and  operation  are  indispensable  to  the  best  results. 

Although  no  attempt  will  be  made  here  to  show  what  large  investments 
are  made  by  every  up-to-date  city  for  the  purposes  of  sanitation,  it  may  interest 
some  to  ^know  what  share  of  the  total  yearly  outlay  is  devoted  to  this  purpose 
by  the  cities  of  the  United  States. 

Among  the  219  cities  of  30,000  or  more  population  in  the  United  States  for 
every  ten  dollars  put  out  each  year  for  all  purposes  of  administrative  effort  'one 
dollar  and  ten  cents  on  the  average  is  expended  for  health  and  sanitation.  The 
amount  varies  among  the  different  cities  according  to  the  natural  advantages  of  the 
site  with  reference  to  water  supply,  drainage,  kind  of  population  and  commercial 
and  industrial  conditions,  and  according  to  the  foresight  and  business  ability  with 
which  the  work  is  planned  and  carried  out.  The  percentage  of  the  total  yearly 
expenditure  which  is  devoted  to  health  and  sanitation  sometimes  runs  as  high  as 
twice  the  figure  stated  and  occasionally  falls  to  about  one-half  of  it.  The  size  of 
the  city  does  not  affect  the  per  cent. 


342  S-ECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

THE    POPULATION    AND    SANITARY    PROGRESS    OF    SOUTH    AND    CEN- 
TRAL   AMERICA    AND    THE    WEST    INDIES 

BY  FREDERICK  L.  HOFFMAN,  THIRD  VICE  PRESIDENT  AND  STATISTICIAN,  THE 
PRUDENTIAL  INSURANCE  COMPANY  OF  AMERICA,  NEWARK,  N.  J. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

The  present  address  is  in  part  an  amplification  of  a  previous  discussion  on 
the  "Significance  of  a  Declining  Death  Rate,"  originally  read  before  the  National 
Conference  on  Race  Betterment,  Battle  Creek,  Mich.,  January,  1914.  Few  seem  to 
realize  the  truly  tremendous  significance  of  mortality  changes  or  the  effect  of  a 
declining  death  rate  on  population  growth  and  development.  Combining  all  the 
statistics  available  for  South  and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies,  it  would 
appear  that  the  population  has  increased  from  approximately  52,000,000  in  1886  to 
89,000,000  in  1915,  an  actual  increase  of  37,000,000,  equivalent  to  70.2  per  cent.  The 
annual  rate  of  increase,  however,  for  this  period  is  not  quite  2^  per  cent,  or 
equivalent  to  an  actual  annual  population  growth  of  about  1,227,000.  If  this  rate 
of  increase  should  continue  for  the  next  50  years,  there  would  be  by  1965,  on  the 
assumption  of  a  geometrical  ratio,  a  maximum  population  of  223,500,000,  or,  on  a 
much  more  conservative  arithmetical  ration,  a  minimum  population  of  150,500,000. 
In  neither  of  these  estimates  is  proper  allowance  made  for  the  affect  of  a  further 
and  material  decline  in  the  general  death  rate,  which,  if  taken  into  account,  would 
seem  to  justify  the  assumption  that  by  1965  the  probable  population  of  South  and 
Central  America  and  the  West  Indies  will  not  be  less  than  200,000,000. 

Such  a  population  growth  must  necessarily  imply  truly  tremendous  oppor- 
tunities for  trade  and  commercial  intercourse.  With  the  improvement  in  transpor- 
tation facilities  the  enormous  natural  resources  of  this  vast  area  will  become  avail- 
able and  will  naturally  offer  a  further  inducement  to  population  growth  by  immi- 
gration. It  is  a  reasonable  assumption  that  in  less  than  25  years  our  foreign  trade 
with  the  countries  to  the  south  of  us  will  be  far  in  excess  of  the  present  amount, 
which  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  opportunities  for  a  highly  developed  com- 
mercial intercourse. 

The  recent  growth  in  population  is  in  a  large  measure  the  result  of  favorable 
mortality  changes.  Combining  the  available  mortality  statistics  for  22  cities  of 
South  and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies,  with  a  population  of  not  quite 
6,000,000  in  1913,  it  appears  that  the  general  death  rate  of  this  registration  area 
has  progressively  declined  from  24-5  per  thousand  of  population  in  1904  to  23.2 
in  1909,  and  to  20.1  in  1914.  Dturing  1915  the  rate  was  only  19.1  per  thousand. 
During  the  last  two  or  three  years  the  rate  has  been  somewhat  higher,  but  returns 
for  all  the  communities  concerned  are  not  as  yet  available. 

The  mortality  rates,  though  relatively  high,  must  nevertheless  be  considered 
most  favorable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  cities  under  consideration  include  a 
large  proportion  of  Indian,  negro  and  mixed-blood  population,  subject  to  a  higher 
death  rate  than  the  native  white  element.  In  the  southern  States  of  the  United 
States,  for  illustration,  the  death  rate  of  the  white  element  is  13.0  per  thousand,  and 
of  the  colored  19.0.  The  sanitary  progress  of  practically  all  the  principal  cities  of 
South  and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies  is  therefore  most  gratifying 
evidence  of  an  aroused  interest  in  sanitary  reforms.  The  possibilities  of  a  further 
reduction  are,  however,  extremely  encouraging.  The  earlier  excess  was  largely  in 
consequence  of  a  high  death  rate  from  small  pox,  yellow  fever  and  malaria  and 
its  complications.  Modern  sanitary  reform'  concerns  itself  not  only  with  acute 
infectious  diseases,  particularly  water-born  or  insect-born,  but  also  with  the  larger 
question  of  physical  examination  and  the  medical  supervision  of  children  and  young 
persons  as  best  illustrated  by  the  remarkable  work  of  Dr.  Louis  Shapiro  in  Costa 
Rica.  Before  enlarging  upon  the  details  for  particular  localities,  attention  may  be 
directed  to  the  available  mortality  records  of  some  20  states  of  Central  and  South 
America  and  the  West  Indies,  though  more  or  less  incomplete  for  the  earlier  years. 
The  average  death  rate  of  this  group,  which  in  1915  had  an  aggregate  population 
of  30,000,000,  decreased  from  30.7  per  1,000  of  population  in  1897  to  27.2  in  1902, 
and  26.0  in  1907.  The  most  remarkable  decline,  however,  occurred  during  the  last 
ten  years,  when  the  rate  was  reduced  to  20.0  in  1912  and  to  18-8  in  1915.  Granting 
that  the  returns  are  merely  an  approximation,  they  are  for  too  large  an  area  and 
too  vast  an  aggregate  of  population  not  to  be,  in  the  main,  sufficient  for  the  present 


SANITATION  343 

purpose.  The  fact  must  not  be  overlooked  that  even  for  the  United  States  we 
have  trustworthy  mortality  data  for  only  two-thirds  of  the  total  population,  and  the 
returns  are  chiefly  for  very  recent  years.  The  progress  in  the  registration  of  vital 
statistics,  their  accuracy  and  scientific  classification,  is  commendable  evidence  of 
the  high  degree  of  attained  civilization  in  the  countries  and  cities  to  the  south  of  us. 
The  area  of  South  and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies  is  approxi- 
mately 8,268,000  square  miles,  against  not  quite  3,000,000  square  miles  for  the 
United  States  and  not  quite  4,000,000  square  miles  for  Canada  and  Newfoundland. 
The  approximate  density  of  population  in  1915  was  about  11  persons  per  square 
mile  for  South  and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies,  against  2.1  for  Canada 
and  33.8  for  the  United  States.  It,  however,  is  a  safe  assumption  that  a  much  larger 
area  in  South  and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies  is  fit  or  useful  for  human 
habitation  than  is  the  case  with  the  waste  spaces  of  northern  Canada,  reaching  prac- 
tically to  the  Pole.  It  is  furthermore  a  self-evident  conclusion  that  the  area  under 
consideration  in  the  countries  to  the  south  of  us  has  vastly  greater  potential  pos- 
sibilities for  future  growth  and  development,  all  inter-dependent  with  a  healthy 
population  growth.  Further  sanitary  progress,  in  South  and  Central  America  and 
the  West  Indies  must  enormously  enhance  the  productive  capacity  of  these  countries, 
which  as  yet  have  only  commenced  to  contribute  to  the  world's  increasing  need 
for  adequate  food  supplies.  If,  for  illustration,  the  population  of  such  an  island  as 
Jamaica  were  entirely  rid  of  malaria  and  related  diseases,  of  ankylostomiasis, 
syphilis  and  yaws,  the  productive  capacity  of  that  most  beautiful  island  in  the 
West  Indies  would  be  enormously  increased.  In  Costa  Rica,  under  the  direction  of 
Dr.  Shapiro  and  the  International  Health  Board,  there  has  been  a  veritable  physical 
regeneration  of  the  people  due  to  the  gradual  elimination  of  ankylostomiasis, 
malaria  and  kindred  diseases.  What  is  imperatively  needed  is  more  information 
and  such  investigations  as  those  of  the  Harvard  School  of  Tropical  Medicine,  whose 
report  of  a  First  Expedition  to  South  America  was  issued  in  1913,  is  a  favorable 
indication  of  substantial  progress.  First  and  last,  however,  the  health  problem 
of  South  and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies  concerns  malaria,  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  resolution  adopted  by  -the  Second  Pan  American  Scientific  Con- 
gress, reading  that: 

The  Second  Pan  American  Scientific  Congress,  recognizing  that 
the  education  of  the  public  in  the  elementary  facts  of  malaria  is  of  the 
utmost  importance,  requests  that 

The.  American    Republics    inaugurate   a    well-considered   plan    of 
malaria  eradication  based  upon  the  recognition  of  the  principle  that  the 
disease  is  preventable  to  a  much  larger  degree  than  has  thus  far  been 
achieved, 

will  not  be  lost  sight  of,  but  made  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  and  active  health 
propaganda  throughout  the  countries  concerned.  During  the  year  1916  the  average 
death  rate  for  the  United  States  registration  area  was  14.0  per  thousand  of  popu- 
lation. For  the  city  of  New  York  for  the  same  year  the  death  rate  was  13.9  per 
thousand ;  for  Buenos  Aires  the  death  rate  was  14.6  per  thousand  during  the  year 
1916,  against  a  rate  of  22.1  in  1895.  The  city  of  La  Plata  decreased  its  mortality 
from  18.0  in  1911  to  15.6  in  1916.  The  city  of  Rosario  Santa  Fe  reduced  its  death 
rate  from  28.9  in  1900  to  18.9  in  1915.  In  Brazil  exceptional  progress  has  been 
made,  but  the  outlook  for  the  future  is  particularly  encouraging,  due  to  the  coop- 
eration of  the  Brazilian  government  with  the  International  Health  Board  of  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation.  Such  reports  as  those  on  'The  Sanitary  Conditions  and 
Diseases  Prevailing  in  Manaos,  North  Brazil,"  by  H.  Wolferstan  Thomas,  of  the 
Liverpool  School  of  Tropical  Medicine,  are  evidence  of  sound  scientific  methods 
which  must  needs  lead  to  promising  results.  Superficial  surveys  and  observations 
like  those,  for  illustration,  contained  in  the  Rice  Expedition  to  Brazil,  are  more  of 
a  hindrance  than  a  help.  A  splendid  report  has  been  published  on  the  Sanitary 
Campaign  in  Brazil,  by  Dr.  Theophilo  Torres,  Vice  President  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Medicine,  but  unfortunately  no  translation  in  English  thereof  is  at 
present  available.  The  same  conclusion  applies  to  the  Memoirs  of  the  Institute 
of  Oswaldo  Cruz,  which  are  available  to  the  student  of  tropical  medicine,  but 
which  at  the  same  time  reflect  the  enormous  sanitary  and  health  progress  of 
Brazil  as  the  result  of  strictly  scientific  investigations  not  surpassed  by  the  re- 
search work  of  any  corresponding  institute  in  the  world.  Amng  the  many  illus- 
trations of  the  useful  \\ork  of  the  Institute  of  Oswaldo  Cruz,  proper  mention  may 
be  made  of  a  scientific  investigation  by  two  physicians,  based  upon  personal  inquiry 


344  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

in  the  states  of  Bahia,  Pernambuco,  Piauhi  and  Goiaz.  The  authors,  for  illustra- 
tion, in  discussing  leprosy  make  the  statement  that  this  disease  is  particularly 
prevalent  in  the  southern  part  of  Goiaz.  Valuable  observations  and  statistics  on 
leprosy  are  included  in  the  reports  of  Dr.  Mario  da  Silva  Nazareth,  made  to  the 
sanitary  authorities  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  What  is  true  of  Brazil  is  more  or  less  true 
of  every  other  state  of  South  and  Central  America,  although,  unfortunately,  the 
official  evidence  is  rarely  accessible  to  American  investigators.  The  government 
of  Argentina  has,  for  illustration,  made  public  some  extremely  valuable  researches 
on  Malaria  Prophylaxis,  and  on  the  results  of  local  efforts  to  eradicate  malaria 
in  the  most  affected  areas.  If  these  reports  were  available  in  English  they  would 
be  most  useful  to  the  American  Malaria  Committee  and  other  students  of  a  health 
problem  of  the  first  importance. 

The  sanitary  progress  of  Brazil  is  reflected  in  the  material  improvement  in 
the  health  of  the  principal  cities.  In  the  city  of  Bahia  there  has  been  a  decrease 
in  the  death  rate  from  34.5  per  thousand  in  1897  to  13.6  in  1915.  For  the  city  of 
Bello  Horizonte,  the  death  rate  declined  from  22.3  per  thousand  in  1908  to  16.8 
in  1916.  The  city  of  Manaos  reports  a  decline  from  35.4  in  1903  to  only  15.3  in 
1907,  and  for  the  city  of  Pelotas  the  reduction  is  reported  from  22.5  in  1899  to 
18.3  in  1917.  The  most  extraordinary  decrease  in  the  death  rate,  however,  occurred 
in  the  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  which  in  the  period  1859-63  had  an  average  mortality 
of  58.2  per  thousand  of  population.  The  rate  declined  to  30.5  during  1884-88 ;  to 
only  20.8  during  1914-17,  and  to  as  low  as  18.8  during  the  year  1916. 

Such  evidences  of  progress  are  not  the  result  of  chance,  or  of  natural  causes, 
but  they  are  the  consequence  of  a  deliberate  policy  of  sanitary  reform  and  sanitary 
control.  Other  illustrations  could  be  given  for  practically  all  the  states  and  cities 
of  South  and  Central  America,  including  the  West  Indies;  but  additional  details 
would  unduly  enlarge  the  present  discussion.  There  are,  of  course,  exceptions,  for 
there  remain  a  number  of  localities  with  decidedly  unsatisfactory  health  condi- 
tions. It  is,  however,  a  foregone  conclusion  that  in  a  few  more  years  these  also 
will  be  under  reasonable  control.  Reference  need  only  be  made  to  the  fact  that 
the  city  of  Havana  in  1898  experienced  a  death  rate  of  89.1  per  thousand  of  popu- 
lation, against  a  rate  of  18.8  per  thousand  during  1916,  and  that  the  city  of 
Guayaquil  experienced  a  decline  in  the  death  rate  from  57.7  in  1897  to  42-1  in  1911 
and  34.7  in  1917.  It  is  sincerely  to  be  hoped  that  the  investigations  which  are  now. 
being  made  by  a  special  commission  of  the  International  Health  Board  of  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation,  of  which  Major  General  Gorgas  is  the  chairman,  will 
result  in  far-reaching  benefits  to  the  localities  in  the  southern  portion  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere  which  are  still  afflicted  with  yellow  fever,  plague  and  malaria 
fever  in  a  pernicious  form.  In  view  of  the  actual  achievements  in  sanitary  progress 
it  is  safe  to  forecast  a  further  material  reduction  in  the  general  death  rate.  Such 
a  reduction  if  the  birth  rate  should  not  suffer  a  corresponding  decline  would  result 
in  a  further  increase  in  population,  with  the  practical  certainty  that  the  previous 
forecast  of  population  growth  would  be  exceeded  during  the  next  fifty  years.  The 
people  of  the  northern  portion  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  have  therefore  good  reason 
for  a  much  more  active  interest  in  all  that  concerns  the  social  and  economic  progress 
of  South  and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies.  The  Pan  American  Union, 
the  Pan  American  Scientific  Congress,  as  well  as  other  gatherings  must  needs 
prove  helpful  in  the  direction  of  a  broadening  understanding  of  the  problems  of 
mutual  concern  to  all  the  countries  of  the  Western  Hemisphere.  But  the  most 
promising  field  is  the  vast  domain  of  commerce  which  ministers  to  the  needs  not 
only  of  the  people  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  but  of  the  world.  It  is  therefore 
particularly  encouraging  to  meet  with  such  a  whole-hearted  spirit  of  cooperation 
and  intelligent  coordination  on  the  part  of  the  Pan  American  Commercial  Con- 
gress, which  properly  brings  this  gathering  within  the  romance  of  commerce  as 
one  of  the  unthought-of  solutions  of  world  problems  _  of  an  earlier  day.  The 
romantic  history  of  Venice,  of  Florence,  of  the  Hanseatic  League,  does  not  reveal 
a  more  forcible  illustration  of  progress  in  the  arts  of  peace  than  does  this  gathering 
of  representatives  of  commerce  and  industry,  held  together  by  the  tie  of  the  Pan 
American  Union,  the  very  thought  and  conception  of  which  reflects  the  greater 
wisdom  and  higher  altruism  of  the  statesmen  and  leaders  of  today  than  the  men 
of  a  great  historic  past. 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  345 

COMMERCIAL  INTELLIGENCE  AND  PUBLICITY 

LATIN    AMERICA    AND    THE    ASSOCIATED    PRESS 

BY  F.  B.  NOYES,   PRESIDENT  ASSOCIATED  PRESS. 

(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

In  order  that  you  may  understand  the  new  relation  that  has  recently  been 
created  between  the  press  of  North,  South  and  Central  America  I  should  begin, 
I  think,  by  explaining  to  you  what  the  Associated  Press  really  is  and  what  it 
conceives  its  functions  to  be. 

The  Associated  Press  is  a  mutual  cooperative  association  of  something  more 
than  1100  newspapers  formed  to  supply  its  members,  and  its  members  only,  with 
a  truthful,  clean,  comprehensive,  non-partisan — and  this  in  its  broadest  sense — 
report  of  the  news  of  the  world  as  expeditiously  as  is  compatible  with  accuracy 
and  as  economically  as  possible. 

The  Association  has  no  capital  stock  and  is  forbidden  by  its  Charter  to 
make  or  distribute  profits.  . 

In  the  extent  and  importance  of  its  operations  it  is  probably  the  most 
notable  cooperative  effort  now  functioning. 

The  organization  maintains  its  own  bureaus  or  correspondents  throughout 
the  world  in  addition  to  its  exchange  arrangements  with  Reuter  and  Havas  with 
their  allied  agencies  and  the  Canadian  Press. 

It  is  probably  the  largest  private  customer  of  the  cable  and  telegraphic 
lines  and  expends  millions  of  dollars  annually  in  collecting  and  distributing  its 
news  service. 

Unlike  many  news  gathering  concerns  of  other  countries  it  is  in  no  sense 
a  governmental  agency. 

Since  its  organization  it  has  refused  to  handle  "propaganda"  matter,  being 
firm  in  the  belief  that  its  function  was  properly  limited  to  supplying  a  news 
service  to  its  members  that  should  be  without  bias  so  far  as  that  is  humanly 
possible. 

This  sort  of  an  organization  appealed  to  some  of  the  most  important 
South  American  newspapers  and  they  informed  us  frankly  of  their  desire  to 
receive  our  service. 

This  led  to  a  very  careful  study  on  our  part  of  the  news  situation  in 
South  and  Central  America  which  eventuated  in  an  invitation  from  the  Asso- 
ciated Press  to  a  number  of  leading  newspapers  in  South  and  Central  America 
— not  to  buy. our  service,  not  to  become  customers  or  clients  but  to  join  us  as 
full  members  of  our  cooperative  organization. 

It  is  a  matter  of  pride  to  the  Associated  Press  that  this  invitation  to  our 
fellowship  was  instantly  accepted  and  that  we  now  list  among  our  members 
the  most  important  journals  in  the  countries  to  the  South  of  the  United  States, 
for  we  have  had  members  in  Mexico  and  Cuba  for  years. 

The  news  service  began  on  January  1st  of  this  year  and  I  am  firm  in  the 
belief  that  this  exchange  of  true,  ungarbled  and  unbiased  news  is  more  effectual 
in  cultivating  and  maintaining  the  relations  of  friendship  and  affection  that 
should  exist  between  the  two  continents  of  this  hemisphere  than  all  the  prop- 
aganda that  could  be  fed  out  by  all  the  publicity  agents  that  could  be  put  to 
work. 

The  bases  of  our  relationship  with  our  new  members  are  those  of  equality, 
of  mutual  respect,  of  full  confidence. 

Our  South  American  members  know  that  the  news  reports  sent  them  will 
be  straight  news  with  no  ulterior  purpose  and  we  have  the  same  belief  as  to 
the  news  coming  North. 

From  what  I  have  told, you,  I  am  sure  that  it  must  be  clear  that  the  in- 
terest of  the  Associated  Press  in  the  specific  commercial  projects  that  this  con- 
ference is  discussing  must  be  purely  platonic. 

Any  aid  to   general  buying  and  selling  that  this   fellowship  of  the  news- 
papers of  North  and  South  America  brings  will  be  only  a  by-product  of  a  re- 
lation that  had  no  such  object  in  mind  as  an  incentive  to  its  creation. 
f  I  may  with  propriety  say,  however,  that  the  growth  in  commerce  that  you 

are  planning  for  must  be  built  on  the  same  bases  as  those  I  have  stated  as  the 


346  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

foundation  stones  of  the  relations  of  our  new  and  old  members — equality,  mutual 
respect,  full  confidence. 

While  our  organization  will  therefore  be  only  a  systematic  onlooker  in 
the  progress  you  seek  to  accomplish  the  work  we  are  doing  is  of  immense  im- 
portance to  you. 

We  are  making  peoples  know  each  other,  know  each  other's  habits,  know 
each  other's  likes  and  dislikes,  virtues  and  foibles. 

Why,  it  is  only  within  the  last  few  weeks  that  the  people  of  this  country 
have  learned  through  the  Associated  Press  that  foot  ball  is  an  international 
sport  in  South  America.  This  may  seem  supremely  unimportant  but  it  is  not. 
It  is  very  important,  for  it  goes  to  the  vitals  of  a  mutual  understanding  and 
sympathy. 

On  Wednesday  a  cable  came  from  Brazil  saying  that  ai  foot  ball  team  from 
Bethlehem,  Pa.,  had  accepted  an  invitation  to  visit  Brazilian  cities  and  that  it 
was  reported  that  the  United  States  Football  Association  had  under  considera- 
tion an  invitation  to  send  a  team  to  the  next  South  American  Championship 
tournament. 

Believe  me,  when  we  play  foot  ball  together  we  are  making  progress. 

The  beginning  of  the  flow  of  our  news  from  North  to  South  and  from 
South  to  North  carried  with  it,  of  course,  a  great  strengthening  of  our  Bureaus 
in  South  America  and  is  now,  having  a  collateral  effect  in  causing  a  more  ener- 
getic collection  of  news  from  Spain  and  Portugal,  in  the  news  of  which  coun- 
tries our  new  members  are  especially  interested. 

I  am  afraid  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  add  much  to  the  sum  of  human 
knowledge  in  what  I  have  said  to  you. 

I  would  have  you  know  that  the  North  American  members  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Press  enthusiastically  welcome  to  the  ranks  of  the  organization  the  new 
members  from  the  South.  We  greatly  prize  the  friendships  that  are  growing 
up  from  this  association,  we  are  proud  that  these  high  types  of  journalists  of 
South  America  are  fellow  members  and  we  hope  and  believe  that  they  too  re- 
gard us  as  friends  and  comrades. 

I  feel  sure  that  I  am  speaking  for  our  South  American  as  well  as  the 
North  American  members  in  saying  that  we  wish  you  Godspeed  in  your  work. 

We  hope  with  you  for  an  unceasing  stream  of  ships  carrying  cargo  and 
passengers  both  North  and  South.  For  us,  we  will  see  to  it  that  a  neverending 
stream  of  news  of  the  world's  happenings,  its  accomplishments  and  its  failings 
shall  flow  between  the  two  continents  so  that  our  peoples  shall  know  each 
other  better,  feeling  sure  that  as  they  know  each  other  they  will  like  each  other 
more  and  more. 


PAN    AMERICAN    JOURNALISM    AS    THE    TORCH    OF    PROGRESS 

BY  HERBERT  S.  HOUSTON,  EDITOR,  SPANISH  EDITION  OF  THE  WORLD'S  WORK. 
(Read  at  the  Evening  Session  of  Thursday,  June  5) 

When  General  Bartoleme  Mitre  reestablished  the  independence  of  Argentina 
he  found  a  newspaper  to  aid  in  safeguarding  and  perpetuating  that  independence, 
and  he  gave  to  it  a  title  that  clearly  heralded  its  mission — "La  Nacion."  That 
was  no  casual  matter,  something  that  just  happened  to  happen,  but  a  logical,  almost 
an  essential  result  in  a  war  for  liberty.  Out  of  the  fire  and  smoke  of  battle  came 
the  torch  that  was  to  light  the  way  to  democratic  progress.  So  it  has  been  through- 
out the  world,  ever  since  the  Greek  scholars  bore  the  new  learning  into  Western 
Europe,  where  it  came  with  the  Spanish  and  English  and  French  to  these  western 
continents.  This  learning  was  the  light  and  leaven  of  democracy  and  its  spread 
has  been  by  the  printed  page. 

When  the  time  came  that  these  western  democracies  were  ready  for  coopera- 
tion it  was  a  newspaper  editor  who  had  the  vision  to  grasp  that  fact  and  aid  in 
establishing  the  Pan  American  Union.  Nor  was  it  a  mere  accident  that  this 
torch-bearer  was  a  newspaper  man  for  that  was  and  is  the  place  of  the  newspaper 
man  in  the  march  of  progress.  James  G.  Elaine  of  The  Kennebec  Journal,  true  to 
the  high  obligation  of  his  profession,  simply  translated  his  vision  into  a  definite 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  347 

agency  of  service  and  forth-with  the  Pan  American  principle  of  inter-relationship 
among  these  republics  of  the  West  was  embodied  in  fact.  And  that  principle,  as 
the  present  Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union  has  often  pointed  out, 
is  the  creative  <  idea  that  animates  the  organization  we  now  see  taking  form  as 
the  crowning  triumph  of  democracy — the  League  of  Nations.  In  Paris,  a  few  days 
ago,  the  President  of  the  United  States  at  a  dinner  in  honor  of  the  President- 
elect of  Brazil  referred  to  these  relations,  that  have  been  steadily  growing  in  this 
hemisphere,  as  the  impulse  which  has  led  to  a  sort  of  mutual  pledge  on  the  part 
of  all  the  self-governing  nations  of  the  world  that  they  will  be  friends  to  each 
other,  not  only,  but  that^they  will  take  pains  to  secure  each  other's  safety  ancj 
independence  and  territorial  integrity. 

To  this  sentiment  the  President  of  Brazil  gave  generous  and  hearty  response, 
expressing  complete  agreement  with  the  view  outlined  by  President  Wilson.  And  as 
if  to  confirm  the  soundness  of  the  view  and  to  throw  into  dramatic  relief  the 
"solidarity  of  interest"  between  the  republics  of  the  two  continents,  to  which 
President  Pessoa  so  eloquently  referred,  the  newspapers  of  this  country,  in  their 
capacity  as  torches  of  business  carried  advertisements  offering  to  North  American 
investors  $10,000,000  in  bonds  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  the  same  issues  that  carried  the 
news  of  the  addresses  of  the  two  Presidents  in  Paris.  The  news  was  a  beacon 
of  understanding  while  the  advertising  was  a  beacon  of  financial  light  and  accom- 
modation, the  bond  issue  being  quickly  oversubscribed;  and  both  beacons  were  so 
luminous  with  genuine  Pan  Americanism  that  they  may  even  have  enlightened  that 
Brazilian  journalist  who  had  recently  returned  to  Rio  de  Janeiro  from  this 
country,  bearing  strange  tales  of  the  militaristic  spirit  of  the  United  States  and  of 
the  hostile  purposes  that  were  to  be  carried  out  against  the  republics  south  of 
Panama.  Seldom  has  exuberant  fancy  been  so  speedily  overtaken,  as  it  was  in  this 
case,  by  the  blazing  torch  of  fact.  And  by  a  fine  stroke  of  journalistic  justice  the 
press  which  had  spread  the  dark  rumors,  likewise  spread  the  illuminating  truth 
and  before  it  the  rumors  scattered  as  mist  before  the  sun. 

Its  great  mission  as  torch  bearer  of  progress,  the  Press  fulfills  by  rendering 
three  wholly  distinct  but  related  services.  It  is  the  torch  of  news,  of  opinion  and 
of  advertising.  But  its  basic  service  to  the  world  is  as  the  torch  of  news.  Through 
and  by  this  torch  the  light  of  understanding  is  transmitted  by  which  men  may  be 
guided  in  their  relations  with  each  other,  with  government,  with  business — in  fact, 
with  the  whole  range  of  human  activities.  In  the  words  of  Scripture,  "if  this 
light  be  darkness  then  how  great  is  that  darkness."  Here  is  the  fundamental 
duty  of  the  journalist.  He  must  see  to  it  that  the  torch  of  news  is  lighted  with 
truth.  Otherwise  the  torch  spreads  the  darkness  of  error  and  falsehood,  leading 
to  misunderstanding  and  even  to  serious  disagreements  and  wars.  We  have  seen 
in  the  past  five  years  to  what  length  German  propaganda  could  go  in  swinging 
throughout  the  two  Americas  the  smoking  and  murky  torch  of  falsehood.  That 
object  lesson  has  been  so  overwhelming,  even  endangering  our  liberties,  that  it 
should  require  nothing  more  to  convince  us  that  darkness  is  always  spread  by 
falsehood  and  to  persuade  us  that  our  deliverance  from  German  darkness  should 
cause  us  to  cleave  forever  to  the  light  of  truth.  But  alas,  the  human  memory  is 
short  and  human  resolution  is  often  weak — for  even  as  we  meet  here  in  Wash- 
ington there  are  not  wanting  signs  that  German  propaganda,  in  even  a  more 
furtive  and  subtle  way  than  ever  before,  is  beginning  to  reappear.  Surely  this 
presents  to  honest  Pan  American  journalism  a  clear  mandate  and  obligation.  In 
our  hands  is  the  torch  of  democratic  liberty  in  this  hemisphere.  We  must  hold  it 
aloft  and  send  from  it  such  searching  rays  that  no  lurking  propaganda  that  would 
divide  these  republics  by  falsehood  and  misunderstanding  can  go  undetected.  And 
I  should  like  to  urge  upon  this  >  Pan  American  Commercial  Congress  that  it  adopt 
the  following  plan  and  give  it  immediate  effect. 

"Believing  that  Pan  American  journalism  is  the  torch  of  democratic  liberty 
and  the  conserver  and  protector  of  the  democratic  spirit  in  the  republics  of  North 
and  South  America, 

"Therefore  be  it  decided  upon  by  this  Pan  American  Commercial  Congress, 
in  session  in  Washington,  June  2-4,  1919,  that  a  committee  of  journalists  to  be 
made  up  of  two  from  each  country  represented  in  the  Pan  American  Union  be 
appointed  by  this  Congress  to  be  known  as  the  Vigilance  Committee  on  Democratic 
Information  and  to  serve,  under  the  general  direction  of  the  Pan  American  Union, 
as  an  agency  to  detect  and  to  reveal  any  propaganda  that  is  a  menace  to  demo- 
cratic institutions  and  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  republics  of  North  and 
South  America." 


348  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

While  I  incorporate  this  proposal  as  part  of  the  subject  matter  of  this 
address,  I  shall,  at  the  proper  time,  move  its  adoption. 

The  Pan  American  press  as  the  great  torch  of  news  has  recently  had  its 
light  vastly  increased  by  the  enterprise  of  the  Associated  Press  and  the  United 
Press,  in  enlarging  their  news  service  between  the  continents.  The  importance  of 
this  enlarged  service  is  incalculable.  It  means  better  understanding  and  greater 
friendship.  The  light  bearers  who  have  brought  this  to  pass,  Mr.  Frank  Noyes 
and  Mr.  Melville  Stone,  of  the  Associated  Press,  and  Mr.  Roy  Howard,  of  the 
United  Press,  deserve  not  merely  unstinted  thanks,  but  substantial  and  generous 
financial  support,  f or  they  are  building  for  Pan  American  good  will  the  only 
foundation  on  which  it  can  survive  and  grow — fthat  of  a  common  understanding. 
It  is  now  possible,  for  the  first  time,  to  weave  between  these  Republics  those 
bonds  of  knowledge  that  are  sure  to  become  the  bonds  of  peace  and  enduring 
friendship. 

In  this  country  great  journals  like  the  New  York  Sun,  the  New  York  Herald, 
the  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger,  have  opened  special  sections  for  the  presentation 
of  news  and  feature  articles  on  the  Latin  American  Republics.  These  more 
elaborate  articles,  supplementing  the  news  that  is  coming  daily  by  cable,  are  giving 
to  this  country  a  greater  breadth  of  knowledge  of  the  interest,  the  hopes,  the 
progress  of  Latin  America  than  we  have  ever  had  before.  And  the  journals  of 
South  America  and  of  Cuba  are  even  more  enterprising,  for  they  are  matching 
our  journals  by  giving  even  more  attention  to  North  American  news  than  we  give 
to  South  American  and  they  also  carry  on  in  this  country  and  in  Europe  edu- 
cational campaigns  in  regard  to  their  respective  countries.  It  is  often  invidious 
to  mention  names,  where  so  many  are  deserving  of  praise,  but  the  work  being 
done  by  the  Journal  de  Commercio  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  by  La  Nacion  and  La 
Prensa  of  Buenos  Aires,  by  El  Mercurio  of  Santiago,  and  by  El  Mundo  of  Havana 
is  deserving  of  particular  notice. 

This  recent  and  great  growth  in  the  amount  of  news  circulating  between 
the  continents  has  given  fresh  importance  to  the  second  distinctive  service  of 
the  press,  that  of  being  a  torch  of  opinion.  In  times  past  this  torch  has  not  always 
shed  a  strong,  clear  light.  And  the  reason  has  been  that  opinion  has  not  been  based 
on  full  and  accurate  knowledge.  Happily  this  is  fast  being  corrected  through  the 
cable  and  special  news  services  to  which  reference  has  been  made.  And  it  will 
be  still  further  corrected  if  insidious  propaganda  can  be  checked  through  a  strong 
committee  of  journalists  operating  under  the  general  guidance  of  the  Pan  American 
Union.  That  is  a  means  right  at  hand  that  can  turn  on  such  propaganda  a  '"piti- 
less publicity,"  both  through  the  torch  of  news  and  the  torch  of  opinion. 

In  interpreting  these  two  continents  to  each  other  it  is  essential  that  news  and 
opinion  be  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  present  a  well-balanced  and  accurate  pic- 
ture of  the  spirit,  the  activities  and  the  whole  broad  life  of  the  people  dwelling  in 
them.  Otherwise  the  picture  is  incomplete  and,  however  accurate  it  may  be  in 
some  respects,  the  total  impression  will  lack  proportion  and  focus.  There  has  been 
a  signal  illustration  of  this  that  has  become  so  familiar  that  we  may  have  lost 
its  significance.  It  has  been  the  good  fortune  of  the  United  States  to  be  repre- 
sented abroad  by  a  group  of  export  journals  of  unusual  force  and  ability.  The 
most  convincing  evidence  of  their  force  and  ability  is  the  fact  that  they  have 
had  much  to  do  with  gaining  for  this  country  the  reputation  of  being  ultra 
commercial,  even  to  the  point  of  losing  sight  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  values 
of  life.  In  short,  they  have  presented  but  one  side  of  this  country's  place  and 
power  in  the  world,  the  commercial.  Happily,  that  one-sided  picture  is  being  cor- 
rected through  the  publication,  in  the  past  few  years,  of  several  periodicals  that 
interpret  the  whole  broad  life  of  the  United  States  in  terms  of  human,  as  well 
as  of  commercial  values.  This  in  no  degree  lessens  the  importance  of  the  great 
export  and  trade  journals,  but  rather  supplements  it,  by  suppyling  what  they,  in  the 
very  nature  of  their  field  and  purpose,  have  not  even  undertaken  to  provide. 

In  the  three-fold  power  to  give  light,  through  news,  opinion  and  adver- 
tising, that  is  the  thesis  of  this  address  there  remains  to  be  considered  the  luminous 
quality  of  the  torch  of  advertising.  In  both  North  and  South  America  the  power 
of  advertising  has  come  to  be  one  of  the  most  potent  forces  in  business.  It  is 
being  studied  and  analyzed  as  never  before,  to  the  end  that  it  may  perform  with 
the  greatest  economy  and  efficiency  the  work  it  has  to  do  in  the  world.  And  a 
number  of  deductions  from  experience  have  been  crystallized  into  sound  practice. 
For  example,  it  is  generally  agreed  that  advertising,  like  all  business,  must  rest 
on  confidence,  and  that,  therefore,  it  must  be  guided  and  governed  by  truth.  A 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  349 

great  international  advertising  organization  has  taken  form  in  recent  years,  called 
the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World,  and  the  one  word  Truth  is  its 
motto  and  symbol.  In  this  country  it  has  been  responsible  for  placing  honest 
advertising  laws  on  the  statute  books  of  35  States  and  it  has  done  much  to 
standardize  advertising  practice.  This  powerful  association  is  to  hold  its  inter- 
national convention  in  New  Orleans  in  September  and  it  will  further  Pan  Ameri- 
can journalist^  if  the  advertising  interests  of  both  North  and  South  America  are 
represented  in  its  councils. 

For  one  thing,  the  journalists  of  Latin  America  will  learn  how  seriously  the 
publishers  and  business  men  in  this  country  look  upon  advertising  and  how  jealously 
they  guard  its  good  name.  In  this  connection  it  would  increase  both  friendship  and 
trade  between  the  continents  if  the  few  export  manufacturers  in  the  United  States 
who  are  careless  both  of  their  country's  reputation  and  their  own,  should  be  made 
known  to  publishers  so  that  they  might  be  denied  advertising  space  in  which  they 
could  offer  their  goods  for  sale.  As  a  publisher  I  believe  I  can  speak  for  North 
American  publishers  in  saying  that  we  would  not  knowingly  accept  an  announce- 
ment from  an  advertiser,  who  failed  to  deal  fairly  with  his  customers  or  whose 
goods  were  not  as  advertised.  And  I  have  been  commissioned  by  President  D'Arcy 
of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World  to  say,  here  and  now,  that  the 
Vigilance  Committee  of  the  Clubs  will  immediately  investigate,  without  charge, 
any  responsible  complaint,  either  of  unreliable  advertising  or  of  unfair  trade 
dealing,  brought  against  a  North  American  exporter.  The  great  body  of  ex- 
porters in  the  United  States  is  made  up  of  men  and  companies  of  the  highest 
character  and  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  are  organized  to  protect  both  them 
and  the  buyers  of  American  goods  against  the  sharp  practice  of  the  dishonest  few. 
The  Associated  Clubs  have  a  strong  legal  department,  equipped  for  investigation  of 
cases,  and,  where  the  facts  warrant,  for  prosecution,  and  in  their  name  I  publicly 
make  the  announcement  that  they  will  give  immediate  attention  to  all  responsible 
complaints  received  at  their  headquarters,  110  West  40th.  Street,  New  York  City. 

The  torch  of  advertising  should  be  lighted  with  truth  and  the  publishers 
of  Pan  America  owe  it  to  themselves,  to  their  readers  and  to  their  countries  to 
see  to  it  that  this  is  done. 

During  the  sessions  of  this  congress,  you  have  been  discussing  how  the  great 
and  growing  trade  between  the  two  continents  can  be  properly  financed.  As  the 
leading  bankers  in  this  country  see  it,  that  is  going  to  resolve  itself  at  last  in  a 
campaign  of  education.  The  investor  in  this  country  must  be  informed  with  respect 
to  the  desirability  and  safety  of  South  American  investments  and  in  regard  to 
the  necessity  of  this  country  making  these  investments  in  order  to  establish  proper 
credits  for  export  trade.  This  campaign  will  require  educational  advertising.  So 
it  is  most  essential  that  everything  be  done  to  see  to  it  that  advertising  is  placed 
on  a  sound  and  dependable  basis.  Already  the  American  Bankers  Association, 
the  Investment  Bankers  Association  and  the  Council  on  Foreign  Relations  have 
appointed  three  strong  committees  that  are  working  in  close  co-operation  in  develop- 
ing a  plan  toward  establishing  these  credits. 

This  campaign  of  education  will  have  to  depend  almost  wholly  on  the  press 
as  it  will  require  publicity,  based  on  the  intrinsic  interest  and  value  of  the  news 
in  regard  to  foreign  investments ;  publication  work  made  primarily  to  reach  the 
commercial  and  investment  bankers  of  the  United  States,  and  advertising  work 
directed  to  the  education  of  the  general  public. 

Through  this  campaign,  the  mind  of  the  country  could  be  quickened  with  the 
truth  that  labor  and  capital  have  a  common  stake  in  making  a  market  for  for- 
eign securities,  for  on  that  market,  their  own  prosperity  must  largely  depend. 
Investment  in  these  securities,  it  could  be  fairly  urged,  would  yield  three  direct 
returns :  Interest  to  the  investor,  wages  to  labor  and  dividends  to  capital ;  and 
beyond  these  direct  returns,  the  common  benefit  of  a  widely  diffused  prosperity 
in  the  republics  of  North  and  South  America.  Pan  American  journalism  faces  this 
pressing  and  fundamental  problem  and  it  can  do  as  much  toward  solving  it  as  any 
of  the  other  forces. 

In  speaking  of  the  necessity  of  having  the  torch  of  advertising  lighted  with 
truth,  may  I  tell  my  brother  publishers  throughout  Latin  America,  a  word  or  two 
from  the  experience  of  North  American  publishers.  We  have  found  that  it  has 
been  not  only  good  morals  but  good  business  to  maintain  a  rigorous  censorship 
over  our  advertising  columns  and  to  bar  from  them  any  announcements  that 
offend  good  taste  or  that  are  not  suitable  to  be  borne  across  the  thresholds  of  the 


350  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

home.  Following  this  censorship,  we  have  barred  from  our  columns,  all  objec- 
tionable medical  advertising;  all  doubtful  financial  advertising  and  all  advertising, 
of  whatever  sort  or  kind,  about  which  there  can  be  any  reasonable  doubt.  And 
while  there  may  have  been  some  temporary  loss  of  revenue  there  is  not  a  pub- 
lisher in  this  country  who  will  not  say  that  he  has  gotten  from  the  best  advertisers 
an  amount  of  business  that  far  over-balanced  anything  that  he  may  have  lost 
through  refusing  to  sell  space  to  doubtful  advertisers. 

Yesterday  in  New  York,  I  was  having  luncheon  with  the  advertising  agent 
who  places  the  largest  amount  of  export  advertising  of  any  man  in  the  United 
States.  I  told  him  of  this  address  that  I  was  to  make  here  in  Washington  today 
and  he  asked  me  to  say,  in  the  spirit  of  the  best  friendship  to  Latin  American 
publishers,  that  they  would  greatly  enhance  the  value  of  advertising  space  in  their 
columns  if  they  would  decline  to  carry  objectionable  medical  advertising  and 
doubtful  advertising  of  whatever  kind.  He  went  on  to  say  that  some  of  his 
largest  customers  had  positively  refused  to  take  advertising  in  publications  that 
carried  sensational  and  objectionable  medical  advertising,  which  was  offensive  both 
to  good  taste  and  to  good  morals.  This  message  I  am  passing  along  with  the 
definite  conviction  that  every  wood  of  it  is  sound  and  true. 

The  time  is  going  to  come,  and  I  have  the  faith  to  believe  that  it  is  not  far 
distant,  when  the  statement  often  made  by  my  late  partner,  Walter  Hines  Page, 
will  come  true :  "That  a  publication  is  no  better  than  its  worst  advertisement."  In 
a  word,  there  can  be  no  double  standard  for  any  honest  publication.  There  is  only 
one  standard — that  of  absolute  honesty,  and  advertising  will  fully  come  into  its 
own  when  the  time  comes  that  this  standard  is  set  up  and  maintained  by  all 
publications. 

In  the  great  war  that  has  been  won  for  human  freedom,  the  press  in  the 
democratic  nations  has  borne  a  valiant  part.  It  served  through -its  enlightened 
news,  through  its  courageous  editorial  opinions  and  through  its  powerful  agency 
as  a  medium  of  advertising.  Today,  in  the  new  world  that  follows  the  war,  it 
stands  as  a  mighty  beacon  of  hope  for  mankind.  A  great  international  era  is  dawn- 
ing in  which  the  common  interests  of  the  world,  without  loss  of  racial  integrity 
or  of  essential  national  sovereignty,  will  be  considered  and  cared  for  by  the 
League  of  Nations.  The  supreme  common  interest  of  the  world,  that  peace  be 
established  and  maintained  on  the  basis  of  justice  rather  than  of  military  power, 
will  become  the  controlling  purpose,  the  dominating  objective  of  the  League;  and 
the  League  must  not  fail.  It  is  the  crowning  achievement  of  civilization,  and  is 
essential  to  its  protection  from  destruction.  The  League  will  not  fail  because  the 
press  in  the  democratic  nations  is  overwhelmingly  in  favor  of  establishing  it  and 
will  so  inform  and  educate  public  opinion  in  support  of  the  League  that  it  is  sure 
to  become  an  enduring  fact  of  history.  This  great  dream  has  possessed  the  hearts 
of  the  peoples  of  the  world.  It  is  both  the  duty  and  the  high  privilege  of  the 
press  to  help  that  dream  come  true. 


CABLE  NEWS  TO  AND  FROM  LATIN  AMERICA 

BY  W.  W.  DAVIES,  REPRESENTATIVE  OF  LA  NACION  OF  BUENOS  AIRES  IN  NEW  YORK. 
(Delivered  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  was  somewhat  of  a  surprise  to 
me  this  morning  to  find  that  I  was  going  to  be  called  upon  to  address  this  meet- 
ing, but  nevertheless,  I  welcome  this  opportunity.  Mr.-  Noyes,  in  his  address,  told 
you  something  of  what  the  Associated  Press  is  doing  for  South  America.  I 
would  like  to  add  something  to  that  and  give  you  one  or  two  suggestions. 

You  might  get  some  suggestion,  some  conception  of  the  service  which  is 
being  sent  to  South  America  by  the  Associated  Press  when  you  know  that  the 
number  of  words  each  day  going  from  New  York  to  South  America  is  thirty- 
five  hundred.  That  is  a  tremendous  cable  service.  You  must  understand  those 
messages  are  sent  in,  rigidly  condensed  form,  so  that  when  they  get  to  South 
America  they  probably  represent  something  like  ten  thousand  words.  My  task, 
a  somewhat  difficult  one,  is  to  find  something  to  send  after  the  Associated  Press 
has  already  cabled  three  thousand  words  to  South  America.  Still,  we  have  to  do 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  351 

the  best  we  can  and  as  Mr.  Merrill  will  probably  be  able  to  tell  you,  we  do  send 
something  beyond  that  three  thousand  words. 

The  position  of  a  foreign  correspondent  is  a  somewhat  peculiar  one.  His 
task  is  not  so  much  to  send  what  we  call  flat  news,  but  to  send  information  to 
South  America  which  will  be  interpreted.  The  Associated  Press  we  can  always 
depend  upon  to  carry  fully  and  accurately  any  information  as  to  what  is  hap- 
pening and  then  it  becomes  our  duty  to  explain  what  it  means. 

When  I  came  to  America  about  three  years  ago  I  was  then  the  representa- 
tive of  a  group  of  Australian  papers,  and  I  found  that  it  was  an  extremely  diffi- 
cult undertaking  to  interpret  the  news  for  a  place  like  Australia.  When  I  first 
came  to  New  York  from  Australia,  I  was  visited  by  some  Australians  who  said, 
"Is  this  where  the  American  news  comes  from?"  I  said  "Yes,"  with  conscious 
pride.  They  said,  "Well,  we  always  read  the  news  from  New  York  but  of  course 
nobody  ever  believes  it." 

We  have  tried  our  best  to  change  that  and  I  am  sure  that  in  the  case  of 
service  going  to  South  America  we  have  succeeded.  The  thing  that  we  aim  to 
do  is  not  only  to  inform  people  as  to  what  movements  are  on  foot  here  but 
also  to  create  and  foster  the  Pan  American  spirit.  I  have  recently  tried  to  aid 
in  that  by  establishing  a  little  service  of  news  which  contains  a  number  of  items 
of  Pan  American  interest  which  is  being  published  now  in  La  Prensa  of  New 
York.  We  gather  those  items  of  news  from  correspondents  of  La  Nacion  through- 
out South  America  and  I  have  heard  quite  a  number  of  comments  from  Latin 
Americans  on  how  much  they  appreciate  this  additional  news  of  the  splendid 
service  which  the  Associated  Press  is  carrying. 

I  think  that  before  I  close  a  tribute  ought  to  be  paid  to  the  All  Americas 
Cable  Company  for  the  splendid  way  it  has  assisted  in  supplying  this  service  to 
South  America.  You  can  have  no  possible  conception  of  the  amount  of  matter 
which,  that  Cable  Company  has  had  to  carry,  but  I  will  just  assert  that  the  figure 
which  has  been  reached  by  that  company  on  some  days  has  been  as  much  as 
eighty  thousand  cable  words  a  day.  If  you  can  imagine  what  that  means,  spread 
over  only  twenty-four  hours,  you  can  get  some  understanding  of  how  the  company 
works  to  foster  this  spirit  of  Pan  Americanism. 

In  addition  to  that,  we  find  that  we  get  particularly  good  service  on  the 
news  which  comes  from  South  America.  In  addition  to  carrying  news  from 
here  to  South  American  countries  this  Cable  Company  has  offered  ;to  carry  news 
coming  from  Europe  as  well,  because  when  there  are  any  interruptions  between 
Europe  and  Buenos  Aires,  that  means  an  enormous  amount  of  extra  matter  placed 
upon  the  cable  from  here  to  South  America. 

I  welcome  this  opportunity,  on  behalf  of  La  Nacion,  to  present  a  few  facts 
that  we  are  sending  to  South  America,  and  I  can  assure  you  in  my  capacity  as 
correspondent  of  that  paper  that  I  am  going  to  do  my  very  best  to  make  known 
any  movement  that  is  started  here  for  the  betterment  of  Pan  American  relations. 


HOW   THE   BUSINESS    PRESS    SERVES    INDUSTRY 

BY  A.  C.  PEARSON,  PRESIDENT  ASSOCIATED  BUSINESS  PAPERS,  INC. 
(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

The  publications  of  the  Business  Press  may  be  divided  into  two  general 
.groups,  namely,  Trade  Papers  and  Technical  Papers.  The  Trade  Papers  are 
those  which  have  to  do  with  merchandising  and  which  reach  either  the  manu- 
facturer or  the  distributor  of  merchandise,  and  the  Technical  Papers,  such  as 
engineering  publications,  are  those  which  devote  themselves  to  one  particular 
science  or  profession. 

The  outstanding  feature  of  a  business  paper  is  that  it  confines  itself  to 
business  subjects  and  handles  only  those  subjects  which  apply  to  its  own  trade 
or  industry.  The  subscribers  to  business  papers  are  interested  in  both  the  edi- 
torials and  advertisements  since  they  take  these  publications  for  the  serious  pur- 
pose of  getting  information  and  assistance  in  their  particular  occupation. 

The  business  publication  is  made  possible  by  the  co-operation  and  support 
of  its  industry,  but  it  likewise  in  turn  makes  possible  the  more  rapid  growth 


352  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

of  that  industry.  Experts  on  world  commerce  have  stated  that  they  could  tell 
the  progress  of  a  nation  in  any  line  by  inspecting  its  business  paper  in  that  par- 
ticular line,  and  any  country  wishing  to  progress  in  a  particular  industry  might 
•well  invest  a  large  sum  in  the  improvement  of  its  publications  in  that  particular* 
industry. 

The  fact  that  the  United  States  has  made  great  industrial  progress  in  the 
face  of  high  wages  as  compared  with  other  countries  is  due  first,  to  the  ingenuity 
of  its  investors  and  managers,  and  second,  to  the  modern  methods  of  manufac- 
ture and  distribution  made  possible  by  the  editorials  and  advertising  services 
of  its  business  papers. 

Regardless  of  the  great  territorial  extent  of  the  United  States,  there  is  a 
similarity  in  the  business  methods  and  the  kind  of  merchandise  t  required  in  all 
the  different  States  because  of  the  quick  dissemination  of  information  through 
business  papers.  This  same  connection  can  gradually  be  established  throughout 
all  the  Americas;. 

To  get  a  commercial  understanding  and  to  promote  the  interchange  of 
trade,  it  is  necessary  to  read  the  same  publications  and  adopt  the  same  general 
business  practices.  It  is  most  encouraging, '  therefore,  that  large  numbers  of  the 
leading  business  papers  in  the  United  States  are  producing  foreign  editions  and 
that  many  leading  Latin-American  publications  are  getting  editorial  information 
and  extensive  advertising  from  the  United  States. 

The  business  paper's  first  service  to  commercial  intelligence  is  in  its  news 
of  the  markets,  of  the  merchandise  developments  of  the  trade,  or  of  the  scientific 
progress.  Its  second  service  is  that  of  advice  and  criticism.  One  prominent 
trade  publication  has  as  its  motto  "What  To  Buy  And  How  To  Sell  It."  It 
devotes  as  much  time  and  attention  to  the  subject  of  selling  merchandise  as  it 
does  to  the  markets  and  the  changes  which  will  affect  the  price  of  merchandise. 

A  third  great  service  rendered  by  the  business  publications  is  the  adver- 
tising which  it  brings  to  the  subscriber.  In  this  is  included  the  best  offerings  of 
the  manufacturers  in  that  particular  line  and  a  presentation  in  the  briefest  pos- 
sible form  of  the  merits  and  talking  points  of  the  merchandise  which  that  par- 
ticular subscriber  is  interested  in.  There  is  so  much  supervision  of  copy  and 
method  by  the  publishers,  that  in  the  business  paper  field  today  the  advertising 
renders  a  service  which  is  closely  second  to  the  editorial. 

The  leading  business  papers  go  into  all  the  problems  and  the  needs  of 
their  industry.  They  are  the  leading  agitators  for  progress  and  frequently  the 
unsparing  critics  of  trade  abuses.  Many  of  these  business  papers  conduct  de- 
partments which  personally  aid  their  subscribers  in  handling  their  problems  of 
accounting,  store  or  factory  systems,  credits,  and  even  co-operate  with  them  in 
choosing  the  proper  merchandise  for  specific  uses  or  particular  locations.  They 
take  a  leadership  in  advocating  necessary  legislation  for  the  improvement  of 
industry,  and  are  leaders  in  all  helpful  and  patriotic  movements. 

For  example,  the  "Made  in  U.  S.  A."  campaign  was  originated  by  a  bus- 
iness paper.  The  great  prosperity  campaign  now.  running  is  the  result  of  the 
co-operation  between  some  leading  business  men  and  business  papers.  The  pres- 
ent Webb-Pomerene  Bill  which  promises  so  much  for  foreign  trade  in1  the  United 
States  was  made  possible  largely  by  the  co-operation  and  agitation  of  the  bus- 
iness press.  The  fact  that  the  United  States  Governrrient  secured  its  advertis- 
ing free  during  the  war,  instead  of  paying  out  millions  of  dollars  to  publications, 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  three  hundred  business  papers  came  forward  and  volun- 
teered their  space  without  charge  to  the  Government  for  the  duration  of  the 
war;  the  other  forms  of  advertising  rapidly  came  into  line,  but  the  leadership 
rested  with  the  business  press.  In  one  Liberty  Loan  campaign  there  was  given 
by  the  business  press  of  America  more  than  4,000  pages  of  free  advertising  to 
the  Government.  In  recruiting  men  for  the  Signal  Corps,  Aviation  Corps,  and 
other  important  technical  branches  of  the  service,  the  business  papers  took  a 
leadership  which  brought  them  the  unstinted  praise  of  the  Government  officials. 

These  few  illustrations  are  given  merely  to  show  the  resposibility  for  lead- 
ership which  the  business  press  takes. 

With  this  understanding  of  the  business  press  it  may  readily  be  seen  why 
they  are  giving  so  much  attention  and  rendering  so  extensive  a  service  in  pro- 
moting not  only  the  foreign  trade  of  the  United  States,  but  also  the  inter-change 
of  products  between  all  foreign  countries  and  our  own. 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  353 

Since  efficient  service  is  based  first  on  proper  information,  it  will  be  nec- 
essary that  the  business  papers  make  a  thorough  study  of  foreign  conditions  and 
that  they  equip  themselves  to  show  editorially  the  changing  market  requirements 
of  the  different  countries  to  which  their  manufacturers  wish  to  appeal.  This 
rule  applies  to  the  Latin-American  publications  in  the  same  way  that  it  applies 
to  those  of  the  United  States.  There  might  well  be  close  connections  established 
between  leading  Latin-American  business  papers  and  those  of  our  own  country. 

The  activity  of  our  publications  in  reaching  the  Latin-American  field  can 
not  be  judged  merely  by  those  which  carry  Spanish  names,  as  a  large  number 
of  our  other  publications  are  seeking  foreign  subscriptions  and  some  of  them 
produce  special  issues  which  are  printed  in  Spanish  as  well  as  English. 

The  success  of  the  trade  between  our  respective  countries  will  depend  on 
the  knowledge  we  have  of  the  markets  and  requirements  of  our  customers,  wher- 
ever they  may  be.  This  information  can  be  given  primarily  by  the  business 
press  and  there  is  every  indication  that  these  publications  are  thoroughly  alive 
to  the  responsibility  which  they  owe  their  industry  as  well  as  their  country. 


PAN  AMERICAN   CABLE  COMMUNICATION 

BY  JOHN  L.  MERRILL,   PRESIDENT,  ALL  AMERICA  CABLES 
(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

Mr.  Director  General  and  Gentlemen :  Conscious  of  the  part  which  we  have 
been  privileged  to  play  for  the  past  forty  years  in  the  fostering  of  both  friendly 
and  trade  relations  between  the  three  Americas,  I  am  grateful  for  the  invitation 
to  address  you  briefly  on  the  subject  of  Pan  American  cable  communication. 

Some  forty  years  ago,  back  in  1879,  James  A.  Scrymser  officiated  at  the 
wedding  of  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  i.  e.,  he  tied  together  these  two  great 
countries  by  means  of  an  ocean  cable.  A  few  years  later  he  linked  to  the  United 
States  the  Central  American  Republics,  then  one  by  one  the  Republics  of  South 
America  and  Cuba,  until  today  an  actual  link  of  over  7,400  miles  in  length  connects 
New  York  with  Buenos  Aires  and  soon  Uruguay  and  Brazil  will  join  the  inter- 
national family. 

In  the  Pan  American  Hall  of  Fame  which  our  able  Director  General  Barrett 
may  some  day  build,  there  should  be  a  niche  for  the  late  James  Alexander 
Scrymser.  The  Americas  will  never  realize  the  debt  they  owe  to  him  and  his  in- 
spiring faith  in  the  future  of  Pan  America,  and  to  his  associates  who  shared  that 
faith  and  who  supported  him  with  the  necessary  capital. 

To  make  the  union  between  the  Americas  stronger,  we  have  doubled  and  in 
many  cases  tripled  the  ties.  I  would  that  I  could  paint  a  word  picture  of  what 
this  union  has  meant  to  all  Pan  America.  Cables  under  the  sea  should  not  be 
labelled  a  "dry  subject."  Continuity  of  communication,  by  efficiently  operated  cables, 
is  a  matter  of  vital  importance  and  we  feel  that  no  one  agency  has  done  more 
toward  the  development  of  commerce  among  the  three  Americas  and  in  fostering  the 
friendly  relations  between  the  citizens  of  these  Republics  than  the  All  America 
Cables. 

In  the  rapidly  expanding  trade  of  the  Americas  the  minutes  and  hours  be- 
come precious  factors  of  dollars  and  cents.  Quick,  accurate  and  easy  communi- 
cation is  therefore  a  positive  necessity  in  order  that  the  citizens  of  the  three 
Americas  may  bid  promptly  for  profitable  recognition  in  the  world's  markets.  Day 
by  day  manufacturers  and  merchants  are  realizing  that  the  world's  important 
commerce  belongs  "on  the  wires"  instead  of  in  the  mails.  This  is  strikingly  in- 
dicated by  the  remarkable  increase  in  wire  traffic.  Are  you  appreciating  thoroughly 
the  value  of  these  facilities? 

The  cable  companies  of  the  world  are  furnishing  a  service  of  rare  importance 
at  a  time  when  the  world  stands  most  in  need  of  such  service.  All  are  fully  alive 
to  their  responsibilities.  All  are  entitled  to  great  credit  and  because  my  subject 
confines  my  remarks  to  the  Pan  American  cable  system,  I  trust  I  shall  not  be 
misunderstood  as  ignoring  the  wonderful  service  which  other  cable  systems  of  the 
world  have  rendered,  particularly  in  the  past  few  years. 

We  of  the  cable  companies,  have  been  passing  through  trying  times;  we,  of 
the  All  America  Cables  system  have  encountered  untold  handicaps ;  labor  short- 


354  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

age ;  shortage  of  materials,  greatly  increased  costs  and  extraordinary  conditigns, 
and  yet  we  can  come  to  you,  leaders  of  Pan  America,  and  congratulate  you  upon 
the  one  outstanding  fact — that  during  the  World  War  the  direct  cables  to  Central 
and  South  America  contributed  a  service  of  greater  efficiency  than  ever  before 
and  we  are  proud  of  the  fact  that  that  very  efficiency  has  meant  much  to  the 
citizens  of  these  republics,  and  that,  notwithstanding  the  rising  costs  of  operation, 
we  Tiave  been  able,  by  the  increase  of  business  to  reduce  the  charges  for  our 
service.  Do  not  misunderstand  me,  I  am  not  here  to  "talk  shop."  I  make  allusion 
to  this  fact,  the  truth  of  which  'is  appreciated  by  the  Governments  and  peoples  of 
the  Republics  we  have  served,  solely  to  emphasize  a  greater  fact  and  that  is  that 
we,  who  are  endeavoring  to  render  a  real  public  service,  are  fully  conscious  of 
our  responsibility  to  you  and  the  serious  part  we  are  called  upon  to  play  in  pro- 
moting those  intimate  relations,  along  the  lines  so  ably  discussed  here.  There  is  a 
mutuality  of  interests  between  you  and  us  that  cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized. 

We  must  give  you  swift,  secret  and  accurate  service  and  at  the  lowest  cost 
commensurate  with  the  same.  For  this  we  count  upon  your  support  and  coopera- 
tion. 

We  are  fulfilling  our  part.  No  expense  has  been  nor  will  be  spared  to  make, 
between  the  United  States  and  Central  and  South  America,  a  cable  service  equal 
to  any  in  the  world.  Nationals  of  every  country  touched  by  this  cable  system  are 
working  to  this  end  by  rendering  efficient  and  trustworthy  service  as  operators 
and  employes. 

As  for  low  rates.  Do  you  realize  that  despite  increased  wages  and  increased 
costs,  no  effort  has  been  made  by  the  All  America  Cables  to  increase  rates  but 
that — on  the  contrary — we  have  during  the  world  war — when  the  cost  of  every- 
thing was  mounting  higher  and  higher,  actually  reduced  our  tariffs  25  per  cent. 
We  alone  have  maintained  a  Deferred  Rate  traffic  during  the  war. 

Now  we  want  you  to  fulfill  your  part  and  give  to  our  endeavor  your  sup- 
port. If  we  have  it  you  will  not  only  tell  us  when  our  service  is  at  fault,  but  will 
tell  us  when  our  service  is  good.  A  word  of  commendation,  when  deserved,  means 
much  to  our  staff  and  to  the  executives. 

We  invite  your  cooperation.  By  that  I  mean  that  we  welcome  your  sugges- 
tions as  to  how  you  think  our  service  can  be  improved,  what  we  can  do  for  the 
betterment  of  the  country  in  which  you  are  particularly  interested;  for  the  up- 
building of  better  trade  facilities  between  that  country  and  her  neighbors  and 
friends  in  this  Pan  American  Union;  for  the  promotion  of  closer  ties  of  friend- 
ship between  that  country  and  the  others. 

By  way  of  illustration,  a  distinguished  Argentine  conceives  the  immense 
advantage  accruing  from  the  formation  of  an  Argentine  and  United  States  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce.  He  permits  us  to  cooperate  with  him,  knowing  full  well  our 
keen  interest  in  everything  that  concerns  the  welfare  of  Argentine  and  the  United 
States.  He  suggests  that  we  make  possible  a  weekly  Bulletin  of  up-to-date  trade 
information,  market  quotations  and  other  news  of  interest  not  covered  in  the 
regular  press  service.  Of  course,  we  gladly  cooperated  with  him  and  we  modestly 
think  that  that  cooperation  will  be  of  very  real  service  to  what  he  is  endeavoring  to 
accomplish. 

As  a  public  service  corporation  we  are  necessarily  bound  by  certain  regu- 
lations _but  those  regulations  do  not  forbid  our  helping  in  many  special  ways  the 
countries  we  are  privileged  to  serve.  Here  we  may  be  in  a  position  to  render  a 
special  service  to  the  Argentine,  here  to  Chile,  here  to  Ecuador,  here  to  Peru, 
here  to  Uruguay,  here  to  Paraguay,  here  to  Brazil,  and  so  on 'and  on.  Have  you 
interests  in  Colombia?  Or  Ecuador?  In  Central  America  or  Mexico  or  Cuba? 
Is  there  something  out  of  the  ordinary,  perhaps,  which  the  cable  can  do  to  bind 
these  countries  and  ourselves  more  closely  together?  Let  us  hear  it  from  you. 

The  point  I  am  trying  to  make  is  that  our  All  America  Cables  are  American 
through  and  through.  By  that  I  mean  (as  I  glance  down  our  lines)  we  are 
Cuban,  Panamanian,  Ecuadorian,  Peruvian,  Bolivian,  Chilean,  Argentinian,  Uru- 
guayan, Paraguayan,  Brazilian,  Mexican,  Guatemalan,  Honduran,  Salvadorean,  Nica- 
raguan  and  Costa  Rican,  and  all  in  addition  to  being  whole  heartedly  for  our  own 
parent  nation,  the  United  States.  I  mean  that  what  is  for  the  good  of  each  is  for 
our  good. 

Gentlemen,  we  know  the  meaning  of  the  word  "American."  We  are  doing 
business  today  under  the  caption  All  America  Cables  and  we  shall  not  rest  con- 
tent until  we  serve  directly  every  country  in  America.  We  have  dedicated  to  the 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  355 

service  of  the  Americas  some  20,000  miles  of  cable  and  land  lines  ancl  we  hope 
soon  to  complete  our  first  extension  to  Uruguay  and  Brazil,  later  on  from  Rio  de 
Janeiro  northward.  These  Brazil  extensions,  with  other  important  extensions 
about  to  be  made,  will  bring  the  total  mileage  up  to  30,000.  We  are  not  at  the 
end  of  our  task.  Wherever  in  these  Americas  you  think  a  network  of  cable  com- 
munication should  be  spread,  we  are  ready  and  willing  to  spread  it.  Where  ex- 
isting channels  should  be  supplemented,  it  is  our  desire  so  to  do.  It  is  from  your 
expression  that  we  learn  the  location  of  new  connections  that  will  most  benefit 
the  common  cause  in  which  we  are  all  interested. 

The  cable  promotes  unity  among  the  nations;  it  makes  possible  a  proper 
understanding  between  the  citizens  of  these  virile  Republics  of  the  three  Americas, 
and  it  makes  for  a  closer  acquaintance.  For  the  upbuilding  of  a  better  understand- 
ing between  the  Americas ;  for  the  cultivation  of  friendship  that  will  last ;  for  the 
developing  and  cementing  of  trade  relations  between  the  three  Americas,  I  know 
of  no  greater  agency  than  the  press  and  I  wish  to  make  mention  of  the  fact  that 
we  have  heartily  cooperated  with  the  Associated  Press,  the  United  Press  and  other 
press  associations  and  the  great  newspapers  of  the  Americas  in  developing  an  in- 
terchange of  news  which  already  has  had  a  marked  influence  in  the  United  States 
and  Central  and  South  America,  and  that  influence  is  bound  to  increase  as  time 
goes  and  will  continue  to  do  more  and  more  toward  the  cultivation  of  that  lasting 
fraternity  among  the  nations  of  this  Western  Hemisphere,  the  foundations  of 
which  have  been  so  marvellously  well  laid  by  the  Director  General  of  the  Pan 
American  Union  and  his  capable  associates. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  well  in  this  international  conference  to  bring  out 
the  importance,  now  recognized  as  never  before,  of  preserving  the  integrity  of  the 
lines  as  they  pass  through  the  territory  of  each  country.  The  communications 
may  be  supervised  and  regulated,  but  not  interrupted,  for  this  is  essential  for  the 
preservation  of  national  and  personal  life  and  interests.  Under  the  strain  of  con- 
flicts between  governments  and  in  trade,  in  times  of  disasters  and  calamities,  of 
disease  and  famine,  the  cables  should  in  the  interest  of  each  be  protected  by  all 
the  peoples  they  serve. 


LATIN  AMERICA  IN  THE  PRESS   OF  THE  UNITED   STATES 

BY  ALFREDO  voH.  COLLAO,  PUBLISHER,  ''LA  PRENSA/'  NEW  YORK  CITY. 
(Read  at  the  Morning  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

I  have  been  highly  honored  by  being  called  upon  to  say  a  few  words  regard- 
ing newspaperdom  which  I  will  endeavor  to  do  with  absolute  sincerity. 

In  the  assemblage  of  forces  now  being  called  upon  to  build  up  the  new 
relationship  between  the  Americas,  we  must  not  forget  the  newspapers  and 
periodicals  of  both  languages,  whose  duty  was  until  today  to  promote  a  friendly 
spirit,  and  whose  mission  in  the  near  future  will  be  to  insure  and  fasten  this 
relationship  in  trade,  industrial  and  social  matters. 

I  firmly  believe  that  the  best  instrument  to  shape  public  opinion  is  the  news- 
paper. I  think  we  all  agree  that  the  average  person,  except  those  who  have  been 
directly  connected  through  business  or  other  activities  with  South  America,  have 
not  the  necessary  knowledge  of  the  Southern  republics,  either  material  or  spiritual. 
I  am  sure  that  in  this  respect  the  American  Press  can  do  an  enormous  valuable 
work  giving  more  space  and  attention  to  the  Pan  American  subjects. 

I  want  you,  gentlemen,  to  understand  that  I  am  not  critisizing,  but  to  cure 
maladies  we  must  have  medicine.  It  is  very  seldom  that  we  find  in  the  American 
newspaper  any  news  of  South  America,  excepting  for  an  earthquake  or  something 
of  the  kind.  This  very  Conference  gives  us  an  instance  of  what  I  say,  considering 
such  aji  important  and  useful  event,  it  has  not  been  given  the  necessary  importance 
by  the  press  as  shown  in  the  daily  newspapers  throughout  the  country.  It  seems 
as  if  this  assemblage  of  people  of  so  many  countries  has  not  called  the  attention 
of  the  press,  and  this  attitude  is  more  noticeable  since  we  received  one  after 
another  the  proves  of  deference  and  courtesy  from  the  American  officials,  society 
and  people. 

In  my  opinion,  after  the  paramount  interest  of  shipping,  the  press  should 
come  next  in  the  consideration  of  the  mediums  to  be  used  as  instruments  for 
closer  Pan  American  intercourse.  The  daily  paper  is  the  most  able  resource  that 


356  SECOND   PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

both  the  Government  and  people  can  find  to  express  their  purposes  and  needs, 
and  as  a  promoter  of  more  friendly  relations  by  the  abolition  oi  misunderstanding, 
ignorance  and  prejudice.  I  believe  that  both  the  editorial  policy  and  the  informa- 
tion policy  of  the  American  newspapers  can  help  in  promoting  a  closer  friendship 
by  taking  more  often  in  account  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  press  in  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  languages,  and  with  relation  to  news,  there  is  plenty  of  opportunities 
to  present  the  best  points  of  our  life  and  activities.  A  careful  selection  of  the 
correspondents  for  American  papers  throughout  our  countries  will  help  to  create 
a  better  atmosphere. 

As  a  resume  of  these  ideas,  I  may  advance  the  following  suggestions : 

To  stimulate  the  interest  in  South  American  affairs  by  giving  the  American 
reader  an  abundance  of  reliable  and  selected  information,  and  by  often  discussing 
in  the  newspapers  Latin  American  topics.  The  transcription  of  opinions  expressed 
by  our  Spanish  and  Spanish-American  newspapers  is  also  to  be  recommended. 

The  employment  of  the  newspaper  in  the  Spanish  language  with  a  view  to 
familiarize  the  American  reader  with  Latin  American  affairs  and  language. 

To  use  the  press  in  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  languages  to  carry  there 
the  purposes  of  the  American  Government,  commercial  enterprises,  and  industrial 
interests  in  order  to  bring  forth  and  illustrate  the  Spanish-American  public  in 
American  subjects. 

The  giving  of  more  facilities  in  Jand  and  sea  to  the  second-class  matter, 
by  allowing  a  fair  tariff  to  the  bulk  of  newspapers  going  to  or  coming  from 
Latin  America,  whether  they  are  published  in  the  English  or  Spanish  language. 

Now,  as  a  practical  example  of  the  value  of  Spanish  newspapers  I  may  here 
state,  "that  "La  Prensa,"  of  New  York,  the  only  daily  edited  in  Spanish  language 
which  I  have  had  the  privilege  and  honor  to  direct  since  its  foundation,  is  being 
used  in  most  Universities  and  schools  throughout  the  country  as  a  text  for  studying 
Spanish  and  as  a  means  to  secure  information  as  to  commerce,  opportunities,  cus- 
toms, social  activities,  etc. 

Not  solely  is  this  a  fact,  but  enterprises  are  using  their  columns  to  reach  the 
South  American  buyers  there  or  coming  to  the  United  States  and  bringing  forth 
their  products  to  the  people  of  the  Hispanic  republics.  They  have  understood  and 
certainly  appreciated  the  value  of  Spanish  newspapers  towards  furthering  business, 
good-will  and  friendship.  I  do  sincerely  hope  that  the  American  and  Spanish 
newspapers  will  soon  reach  a  perfect  entente  cordiale  for  the  benefit  of  both  parts 
of  the  Continent. 


FILMS  FOR  INTERNATIONAL  BUSINESS  ADVERTISING 

BY  JOAN  GALLEY,  A.   M.,   ALL  AMERICA  FILM   SERVICE,  WASHINGTON,  D.   C. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Wednesday,  June  4) 

When  a  commercial  publicity  film  is  so  built  that  it  carries  enough  human 
interest  to  make  it  of  news  value,  and  its  titles  are  well  written  in  the  language 
of  the  country  in  which  it  is  shown,  it  becomes  not  only  one  of  the  best  possible 
media  of  commercial  intelligence,  but  is  a  most  effective  agency  in  creating  inter- 
national good  will.  Built  for  Latin  America,  it  will  not  only  sell  the  goods  for 
which  the  Latin  peoples  are  now  in  the  market,  but  it  will  build  up  a  friendly 
interest  in  American  business  and  American  business  men,  and  will  develop  a 
demand  for  articles  that  are  not  now  wanted. 

Latin  American  markets  have  been  wide  open  to  our  goods  not  because  we 
had  really  sold  them,  but  because  the  fortunes  of  war  gave  us  a  chance  monopoly 
of  the  only  available  supply.  Now  this  great  volume  of  business,  with  its  enor- 
mous possibilities  for  further  development  will  not  remain  ours,  just  because  we 
happened  to  sell  some  goods  during  the  war.  Much  of  it  will  flow  back  into  the 
old  channels  as  soon  as  they  are  open,  unless  the  industrial  and  financial  leaders 
of  America  have  clear  enough  vision  to  make  a  united  campaign  to  hold,  for  the 
mutual  benefit  of  the  two  Americas  these  trade  winnings  of  the  war.  The  prob- 
lem is  not  one  of  pushing  the  article  with  the  North  American  trade-mark  under 
the  eyes  of  the  Latin.  It  goes  much  deeper  than  that.  Can  we  create  in  the 
minds  of  the  masses  of  the  people  of  Latin  America  so  clear  an  understanding 
not  only  of  the  purposes  but  of  the  personalities  of  our  people  that  we  shall 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  357 

arrive  at  such  mutual  friendliness  and  confidence  that  not  only  will  they  wish 
to  buy  our  goods,  but  by  the  same  token  we  shall  be  interested  in  buying  their 
bonds?  Perhaps  you  remember  a  statement  that  was  made  on  the  floor  of  the 
Conference  by  one  of  our  Latin  American  -friends,  a  statement  so  luminous  that 
I  think  I  remember  it  verbatim.  "You  know  we  feel  that  we  must  be  loyal  to  the 
folks  who  have  trusted  us  with  their  capital." 

But  how  on  earth  can  you  introduce  a  continent  to  a  continent,  when  you 
meet  at  once  the  language  barrier?  There  is  a  medium — just  one  single  medium 
which,  rightly  used,  can  readily  build  up  mutual  friendliness  and  cordial  under- 
standing between  groups  of  people  widely  separated  by  distance  and  language  and 
t-raining.  That  one  medium  is  the  well  built  publicity  film.  Whom  do  you 
suppose,  of  all  Americans,  are  best  loved  and  best  known  below  the  Canal 
today  ?  Oh  no  !  Guess  again.  Mary  and  Doug  and  Charlie,  I'd  say.  Because  they 
have  smiled  at  South  America  oftener  than  any  other  three  Americans.  Now 
when  it  comes  to  a  matter  of  the  interests  of  business  men  in  mutual  trade  re- 
lations do  you  really  think  Doug  Fairbanks'  smile  has  anything  much  on  Homer 
Ferguson's.  Or  on  yours?  Try  it  over  in  your  own  looking  glass.  Don't  you  think 
that  if  you  could  meet  the  South  American  business  man  and  could  speak  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  and  could  have  a  leisurely  friendly  visit  with  him  that  he  might 
decide  that  you  were  a  good  sort  of  chap  to  deal  with,  that  you  were  considering 
his  interest  as  well  as  your  own,  and  that  it  might  be  to  your  mutual  benefit  in- 
creasingly to  deal  with  each  other? 

Build  the  right  sort  of  business  film  and  go  down  to  Latin  America  on  that 
film.  Meet  your  Latin  American  acquaintances,  who  may  decide  to  become 
your  friends,  not  by  the  dozens  but  by  the  thousands.  Films  are  fashionable, 
you  know.  The  Kings  do  it  and  the  Presidents,  and  the  society  folk,  and  the 
riveting  gangs. 

Do  your  Latin  American  friend  the  courtesy  of  showing  him  something  more 
than  the  outside  of  your  factory  and  the  thing  that  is  made  in  your  shops.  Say 
something  to  him  beside  your  line  of  selling  talk.  He  will  not  have  to  wait 
to  have  your  greetings  relayed  through  an  interpreter.  They  will  be  right  in 
front  of  him,  on  the  film  caption,  before  and  after  your  smile,  in  his  own  lan- 
guage. If  your  manufacturing  process  is  interesting  he  might  like  to  have  you 
tell  him  about  it  and  show  him  over  your  works.  He  would  be  interested  in 
seeing  the  people  who  work  in  your  factories,  in  the  arrangement  of  your  offices, 
curious  a  bit  about  the  number  of  women  who  seem  to  have  responsible  share 
in  your  office  routine.  Take  him  to  your  club.  Invite  him  to  your  home.  Show 
him  your  estate — your  gardens,  your  cars  and  your  horses.  Tell  him  about  your 
hobby.  All  this  will  go  on  a  film.  All  this  will  interest  him.  Does  your  girl  drive 
a  car  remarkably  well  for  a  youngster?  Let  him  see  her  drive.  Did  your  boy 
win  a  Croix  de  Guerre?  That's  human  interest  stuff.  As  to  your  home  I  have 
no  comment  to  make.  The  wishes  of  women  vary.  But  it  is  safe  to  guess  that  some 
of  them  quite  enjoy  the  film.  Consider  the  society  page,  and  the  way  photographs 
of  interiors  find  the  editorial  rooms  of  "Vogue"  et  al.  -When  your  personality  has 
found  a  friendly  place  in  the  mind  of  the  Latin  American  he  will  not  forget  to 
buy  your  goods. 

This  type  of  selling  film  will  not  only  sell  your  own  product  but  will  pull 
powerfully  in  opening  a  market  for  other  American  made  goods — goods  that 
Latin  America  does  not  now  know  she  wants.  You  know  you  cannot  argue  a 
Latin  American  into  buying.  They  are  just  like  us,  in  not  being  very  anxious 
to  be  told  what  it  is  that  we  want.  We  think  we  know  what  we  want.  So  do  they. 
But  we  all  like  to  gratify  our  interest  in  other  folks  and  their  ways  and  we  all  are 
influenced  by  suggestion.  Being  pleased,  unconsciously, we  imitate.  There  is  an 
everlasting  monkey  in  us  all. 

The  clerks  walking  about  your  offices  in  English-cut  Hart-Schaffner-Marx 
and  in  Palm  Beach  suits,  will  begin  to  create  a  demand  for  the  great  American 
ready-made,  though  you  may  have  built  your  publicity  film  for  the  purpose  of  sell- 
ing bicycles.  The  picture  of  the  sun-parlor  of  your  country  house  will  affect 
perhaps  the  future  market  for  Crex  rugs.  The  charm  of  your  kiddies'  play  room 
might  sell  a  Klearflax.  In  any  case  it  would  start  Latin  American  children  to 
asking  for  toys  that  are  a  bit  different  from  those  that  have  been  coming  to  them 
from  Europe.  Every  office  interior,  every  beautifully  furnished  American  home 
will  help  along  the  export  market  for  that  crowd  of  Grand  Rapids  furniture  men 
who  haven't  been  sending  American  furniture  south  so  rapidly  as  they  should. 


358  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

You  will,  of  course,  follow  up  your  films  with  the  organization  you  have 
already  built  to  take  care  of  your  foreign  orders.  Your  salesmen  will  find  the 
picture  of  great  value  "in  interesting  new  customers,  and  it  will  be  of  special  help 
should  it  be  necessary  to  send  as  your  representative  a  man  whose  command  of 
Spanish  or  Portuguese  is  not  yet  perfect.  Due  perhaps  to  our  present  defective 
teaching  methods,  we  have  but  few  commercial  men  who  are  also  able  linguists. 

No  type  of  film  takes  more  careful  work  in  building  than  the  business  film. 
Your  Latin  American  films  must  be  built  by  a  director  who  understands  the 
slant  of  the  Latin  interest  in  folks,  who  will  study  carefully  the  possibilities  of 
yourself  and  your  staff  and  your  plant  for  picture  values,  who  will  study  your 
product  under  the  supervision  of  one  of  your  own  men  and  the  South  American 
market  in  relation  to  it. 

Professional  motion-picture  actors  should  not  appear  'in  this  type  of  film, 
for  its  value  depends  upon  its  being  an  actual  record  of  your  personality,  your 
interests,  your  organization,  and  your  product,  so  well  photographed  that  it  has 
artistic  merit  as  a  picture,  so  full  of  human  interest  that  it  becomes  news,  which 
audiences  will  pay  to  look  at,  even  in  the  Rialto  on  Broadway  in  New  York 
City. 

The  picture  you  build  for  Latin  America  must,  of  course,  be  titled  in 
Spanish,  or  in  Portuguese  if  it  goes  to  Brazil.  I  suggest  double  captions.  Put 
the  Spanish  on  the  upper  half  and  the  English  translation  below  it.  It  would 
be  a  fine  thing  to  send  our  languages  right  along  together  in  peace  and  harmony 
like  that.  The  peace  and  the  harmony  will,  however,  depend  upon  the  quality 
of  your  Spanish  title  writer.  We  have  done  considerable  harm  to  our  business 
by  sending  poorly  translated  advertising  material  into  Latin  America.  See  that 
your  picture  is  built  by  a  director  who  will  not  use  a  cheap  translator,  who  will 
not  only  work  with  publicists  and  translators  of  recognized  standing,  but  who  will 
have  time  and  patience  to  submit  titles  for  comment  and  criticism  to  the  con- 
suls of  the  countries  that  are  to  see  the  picture.  Building  a  selling  picture  for 
an  export  market  is  no  simple  task.  It  takes  an  expert  to  do  it. 

But  as  a  selling  agent  for  your  goods  in  a  foreign  market  it  has  no  equal 
in  efficiency.  It  gets  results.  The  cost  is  by  no  means  excessive.  A  film  can 
generally  be  built  for  rather  less  than  the  cost  of  one  insertion  of  a  two  page 
spread  in  any  national  weekly  worth  using.  After  the  negative  has  been  built  any 
number  of  prints  can  be  made  at  relatively  small  cost.  The  amount  you  must 
charge  off  for  depreciation  from  wear  and  tear,  from  one  showing  of  a  reel 
amounts  to  thirty  cents.  I'm 'not  joking,  I  mean  literally  thirty  cents.  The  only 
thing  that  is  the  matter  with  the  thirty  cent  estimate  is  that  it  is  too  high.  If 
a  film  is  receiving  good  care  the  cost  per  reel  per  showing  approaches  fifteen 
cents.  Sounds  like  a  car-fare. 

When  once  you  have  built  your  picture  right,  and  given  careful  attention 
to  the  quality  of  the  titling,  you  can  depend  upon  a  reasonably  uniform  response. 
The  reasonably  uniform  misapprehension  that  exists  in  the  minds  of  some  Latin 
Americans  regarding  the  personality  and  interests  of  the  average  business  man 
in  the  United  States,  is  due  to  the  lack  of  any  plan  or  care  on  our  part  to  let 
them  know  what  sort  of  folks  we  really  are.  Too  many  Wild  West  and  Do- 
mestic Triangle  pictures,  without  the  balance  of  any  adequate  representation  of 
most  of  us  as  we  really  are,  would,  after  a  period  of  years,  affect  the  thinking 
and  opinion  of  any  audience.  I  know  there  have  been  among  our  American  pic- 
tures some  exceedingly  brilliant  exceptions,  and  of  course  there  is  always  "Mary 
and  Doug  and  Charlie"  who  are  in  a  class  by  themselves.  But  there  is  so  vastly 
much  more  to  be  told  of  the  United  States  than  can  be  told  by  an  occasional 
"feature"  done  in  Griffith's  best  manner,  or  by  the  uniformly  interesting  work 
of  the  "big  three."  Latin  audiences  would  be  interested  in  seeing  something 
besides  our  mythical  wild-westiness  and  our  Triangles  would  we  but  take  the 
trouble  to  build  some  pictures  that  would  show  life  and  the  interests  of  our 
typical  leading  citizens,  particularly  the  life  and  interests  of  our  business  men. 

The  motion-picture  house  in  Latin  America  is  generally  much  more  beau- 
tifully built  than  has,  until  very  recently,  been  usual  with  us.  The  audiences  are 
far  more  leisurely,  they  are  not  willing  to  be  hurried  and  crowded  as  we  are. 
Moreover,  the  range  of  their  interests  is  broader.  Particularly  is  their  interest  in 
world  affairs  keener  and  wider  than  that  of  our  own  average  audience.  Evidence  of 
this  is  amply  given  by  the  superior  quality  of  their  Cinema  "News  Weeklies." 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  $59 

They  are  genuinely  interested  also  in  good  industrial  pictures,  and  one  of  the 
best  that  has  been  shown  is  a  European  film  showing  tobacco  culture  and  the  pro- 
cess of  making  Turkish  cigarettes. 

You  believe,  do  you  not,  that  the  same  Rio  de  Janeiro  audience  that  was 
pleased  with  the  cigarette  film,  would  be  pleased  as  well  with  the  picture  story 
of  your  own  industry  if  you  took  the  trouble  to  build  a  fine  film  with  plenty  of 
human  interest  news  value  in  it  and  the  best  possible  titling?  Now  I  have  no 
wish  to  underestimate  the  forms  of  advertising  already  in  use,  and  I  know  their 
value.  But  the  picture  must  be  added  as  a  great  medium  of  commercial  intelli- 
gence, because  it  is  at  once  the  most  rapid  and  the  cheapest  way  of  interesting 
large  groups  of  potential  consumers  in  your  goods.  Take  thought  for  a  minute 
of  the  enormous  number  of  people  in  the  United  States  who  cannot  read  any 
language.  We  were  quite  surprised  and  shocked  recently  when  the  results  of  army 
literacy  tests  were  reported  to  us.  I  hardly  think  things  are  very  much  better 
in  Latin  America.  Ten  years  from  now  there  will  be  no  more  need  of  standing 
and  explaining  the  unique  advantage  of  pictures  in  opening  foreign  markets  to  you 
men  who  have  American  goods  to  sell  than  there  is  need  now  of  standing  and 
explaining  to  a  market  gardener  over  in  Jersey  the  unique  value  of  the  Ford 
as  a  method  of  getting  his  truck  to  the  New  York  market,  as  compared  with  his 
previous  method  of  loading  and  harnessing  by  lantern  light  and  jogging  over  the 
miles  to  market  with  a  team  and  an  old  Studebaker  wagon.  Ten  years  ago  some 
of  you  were  salesmen,  and  you  remember  that  you  did  have  to  stand  and  ex- 
plain that  a  gasoline  engine  would  pull  the  load  to  market  faster  and  better  and 
cheaper  than  the  muscles  of  a  farm  team.  And  you  had  to  explain  that  the  thing- 
was  not  dangerous. 

Neither  is  there  anything  dangerous  in  assigning  a  big  block  of  your  ad- 
vertising appropriation  for  the  building  of  good  films.  They  will  develop  interest 
in  your  product  and  good  will  for  you,  and  can  travel  the  road  to  the  minds  of  the 
masses  of  the  people  sixteen  times  as  fast  as  print.  You  know  perfectly  well, 
all  of  you,  that  people  do  not  buy  merely  because  they  have  information  about  goods, 
but  because  the  desire  for  these  goods  has  been  developed  in  them.  A  picture  can  be 
so  built,  that  it  not  only  gives  information  about  your  goods  but  creates  a  desire  for 
them.  There  are  but  two  ways  of  releasing  simultaneous  emotion  in  masses  of  peo- 
ple. Music  is  one,  the  motion-picture  is  the  other.  But  the  picture  can  direct  the 
mind  at  the  same  time — it  can  mobilize  spiritual  forces  as  the  machines  have 
mobilized  brute  strength. 

It  lies  within  the  power  of  you  business  men  of  America  to  make  the  films 
not  only  sell  your  goods  in  Latin  America,  but  also  to  build  them  so  that  they 
may  become  the  greatest  single  spiritual  force  for  mutual  understanding  and  friend- 
ship among  the  free  peoples  of  this  hemisphere. 


MOVING  PICTURES  FOR  LATIN  AMERICA 

BY  C.  F.  McHALE  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CITY  BANK  OF  NEW  YORK. 

The  moving  picture  is,  indeed,  and  of  right  should  be  one  of  the  principal 
means  of  acquainting  our  South  American  neighbors  with  conditions,  natural  and 
otherwise,  existing  in  the  United  States.  There  is,  however,  one  proviso  of  great 
importance  which  has  seemingly  been  neglected  heretofore,  and  that  is  that  great 
care  must  be  exercised  in  the  selection  of  the  films  to  be  sent  to  South  America. 
Manufacturers  have  hitherto  sent  to  South  American  countries  the  very  same 
class  of  films  that  are  used  here.  No  special  films  have  been  prepared  for  use  in 
the  South  American  countries,  with  the  consequence  that  erroneous  ideas  have 
been  formed  as  a  direct  result  of  the  poor  choice  of  films.  It  is,  thus,  that  the 
moving  picture  instead  of  proving  beneficial,  has  proved  detrimental. 

In  the  first  place,  our  manufacturers  have  not  paid  sufficient  attention  to 
the  matter  of  translating  the  captions  of  their  films,  and  have  very  often  utilized 
the  services  of  very  incompetent  translators  to  translate  these  from  the  English. 
In  many  instances  the  resultant  translation  has  been  very  poor  and  very  often 
failed  to  convey  the  sense  of  the  original  English.  In  the  second  place,  our  manu- 
facturers have  failed  to  exercise  sufficient  care  in  the  selection!  of  the  type  of 
film  to  appeal  to  the  taste  of  South  Americans.  Up  to  a  short  time  ago,  fully  50 


360  SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL     CONFERENCE 

per  cent  of  the  films  sent  to  South  America  have  been  Wild  West  films,  depicting 
the  Rough  Riders,  Indian  fights,  and  great  catastrophes.  Of  the  remaining  films, 
25  per  .cent  have  been  social  dramas  which  have  depicted  problems  in  our  social 
life,  the  most  prominent  of  which  were  the  problems  of  divorce,  the  faithless 
wife,  etc.  The  remaining  25  per  cent  have  been  comedies  of  the  Charley  Chaplin 
or  Douglas  Fairbanks  type  and  these  have  enjoyed  the  greatest  popularity.  It 
will  readily  be  seen  that  these  films  have  not  had  any  educational  value  and  that 
they  have  not  tended  to  promote  a  better  understanding  of  what  the  American 
people  are,  of  what  they  are  doing,  or  of  what  they  like.  Many  South  Americans, 
particularly  those  who  have  not  travelled,  have  been  prompted  by  these  films  to 
form  erroneous  ideas  of  this  country.  It  is  no  wonder,  then,  that  many  people  in 
South  America  think  that  this  is  the  land  of  "catastrophes,  Rough  Riders  and 
divorce." 

It  is  absolutely  imperative,  therefore,  that  American  film  producers  and 
exporters  benefit  by  past  mistakes  and  change  the  type  of  film  that  is  being  sent 
to  South  American  countries.  The  ideal  that  our  manufacturers  should  constantly 
keep  in  mind  is  that  their  films  should  be  typical  of  American  life  and  activity, 
and  should  tend  to  promote  a  feeling  of  mutual  interest  and  respect  between  this 
country  and  its  South  American  neighbors.  Our  manufacturers  should  consider 
themselves  pioneers  in  an  educational  campaign  to  establish  closer  relationship 
between  the  United  States  and  Spanish  speaking  countries,  and  should  choose  their 
films  in  conformity  with  this  principle. 

What  type  of  films,  then,  is  best  suited  to  accomplish  this  purpose?  There 
are  in  the  first  place  the  series  of  so  called  educational  films  which  despict  scenes 
of  animal  life,  etc.;  the  great  natural  parks,  Yellowstone  National  Park,  etc.; 
activity  of  the  American  people  in-  industry,  such  as,  the  manufacture  of  iron  and 
steel,  etc.;  agricultural  activities,  showing  the  use  of  the  latest  inventions  in 
machinery  on  model  farms ;  our  great  railroads,  steamships,  piers,  customs  house 
activities,  institutions  of  national  interest,  centres  of  education,  universities,  etc. 
We  must  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  New  York,  although  the. greatest,  is  not  the 
only  city  of  interest  in  the  United  States,  and  should  send  scenes  from  different 
cities,  affording  activities  of  varying  interest. 


•  PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 

BY  EDWARD  ALBES,  ACTING  EDITOR,  ENGLISH  BULLETIN,  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

During  the  writer's  connection  with  the  Pan  American  Union,  covering  a 
period  of  nearly  eight  years,  the  two  questions  most  frequently  asked  him  in  regard 
to  this  unique  organization  are  "What  is  it  for?"  and  ''What  does  it  do?"  and  it 
is  with  the  view  of  answering  these  questions  in  broad  and  general  terms  that  this 
sketch  has  been  prepared. 

First,  as  to  what  it  is  for.  The  organization  was  formed  with  the  more 
or  less  idealistic  purpose  of  promoting  peace,  friendly  intercourse,  good  understand- 
ing, and  commerce  among  the  Republics  of  the  western"  world.  To  carry  out  th:.i 
purpose  involves  the  employment  of  numerous  correlated  and  coordinated  branches 
of  activity;  and  while  the  purpose  may  be  ideal  these  activities  are  preeminently 
practical.  To  cover  the  entire  field  of  the  actual  work  of  the  organization  would 
require  much  more  than  the  space  allotted,  so  that  only  a  brief  outline  of  what 
may  be  regarded  as  its  chief  activities  is  possible,  and  the  question  ''What  does 
it  do?"  can  be  but  partially  answered. 

Recognizing  the  fact  that  international  misunderstanding  is  often  the  result 
of  international  ignorance,  that  commerce  is  only  possible  where  peace  and  good 
understanding  prevail,  and  that  peace  and  good  understanding  are  best  promoted 
among  nations  by  a  mutual  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  one  another's  good 
qualities,  it  is  the  chief  aim  of  the  Governing  Board  and  executive  officers  of  the 
Pan  American  Union  to  acquaint  the  people  of  each  of  its  constituent  members  with 
the  activities,  characteristics,  cultural  status,  and  general  progress  of  the  people 
of  the  others.  This  aim  they  seek  to  accomplish  largely  through  the  publicity 
department  of  the  organization  and  through  its  work  as  a  bureau  of  information. 

In  this  connection,  the  leading  feature  of  the  publicity  department  is  the 
illustrated  monthly  magazine  known  as  the  Bulletin  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 
It  is  published  in  four  language  editions,  viz.,  English,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and 


COMMERCIAL     INTELLIGENCE     AND     PUBLICITY  361 

French,  for  among  *the  21  nations  comprised  in  the  Union  are  countries  whose 
national  languages  embrace  these  four.  These  editions,  however,  are  not  merely 
translations  of  identical  contents,  but  each  is  specially  adapted  to  its  own  sphere. 
For  instance,  matters  that  have  no  particular  instructive  value  in  the  Spanish 
speaking  countries,  or  in  the  Portuguese  speaking  country  of  Brazil,  may  be  of 
great  interest  in  the  United  States,  so  that  frequently  articles  appear  in  the  English 
edition  which  are  excluded  from  the  other  editions,  and  vice  versa.  Such  matters 
as  social  customs,  commercial  usages,  simple  geographical  data,  etc.,  relating  to 
the  countries  of  South  and  Central  America  are  naturally  matters  of  common 
knowledge  in  those  countries,  but  are  the  very  things  relative  to  which  the  people 
of  the  United  States  need  information.  Articles  dealing  with  such  matters  are 
therefore  published  only  in  the  English  edition.  As  an  example  of  recent  occur- 
rence may  be  cited  the  series  of  articles  which  have  appeared  in  the  English  Bulle- 
tin under  the  title  ''Exporting  to  Latin  America."  Prepared  for  readers  in  the 
United  States  by  a  member  of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff  who  is  an  expert  on 
Latin  American  commercial  matters  and  international  trade  generally,  these  articles 
cover  in  general  terms  the  fundamental  principles  and  chief  bases  of  one  side  of 
trading  with  Latin  American  countries — the  exporting  side.  The  appeal,  there- 
fore, is  to  such  manufacturers  and  exporters  of  the  United  States  who,  while 
perhaps  familiar  with  the  factors  that  enter  into  the  problem  of  exporting  to 
European  or  Asiastic  countries,  are  neophytes  as  far  as  the  other  Americas  are 
concerned.  Naturally  such  articles  are  unsuited  to  the  other  language  editions  of 
the  magazine.  On  the  other  hand,  articles  dealing  with  official  statistics  of  the 
foreign  trade  of  the  various  countries  of  the  Union  are  of  interest  to  all  American 
commercial  concerns  engaged  in  foreign  trade  whether  they  are  doing  business 
in  the  United  States  or  Chile  or  any  other  American  country.  Hence  such  sta- 
tistical articles  appear  in  all  editions. 

Again,  articles  dealing  with  the  cultural  status  of  the  various  countries  form 
a  special  feature  of  the  magazine.  A  series  of  articles  recently  appeared  in  the 
Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  French  editions  which  dealt  with  the  artistic  development 
of  the  United  States,  and  briefly  covered  the  fields  of  music,  painting,  and  sculpture, 
giving  concise  accounts  of  the  works  of  leading  artists  in  their  respective  spheres. 
Presuming  that  the  readers  of  the  English  Bulletin  are  familiar  with  such  works 
of  their  own  countrymen,  these  articles  were  excluded  from  that  edition. 

Many  articles,  however,  besides  those  on  commercial  matters  deal  with 
subjects  that  appeal  to  readers  in  practically  all  of  the  countries.  Such,  for 
example,  are  articles  describing  the  larger  cities  of  the  various  countries,  articles 
dealing  with  leading  mineral  or  agricultural  products ;  accounts  of  historical  and 
scientific  interest ;  non-technical  articles  dealing  with  progress  in  transportation, 
including  aviation ;  sketches  showing  the  present  status  of  the  intellectual  life  and 
of  educational  progress  in  the  various  countries,  etc. 

In  addition  to  the  special  articles  covering  matters  outlined  above,  the  Bul- 
letin gives  summaries,  in  the  form  of  short  notes,  of  new  developments  in  each  of 
the  countries  under  six  special  headings,  viz.:  (1)  Agriculture,  Industry  and  Com- 
merce; (2)  Legislation;  (3)  International  Treaties;  (4)  Economic  and  Financial 
Affairs;  (5)  Public  Instruction  and  Education;  and  (6)  General  Notes.  Under 
these  general  headings  are  to  be  found  news  items  gathered  from  official  and 
unofficial  sources  from  all  the  countries.  These  items  cover  matters  of  interest 
and  important  occurrences  in  the  varied  phases  of  development  indicated  by  the 
general  titles.  Here  again,  notes  dealing  with  important  events  or  occurrences  in 
the  United  States  are  included  in  the  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  French  editions 
but  excluded  from  the  English  edition,  these  matters  having  been  covered  by  the 
daily  press  and  therefore  having  lost  news  value  for  English  readers. 

In  short  the  aim  of  the  Bulletin  is  to  be  a  reliable  medium  of  information 
through  which  may  be  had  a  better  acquaintance  and  fuller  understanding  of  the 
culture,  activities,  and  general  advance  in  all  the  complex  factors  of  modern 
civilization,  of  the  countries  comprising  the  Pan  American  Union.  Latin  American 
readers  seek  such  information  relative  to  the  United  States,  while  the  subscribers 
to  the  English  edition  desire  a  better  knowledge  of  the  Latin  republics^  and  it 
is  this  demand  that  the  Bulletin  seeks  to  meet  in  its  several  language  editions. 

Another  feature  of  the  publicity  department,  and  one  that  has  an  important 
part  in  meeting  the  demands  made  on  the  organization  as  a  bureau  of  information, 
consists  in  the  publication  in  the  form  of  pamphlets-  of  special  reprints  of  certain 
articles  that  have  appeared  in  the  Bulletin,  or  of  specially  prepared  matter  dealing 


362  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL     CONFERENCE 

with  certain  commercial  information  for  which  there  is  *a  general  demand. 
Among  such  reprints  of  articles  that  have  appeared  in  the  Bulletin  may  be 
noted  the  series  that  deals  with  the  leading  cities  of  Latin  America,  such 
as  Buenos  Aires,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Santiago,  Montevideo,  Lima,  La  Paz,  the 
City  of  Mexico,  Sao  Paulo,  etc.  Another  series  covers  leading  American  products 
such  as  coffee,  rice,  rubber,  yerba  mate,  tobacco,  cotton,  etc.,  while  other  subjects 
covered  by  similar  reprints  deal  with  various  mineral  products  of  the  Americas. 
Occasionally  series  of  articles  covering  a  single  subject,  such  as  the  articles  on 
"Exporting  to  Latin  America,"  are  embodied  in  a  single  pamphlet  and  are  dis- 
tributed gratis  among  those  interested  in  the  particular  subject. 

Another  pamphlet  designed  for  distribution  in  Latin  American  countries 
generally,  was  published  in  Spanish.  It  consisted  of  40  pages  in  which  were  set 
out  the  general  system  of  university  education  in  the  United  States,  calling  atten- 
tion to  special  facilities  for  higher  training  in  cultural  and  professional  courses, 
explaining  the  educational  requirements  for  admission,  general  courses  of  study, 
degrees  conferred,  and  practical  information  as  to  expense,  etc.,  relative  to  the 
leading  universities  in  the  various  sections  of  the  country.  These  pamphlets  were 
distributed  to  hundreds  of  educational  institutions  and  public  libraries  throughout 
South  and  Central  America,  and  did  much  to  attract  students  from  many  of  the 
Southern  republics  to  the  United  States.  It  is  estimated  that  in  1918-1919  there 
were  not  less  than  3,000  Latin  American  students  distributed  among  the  colleges 
and  universities  of  this  country. 

Special  pamphlets  dealing  with  foreign  trade  statistics  of  each  of  the  Latin 
American  countries  are  prepared  by  the  statistical  department  of  the  Pan  American 
Union,  and  are  published  as  soon  as  official  figures  are  received  from  the  several 
governments.  Translations  of  laws  having  special  bearing  on  trade  and  industry 
are  made  for  purposes  of  free  distribution  and  to  answer  inquiries  relative  to  these 
matters. 

Another  form  of  publicity  undertaken  by  the  organization  is  the  furnishing 
of  short,  pithy  articles  to  newspapers.  These  releases  to  the  press  cover  matters  of 
unusual  interest  to  the  reading  public  generally  and  deal  with  a  great  variety  of 
subjects.  If  a  distinguished  official  from  some  Latin  American  country  is  ex- 
pected to  arrive  in  the  United  States,  a  brief  biographical  sketch,  often  accom- 
panied by  a  photograph,  of  the  visitor  is  sent  to  the  leading  newspapers  throughout 
the  country.  If  some  new  enterprise  is  started,  or  a  new  development  of  an  old 
industry,  or  an  unusual  public  work  is  completed  in  a  Latin  American  country, 
a  short  sketch  covering  the  subject  is  sent  to  the  daily  press  in  the  United  States, 
publicity  of  this  character  reaching  many  more  readers  than  can  magazine  articles. 
On  the  other  hand,  press  releases  dealing  with  special  occurrences  or  events,  non- 
political  in  character,  taking  place  in  the  United  States  are  prepared  in  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  and  are  sent  to  hundreds  of  newspapers  in  Latin  American  countries. 
While  the  subject  matter  of  these  releases  is  usually  timely,  they  do  not  deal  with 
matters  usually  covered  by  cabled  news  dispatches  of  other  agencies  and  thus  do 
not  conflict  with  such  services. 

Supplementing  these  various  forms  of  publications  are  the  activities  of  the 
information  section.  Hundreds  of  letters  are  received  daily  in  the  office  of  the 
chief  clerk  and  are  segregated  and  assigne.d  to  the  various  members  of  the  staff 
for  reply.  Many  of  these  inquiries  can  be  answered  by  previously  prepared  multi- 
graphed  letters  or  by  the  special  pamphlets  heretofore  described.  Others  require 
the  attention  of  experts  in  Latin  American  trade  and  statistics,  or  need  special 
research  in  furnishing  the  required  information. 

In  this  connection,  a  series  of  pamphlets  containing  general  descriptive  data 
in  regard  to  each  of  the  Latin  American  countries  is  published.  Each  pamphlet 
covers  only  one  ^country  and  contains  (1)  a  condensed  description  of  the  geographi- 
cal and  topographical  features;  (2)  a  short  historical  sketch;  (3)  an  account  of 
the  constitutional  provisions  and  interesting  facts  as  to  its  government;  (4)  an 
account  and  brief  description  of  its  leading  industries  and  products;  (5)  the  most 
recently  available  statistics  and  analyses  of  its  foreign  commerce;  (6)  a  condensed 
description  of  its  leading  cities;  (7)  an  account  of  its  railways  and  waterways ;  (8) 
a  brief  sketch  of  its  progress  in  education  and  its  public  school  system.  These 
pamphlets  thus  cover  many  lines  of  inquiry,  and  are  designed  to  answer  such 
general  questions  as  are  usually  asked  by  hundreds  of  persons  in  the  United  States 
whose  interest  in  Latin  American  countries  is  more  or  less  commercial,  cultural  and 
general.  The  foreign  commerce  sections  of  the  pamphlets  are  revised  each  year 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  363 

by  the  statistical  experts  of  the  organization,  and  this  feature  alone  has  resulted  in 
a  large  demand  for  these  little  booklets.  Other  sections  of  the  pamphlets  are 
revised  as  occasion  demands. 

From  this  mere  outline  of  what  the  Pan  American  Union  does  in  its  depart- 
ment of  publications  alone,  some  idea  may  be  had  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
organization^  carrying  out  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  founded.  As  to  the 
merit  and  utility  of  this  work — those  connected  with  it  may  not  judge.  It  may  not 
be  amiss,  however,  to  cite  an  instance  that  occurred  a  few  weeks  ago.  A  tele- 
gram from  one  of  the  great  banking  institutions  of  New  York  reached  the  Chief 
Clerk's  desk.  It  asked  for  100  copies  of  a  descriptive  pamphlet  on  a  certain  country 
and  also  100  copies  of  the  special  pamphlet  dealing  with  its  capital  city.  The  re- 
quired matter  was  at  once  forwarded.  Subsequently  it  was  learned  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  great  republic  concerned  had  applied  for  a  large  loan  for  the 
purpose  of  making  certain  civic  improvements  in  the  capital.  The  officers  of  the 
New  York  banking  institution  knew  of  the  Pan  American  Union's  publications, 
and  in  order  to  inform  their  correspondent  banks  in  other  sections  of  the  United 
States  in  regard  to  the  resources  of  the  country,  the  municipal  government  of  the 
city,  the  character  and  enterprise  of  its  citizens,  the  recent  civic  improvements 
made,  etc.,  they  needed  the  pamphlets  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  To  float  a  large 
loan,  confidence  in  the  country  applying  for  it,  confidence  based  upon  reliable  sta- 
tistics, trustworthy  information  as  to  present  conditions  in  the  city  in  which  the 
money  was  to  be  expended,  etc.,  was  necessary.  In  order  to  inspire  such  confidence 
among  the  many  financial  institutions  that  were  expected  to  aid  in  placing  these 
bonds,  the  Pan  American  Union's  publications,  were  distributed.  That  is  at  least 
some  indication  that  such  publications  have  considerable  utility.  This  single 
instance  is  cited  merely  because  many  millions  of  dollars  were  involved ;  many  other 
cases  in  which  the  Pan  American  Union  experts  have  been  consulted  in  regard  to 
national  loans  for  other  countries  might  be  mentioned,  but  in  this  case  so  many 
institutions  were  involved  that  personal  consultation  was  impracticable. 

As  stated  at  the  outset,  this  sketch  deals  only  with  the  publications  of  the 
Pan  American  Union.  To  describe  its  other  agencies  and  activities,  such  as  its 
great  library ;  its  remarkable  collection  of  photographs  used  for  illustrating  its 
own  publications  and  freely  loaned  to  other  magazines  and  newspapers ;  the 
propaganda  carried  on  by  means  of  addresses,  lectures,  etc.;  its  unique  exhibits  of 
Latin  American  products ;  its  features  of  entertainment  of  distinguished  Latin 
American  visitors,  etc.,  would  require  a  book.  Hence  the  limitation  to  a  mere 
sketch  of  one  feature  of  the  unique  institution  which  has  for  its  slogan — "Peace, 
Friendship,  and  Good  Understanding  among  all  the  Americas." 


ADVERTISING  LITERATURE  FOR  LATIN  AMERICA 

BY  DR.  ANGEL  CESAR  RIVAS,  ACTING  EDITOR,  SPANISH  BULLETIN,  PAN  AMERICAN 

UNION. 

Language  is  without  doubt  the  indispensable  means  by  which  we  come  to  know 
others  and  by  which  we  make  others  know  what  we  are,  what  we  can  do  and  what 
is  to  be  expected  of  us.  It  is  no  less  necessary  in  order  to  arrive  at  a  comprehen- 
sion of  people  with  whom  we  seek  to  establish  relations  of  any  sort.  Up  to  now 
the  chief  stumbling  block  to  the  progress  of  Americanism  and  consequently  the 
development  of  commercial  relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  other 
countries  of  America  has  arisen  from  the  difference  of  language. 

Commerce  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  exchange  of  products  or  of  credits.  An 
understanding  of  the  people  with  whom  we  are  to  deal,  a  knowledge  of  their  needs, 
of  their  tastes,  of  their  habits,  and  of  their  peculiarities  is  necessary.  Likewise, 
they  too  require,  since  in  a  great  part  commerce  signifies  rivalry,  that  we  reveal 
ourselves  for  what  we  are,  at  least  in  the  large,  showing  them  our  strength,  our 
capacity  and  how  we  compare  with  the  people  of  other  nationalities. 

Before  buying  and  selling  we  must  advertise  ourselves,  not  in  the  attenuated 
sense  that  the  word  has  in  mercantile  or  newspaper  language,  but  in  the  broader 
?.nd  fuller  meaning  of  human  relations  and  of  the  intercourse  of  people. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  need  of  advertisement  is  reciprocal,  that  the  work 
should  be  shared  by  both  equally,  not  only  by  the  producer  of  manufactured  goods, 
but  as  well  by  him  who  offers  raw  materials  for  sale. 


364  SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL     CONFERENCE 

To  a  certain  point  this  is  true,  but  only  up  to  a  certain  point.  The  manu- 
facturer requires  constantly  raw  materials  and  such  he  looks  for  and  obtains  with 
little  solicitation  within  or  without  his  own  country.  It  is  only  necessary  that  he 
make  his  needs  known. 

On  account  of  the  difference  existing  between  manufacturing  industry  and 
extractive  industry,  whether  the  latter  be  agriculture  or  mining,  those  devoting 
themselves  to  the  former  have  imposed  upon  them  the  initiative  in  the  advertise- 
ment or  the  propaganda  referred  to.  The  stage  of  agriculture  and  mining  preceeds 
the  stage  of  manufacture-  In  order  that  a  people  may  arrive  at  the  latter  stage  it 
is  necessary  that  they  should  first  have  attained  the  former,  or  if  not  to  be  able 
to  dispose  of  the  elements  necessary  to  acquire  the  raw  materials  not  produced  on 
their  own  soil.  Even  more,  a  truly  manufacturing  people  is  one  that  after  having 
supplied  its  own  needs  overflows  with  its  goods  into  the  markets  of  others. 

Necessarily  this  presupposes  an  economic  status  in  advance  of  the  agricul- 
tural or  mining  status,  assuming  that  through  the  accumulation  or  supply  of  capital 
and  of  technical  ability  there  may  be  created  wealth  not  immediately  needed,  but 
which  serves  as  a  fund  of  reserve  for  use  when  needed. 

In  the  position  that  the  United  States  and  the  Latin  American  countries  oc- 
cupy economically  in  relation  to  each  other,  it  is  the  former  which  is  called  upon 
to  advertise  itself,  shouldering  a  double  burden  for  itself  and  for  the  others.  We 
say  a  double  burden,  because  tb  the  end  that  the  United  States  may  occupy  in 
Latin  American  commerce,  the  place  which  it  should  have,  it  is  necessary  to  tell  its 
neighbors  of  the  South  what  it  has  and  the  terms  of  sale,  and  must  inform  its 
own  people  what  it  is  that  the  others  need  and  how  to  sell  to  them. 

For  the  first  part  it  is  essential  to  know  the  speech  of  the  buyers  as  well  as 
the  art  of  advertising.  Much  progress  is  being  made  at  present  in  the  diffusion  of 
Spanish  and  even  of  Portuguese  in  the  United  States,  all  of  which  shows  without 
doubt  that  while  the  desired  end  has  not  yet  been  attained  the  purpose  exists. 
From  what  has  been  already  done  we  may  conclude  without  exaggeration  that 
Spanish  will  come  to  occupy  the  position  in  the  United  States  that  German  occu- 
pied before  the  war.  This  of  itself  wo'uld  be  incalculable  progress  and  a  force  of 
undoubted  value.  Thanks  to  a  knowledge  of  the  language,  the  people  of  the  United 
States  would  find  themselves  in  a  condition  to  know  the  Latin  Americans,  to  fathom 
their  souls,  to  appreciate  their  qualities,  to  measure  their  needs,  and  to  formulate 
adequate  plans  to  satisfy  them.  At  the  same  time  with  the  acquirement  of  the 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  tongues  they  would  be  able  to  make  the  Latin  American 
see  directly  and  without  any  intermediary  what  in  reality  they  themselves  are,  the 
ends  they  seek,  and  what  advantages  the  goods  they  fabricate  may  offer. 

Catalogues  in  Spanish  and  Portuguese  are  unquestionably  good  advertising 
mediums,  but  on  condition  that  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  in  which  they  are 
written  be  in  reality  such.  The  greater  part  of  the  catalogues  which  are  sent  from 
the  United  States  to  Latin  America  are  in  truth  filled  from  beginning  to  end  with 
Spanish  or  Portuguese  words,  but  one  cannot  say  that  they  are  written  in  Spanish 
or  Portuguese.  This  is  not  a  paradox,  for  one  only  needs  to  read  these  catalogues 
to  be  convinced  that,  having  been  translated  from  some  other  language,  they  pre- 
serve the  rules  of  construction  peculiar  to  the  language  in  which  they  were  originally 
conceived.  The  manufacturer  or  advertiser  in  the  United  States  must  come  to  ap- 
preciate the  fact  that  in  order  for  his  catalogues  to  produce  the  desired  effect  in 
Latin  America  it  is  absolutely  indispensable  that  they  be  in,  good  Spanish  or  good 
Portuguese.  In  English  there  is  a  word  which  suits  well  the  genius  of  the  people 
cf  the  United  States;  it  is  "efficiency."  In  treating  of  catalogues,  or  of  anything 
else,  true  efficiency  consists -in  doing  a  thing  as  it  ought  to  be  done.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  the  catalogues  be  voluminous,  it  is  necessary  only  that  they  be  in- 
telligible, that  anyone  may  understand  them.  In  order  to  attain  the  highest  grade 
of  efficiency,  advertisers  in  the  United  States  should  judge  with  care  those  who 
offer  their  services  as  translators  and  keep  always  in  mind  the  fact  that  cheap  and 
rapid  work  is  generally  in  this  field  the  worst  work. 

In  connection  with  the  catalogue,  it  would  be  well  if  associations  of  manu- 
facturers and  chambers  of  commerce  in  the  United  States  would  publish  weekly  or 
fortnightly  well  prepared  bulletins  in  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  advertising  raw 
products,  fluctuation  of  prices,  the  state  of  the  market,  financial  and  banking  move- 
ments in  relation  to  Latin  America  and  special  recommendations  respecting  the 
preparation  of  raw  materials  from  Latin  America,  which  would  meet  the  approval 
of  importers  in  the  United  States,  and  other  information  of  like  kind  and  im- 


COMMERCIAL    INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  365 

portance-  Such  publications  as  this  would  render  infinitely  good  service  in  the  ex- 
pansion of  commercial  relations  between  the  United  States  and  Latin  America,  for, 
up  to  ^  now,  the  commerce  of  this  country  with  Latin  America  has  been  almost 
exclusively  in  the  hands  of  New  York  commission  houses.  This  expansion  would 
be  produced  by  direct  correspondence  between  manufacfurer  and  consumer.  This 
has  been  of  manifest  utility  to  the  more  important  commercial  houses  of  Latin 
America  for  whatever  has  been  attempted  along  this  line  has  produced  the  very 
best  results. 

In  respect  to  newspaper  advertising  it  would  be  well  to  discard  stereotyped 
uniformity,  especially  when  prepared  with  a  view  to  the  psychology  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  Although  of  the  same  or  similar  origin,  the  countries  of 
Latin  America  have  each  its  own  proper  physiognomy  shown  in  all  that  relates 
to  forms.  On  this  account  advertisements  should  be  edited  with  an  eye  to  the 
formal  peculiarities  of  each  country,  in  the  country  itself,  or  by  persons  familiar  with 
the  idiosyncrasies  of  each  country. 

In  respect  to  making  known  in  the  United  States  the  commercial  and  indus- 
trial activities  of  Latin  America,  the  state  of  its  civilization,  the  opportunities  offered 
for  the  investment  of  capital,  etc.,  nothing  better  could  be  recommended  than  the 
practice  which  has  had  such  excellent  results  in  the  last  few  months  of  the  New 
York  Sun  which  consists  in  publishing  in  its  Monday  edition  two  or  three  pages 
of  articles  written  by  people  familiar  with  the  life,  the  business  and  the  natural 
resources  of  the  Latin  American  countries  and  short  miscellaneo'us  notes  covering  a 
variety  of  matters  received  from  well  authenticated  sources.  If  this  example  were 
followed  by  a  single  newspaper  in  each  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  United  States 
the  results  which  would  quickly  follow  would  be  astonishing.  The  Sun  readers  are 
able  to  ascertain  from!  the  news  therein  published  that  not  only  are  there  revolu- 
tions and  mutinies  in  Latin  America,  but  that  there  exists  also  a  civilization  worthy 
of  respect  and  of  study,  and  an  ample  field  for  the  commerce,  the  industry  and  the 
capital  of  the  United  States. 


NEWSPAPERS  OF  LATIN  AMERICA 

BY  W.  P.  MONTGOMERY,  SPANISH-ENGLISH  TRANSLATOR,  PAN  AMERICAN 

UNION  STAFF. 

The  newspapers  of  Latin  America  are,  generally  speaking  of  a  more  serious 
type  than  are  those  of  a  similar  class  and  standing  in  the  United  States.  They 
gather  their  information  with  the  utmost  care,  always  aiming  at  accuracy  and 
truth,  and  seldom  enter,  knowingly  or  unknowingly,  the  field  of  purely  inventive, 
untruthful  and  sensational  news  manufacturing  sometimes  indulged  in  by  some 
newspaper  reporters  and  newspapers  in  the  United  States.  The  great  influence 
which  Latin  American  newspapers  exert  over  the  reading  public  is,  undoubtedly, 
largely  due  to  the  high  ideals  and  lofty  aims  of  their  editors,  reporters,  managers 
and  owners,  and  to  the  keen  sense  of  responsibility  of  all  those  who  engage  in 
newspaper  work  that  theirs  is  a  calling  not  merely  for  the  purpose  of  a  money 
remuneration,  the  paying  of  dividends  or  the  wielding  of  political  power,  but  rather 
for  the  higher  and  more  ennobling  objects  of  educating  and  uplifting,  mentally  and 
morally,  the  large  mass  of  their  readers. 

Newspaper  headlines  in  the  United  States  tell  the  story  of  the  printed  matter 
which  follows,  frequently  rendering  unnecessary  a  careful  reading  of  the  text,  &o 
that  North  American  business  and  professional  men  often  only  hurriedly  scan  the 
columns  of  the  daily  press,  glancing  at  the  headlines  here  and  there  on  their  way 
to  and  from  their  places  of  business,  while  at  meals  or  during  some  lull  in  the 
arduous  duties  of  office,  store,  factory  or  other  work.  An  entirely  different  pro- 
cedure is  followed  in  the  Latin  American  countries.  The  Latin  American  news- 
papers are  read  and  re-read  from  beginning  to  end  by  a  large  number  of  their 
subscribers.  While  headlines  are  used  they  are  as  a  rule  very  short  and  modest 
and  are  nearly  always  confined  to  a  clear  and  concise  statement  of  the  subject  under 
discussion,  so  that  it  is  necessary  to  peruse  the  complete  text  in  order  to  properly 
grasp  the  meaning  intended  to  be  conveyed.  This  encourages  and  stimulates  news- 
paper writers  in  using  their  best  efforts  in  an  endeavor  to  excell  in  the  art  of 
pleasing  and  correct  expression  in  vividly,  brilliantly  and  truthfully  portraying  in 
an  elegant  and  fascinating  style  such  matter  as  is  printed  in  their  columns. 


366 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


While  the  circulation  of  Latin  American  newspapers  is  not  as  large  as  that 
which  generally  obtains  for  the  same  class  of  publication  in  the  United  States, 
still  the  number  of  subscribers  is  not  a  correct  index  to  the  actual  number  of 
readers,  inasmuch  as,  due  to  long  established  custom  and  to  the  inherent  polite- 
ness and  fine  sense  of  consideration  for  friends  and  acquaintances,  the  Latin 
American  newspaper  subscriber  passes  his  paper  on  to  a  number  of  his  friends, 
until  often,  after  going  the  rounds,  it  comes  back  to  its  courteous  and  accommodat- 
ing owner  worn,  figuratively  speaking,  threadbare.  While  this  custom  of  lending 
one's  paper  to  one's  friends  may  work  a  hardship  on  newspaper  publishers,  in  so 
far  as  their  circulation  is  concerned,  still  it  is  one  of  the  many  straws  which  shows 
the  exquisite  courtesy  and  goodness  of  heart  of  Latin  Americans,  and,  helps  in 
circularizing  the  advertisements  contained  in  the  paper. 

The  daily  circulation  of  Latin  American  newspapers  varies  from  1,000  or 
less  in  interior  points  of  the  different  republics  to  150,000  for  La  Prensa  in  the 
great  industrial  center  of  Buenos  Aires.  This  paper,  which  was  founded  50  years 
ago  as  a  tiny  sheet  of  two  pages  21  x  15  inches,  has  developed  into  a  great  daily  of 
from  24  to  36  pages,  16  x  23*4:  inches,  containing  7  columns  each.  La  Prensa  was 
founded  by  Dr.  Jose  C.  Paz,  deceased,  who  not  only  was  a  great  journalist  but 
who  also  became  one  of  the  greatest  philanthropists  the  Argentine  nation  ever 
produced.  The  building  owned  by  La  Prensa  on  Avenida  de  Mayo  in  Buenos 
Aires  is  one  of  the  landmarks  of  the  Argentine  metropolis.  The  paper  has  a 
brilliant  literary  staff  and  an  excellent  cable  service.  It  sells  for  the  equivalent  of 
5  cents  a  copy  in  Buenos  Aires  and  is  a  great  news-gatherer  and  advertising 
medium.  The  prices  charged  for  advertising  vary  from  20  cents  to  $3.00  a  line 
per  insertion.  Not  only  does  La  Prensa  maintain  a  high  standard  as  a  newspaper, 
furnishing  its  readers  with  an  exceptionally  trustworthy  and  complete  service  of 
foreign  and  domestic  news,  but  it  also  maintains  a  number  of  complementary  in- 
stitutions for  benevolent  and  educational  purposes,  all  of  which  are  free  to  the 
public.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  its  departments  of  medicine,  law,  indus- 
trial and  agricultural  chemistry,  music  and  free  assembly  halls — institutions  unique 
in  the  field  of  modern  journalism  and  newspaper  enterprise.  La  Prensa  is  equipped 
with  the  most  modern  and  up-to-date  Hoe  presses,  electrically  operated,  and  uses 
the  latest  models  of  linotype  composing  machines. 

The  table  inserted  below  mentions  one  of  the  principal  daily  newspapers 
published  in  the  capitals  of  each  of  the  Latin  American  'republics,  together  with  a 
statement  of  the  approximate  circulation  and  advertising  rates,  the  latter  being 
subject  to  change  at  any  time.  In  most  cases  large  advertisers  can  obtain  special 
terms  on  application. 


i  Country 

Paper 

Place  Published 

Circula- 
tion 

Advertising  Rate 

Argentina 

La  Nacion 

Buenos    Aires 

80,000 

$3.24  per  inch  per  insertion. 

Bolivia 

El  Tiempo 

La    Paz 

4,000 

$19.50  per  quarter  column  2^  x  4%  in. 

Brazil 

Journal  de 

Commercio 

Rio   de   Janeiro 

30,000 

12  cents  per  line  per  insertion,  7  point 

type. 

Chile 

El  Mercurio 

Santiago 

50,000 

30  cents  per  centimeter    (0.3937  in.). 

Colombia 

El  Nuevo  Tiempo 

Bogota 

6,000 

25  cents  per  inch  per  insertion. 

Costa  Rica 

La  Informaci6n 

San    Jose 

7,000 

25   cents  per  lineal  inch  per  insertion. 

Cuba 

La  Lucha 

Habana 

8,000 

40   cents  per   inch  per  insertion. 

Dominican 

Republic 

Listin  Diario 

Santo   Domingo 

4,000 

20   cents  per  inch   per  insertion. 

Ecuador 

El  Comercio 

Quito 

3,500 

20   cents   per   centimeter  per  insertion. 

Guatemala 

Diario  de 

City    of 

Guatemala 

Guatemala 

5,000 

25   cents   per  inch   per  insertion. 

Haiti 

Le  Matin 

Port-au-Prince 

2,500 

25   cents   per  inch   per  insertion. 

Honduras 

El  Nuevo  Tiempo 

Tegucigalpa 

3,500 

20  cents  per  inch   per  insertion. 

Mexico 

El   Universal 

Mexico    City 

50,000 

$1.40    per   inch    per   insertion. 

Nicaragua 

El    Comercio 

Managua 

3,000 

Conventional  rates  ;  no  fixed  charges. 

Panama 

Diario  de  Panama 

Panama 

10,000 

25    cents    per   inch   per   insertion. 

Paraguay 

El  Diario 

Asuncion 

4,000 

$2.54  per  month  for  a  space  of  1  x  2Va 

inches. 

Peru 

El    Comercio 

Lima 

25,000 

20  cents  per  line  per  insertion.     ' 

Salvador 

Diario   del 

Salvador 

San    Salvador 

12,000 

$1.50  per  inch   up  to  3   insertions. 

Uruguay 

El  Dfa 

Montevideo 

35,000 

30    cents    per    inch   per    insertion. 

Venezuela 

El   Universal 

Caracas 

20,000 

20   cents  per  inch  per  insertion. 

(1)  This  list  is  merely  an  illustration,  space  not  permitting  a  complete  list  of  newspapers 
published. 


COMMERCIAL     INTELLIGENCE    AND    PUBLICITY  367 

To  reach  the  public  advertisements  should  he  in  the  language  of  the  coun- 
try in  which  the  paper  is  published,  that  is  to  say  in  Spanish  in  all  of  the  republics 
of  Latin  America  except  Brazil,  where  Portuguese  is  used,  and  Haiti  where  the 
language  is  French.  If  the  article  is  one  that  can  be  easily  illustrated  by  a  picture 
and  short  catch  words,  this  method  of  advertising  has  often  given  excellent  results. 

An  examination  of  the  great  daily  newspapers  published  in  Argentina, 
Brazil  annd  in  most  of  the  other  Latin  American  countries  shows  that  in  arrang- 
ing and  classifying  the  matter  contained  in  these  publications,  the  advertising 
columns,  cables  and  telegrams,  editorial  comment  and  reading  matter  are  con- 
veniently separated,  thereby  enabling  the  reader  to  more  readily  find  the  sec- 
tion of  the  paper  in  which  he  is  most  interested  and  to  continue  the  perusal  of 
same  in  an  orderly,  systematic  and  profitable  manner.  Some  of  the  newspapers 
published  in  that  part  of  Latin  America  adjacent  to  the  United  States,  or  which 
have  more  or  less  fallen  under  North  American  influence  in  so  far  as  the  methods 
of  conducting  the  business  of  newspapers  is  concerned,  have  adopted  display  head- 
lines similar  to  those  used  in  the  United  States,  as  well  as  a  somewhat  indis- 
criminate intermingling  of  advertising,  reading  and  other  matter  on  all  the  pages  of 
the  paper.  A  few  publications  have  gone  so  far  as  to  make  use  of  the  crudely 
illustrated  so-called  humorous  sheets,  unfortunately  so  prevalent  and  popular. in 
the  United  States,  in  their  Sunday  editions.  Such  an  innovation,  however,  it  is 
sincerely  to  be  hoped  will  never  obtain  to  any  great  extent  among  the  attractive, 
neatly  arranged,  conveniently  classified,  ably  edited,  first-class  newspapers  of 
Latin  America. 

A  feature  of  the  Latin  American  newspaper  worthy  of  praise  is  the  section 
set  aside  in  some  of  the  gjeat  dailies,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  Journal  do  Com- 
mercio  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  for  contributions  from  the  public  on  matters  of  current 
interest,  the  newspaper  expressly  disavowing  responsibility  for  ideas  set  forth  in 
that  section,  and  freely  publishing  all  contributions  submitted  in  proper  form  and 
which  conform  to  the  rules  of  the  management.  This  public  forum  invites  dis- 
cussion and  gives  everyone  an  opportunity  to  state  his  views. 

In  closing  these  remarks  it  is  fitting  to  state  that  the  newspapers  of.  Latin 
America  have  made  out  of  that  section  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  some  of  the 
most  liberal  and  democratic  republics  in  the  world  by  establishing  what  may  be 
called  an  aristocracy,  not  of  wealth,  or  political  influence,  or  nobility  of  birth,  but  of 
literary  attainments.  Newspaper  writers,  authors,  publicists,  poets  are  members 
of  this  aristocracy,  regardless  of  worldly  possessions  or  accidents  of  birth,  and 
nowhere  are  they  more  honored,  respected  and  loved  than  in  Latin  America. 


368  SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

EDUCATIONAL  AUXILIARIES  TO  COMMERCE 

EDUCATION  IN  RELATION  TO  PAN  AMERICAN  TRADE 

BY  SENOR  FRANCISCO  JAVIER  YANES,  ASSISTANT  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN 

UNION. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  "repeat  the  statement  so  frequently  made  that  good 
understanding  is  the  basis  of  mutual  respect.  For  neighbors  separated  by  racial 
peculiarities,  by  different  languages,  the  only  way  to  cement  that  understanding 
is  by  their  coming  together  to  realize  that  they  must  live  in  a  community  of  thought 
and  ideals,  of  chanty  for  mutual  shortcomings  and  a  fair  estimate  of  common 
virtues. 

Commerce  and  trade,  the  interchange  of  commodities  and  money,  while  they 
are  powerful  factors  in  the  material  development  and  the  life  of  peoples  and  in 
fostering  their  friendly  intercourse,  cannot  endure  the  exigencies  of  competition. 
But  the  interchange  of  ideas,  the  honest  effort  to  understand  one  another,  the 
knowledge  of  the  history,  the  higher  life,  the  greater  aspirations  of  other  peoples, 
will  necessarily  breed  respect  for  these  peoples,  an  interest  in  their  welfare  and  a 
desire  for  mutual  cooperation,  which  will  be  the  foundation  of  an  honest  friendship 
that  does  not  rely  on  the  demand  and  supply  of  material  needs. 

And  there  is  no  reason  why  there  should  not  exist  among  our  peoples— 
since  we  are  all  Americans — this  sort  of  union,  of  friendship,  of  mutual  under- 
standing, forbearance  and  respect.  In  our  civil  life  we  have  in  common  our 
political  institutions,  which  are  the  bases  of  our  different  nationalities;  we  have 
in  common  commercial  interests  and  the  necessity  of  mutual  aid  in  the  develop- 
ment of  our  material  wealth ;  we  have  in  common  geographic  boundaries,  rivers 
and  seas;  we  have  in  common  historic  deeds,  great  heroes,  the  conception  of 
democracy  and  respect  for  the  weak ;  we  have  in  common  the  ideals  of  liberty 
and  equality  of  rights,  to  which  we  owe  the  birth  of  our  21  free  and  independent 
republics  of  America. 

We  lack,  however,  a  language  common  to  all  to  facilitate  our  intercourse, 
to  do  away  with  misunderstandings,  to  allay  suspicions,  and  to  prevent  distrust; 
we  lack,  on  the  material  and  economic  side  of  our  relations,  uniformity  of  methods, 
legislation  and  other  facilities.  We  lack  a  certain  mutual  respect  to  bridge  over 
our  too  human  shortcomings  and  make  the  road  easy  to  a  better,  and  I  may  add, 
more  Christian  and  charitable  understanding. 

You,  our  brothers  of  the  North,  know  your  own  history,  your  geography, 
your  ponderous  statistics,  your  immense  resources,  your  marvellous  growth  from 
a  handful  of  white  men  to  a  mighty  nation,  rich,  powerful,  hard-working,  and 
until  lately  somewhat  self -centered,  because  all  your  energies  were  bent  upon  the 
development  of  your  own  resources,  the  peopling  of  your  vast  territory,  the  build- 
ing up  of  your  mighty  industries — the  making  of  a  nation  which  is  today  one  of 
the  greatest  in  the  world.  You  have  accomplished  in  half  a  century — a  negligible 
fraction  in  the  measure  of  time  as  applied  to  the  development  of  mankind — what 
it  has  taken  the  countries  of  the  Old  World  centuries  to  do. 

We,  your  brothers  beyond  your  southern  boundary,  have  also  done  our  part 
towards  discharging  that  debt  we  all  owe  to  civilization  and  to  what  I  may  call 
'Pan  American  culture."  That  degree  of  culture,  however,  while  uniform  in  its 
intellectual  phase,  lacks  a  certain  homogeneity  in  its  material  aspect.  This  is  due  to 
no  fault  of  ours,  but  to  circumstances  only  too  well  known  to  those  who  have  made 
a  study  of  Latin  America.  From  its  beginning  the  history  of  the  once  Spanish 
possessions  of  America  has  been  fraught  with  difficulties  and  hardships,  and  it 
has  been  by  dint  of  perseverance  and  a  romantic  love  for  things  that  are  high, 
that  the  intellectual  development  of  Latin  America  has  attained  a  degree  of  cul- 
ture that  in  no  way  can  be  said  to  be  less  than  that  of  the  most  learned  minds  of 
the  United  States.  Material  development  has  been  in  almost  every  case  impeded 
by  the- natural  disadvantages  of  topographic  and  geographic  conditions. 

Hitherto  most  of  our  fancied  grievances  against  each  other,  our  unfounded 
suspicions,  our  begrudging  acknowledgment  of  the  good  qualities  of  any  and  all 
of  the  other  countries,  have  had  their  origin  in  a  lamentable  ignorance  on  the  part 
of  each  race  as  to  what  the  other  really  is,  what  it  is  striving  for,  and  the  manner 


EDUCATIONAL  AUXILIARIES  TO  COMMERCE  369 

in  which  it  faces  its  peculiar  problems  of  social  and  economic  life.  The  history  of 
our  respective  countries,  our  geography,  our  literature,  the  language  of  our  thoughts 
which  voices  our  mental  attitude,  were  but  little  known  to  each  other,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  our  peoples  are  necessarily  bound  together  by  many  ties.  It  is, 
however,  most  satisfactory  to  those  who  have  followed  the  increasing  development 
of  true  Pan  Americanism  and  fellow  feeling,  to  note  the  growth  of  that  senti- 
ment of  real  friendship  and  practical  mutual  helpfulness  manifested  in  the  honest 
desire  to  know  one  another  better  and  to  understand  the  psychology  of  the  other 
peoples  of  this  hemisphere.  There  is  a  growing  recognition  of  the  practical  im- 
portance of  this  enlightened  and  sympathetic  international  viewpoint  for  the  export 
merchant  and  the  commercial  agent,  as  well  as  for  the  statesman  and  the  diplomat. 

In  considering  more  specifically  the  topic  ''Educational  and  Social  Auxiliaries 
to  Commerce,"  including  Vocational  Training,  Language  Study,  Exchange  of 
Students  and  Professors  and  General  Influences,  I  shall  confine  myself  to  certain 
phases  of  the  subject  that  have  come  under  the  observation  of  the  Section  of 
Education  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  which  is  in  my  charge,  leaving  to  those 
who  follow  me  the  presentation  of  other  points  of  view. 

About  two  years  ago  the  Pan  American  Union  established  a  Section  of 
Education,  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  its  Governing  Board,  and  in  compliance 
witlr  resolutions  on  the  subject  passed  by  the  Pan  American  Congresses.  While 
the  general  unrest  during  the  war  has  been  a  handicap  to  the  work  of  the  Educa- 
tional Section,  the  interest  shown  both  in  the  United  States  and  in  every  one  of 
the  Latin  American  countries  in  the  prospect  of  closer  educational  relations  is 
most  satisfactory,  and  promises  a  remarkable  development  in  the  very  near  future, 
as  soon  as  general  conditions  become  normal. 

As  to  vocational  training,  meaning  in  this  connection,  as  I  take  it,  commer- 
cial education,  it  is  gratifying  to  note  the  growing  realization  on  the  part  of 
educators  of  the  necessity  of  training  men  for  the  higher  positions  in  commercial 
life,  as  shown  by  the  increasing  number  of  advanced  courses  in  eommerce  and 
business  administration  offered  by  colleges  and  universities.  Of  especial  interest 
is  the  emphasis  now  placed  on  training  for  foreign  service,  with  particular  refer- 
ence to  Pan  American  commerce.  Courses  of  this  kind  are  rapidly  being  added 
to  the  curricula  of  the  principal  universities,  and  Georgetown  University  in  this 
city  has  lately  established  a  separate  School  of  Foreign  Service. 

The  same  tendency  is  manifest  in  the  Latin  American  countries.  The  Uni- 
versities of  Buenos  Aires  and  Montevideo  have  Colleges  of  Commerce,  while  in 
other  countries  there  are  commercial  schools  of  collegiate  rank.  Commercial 
training  is  one  of  the  branches  most  frequently  sought  by  Latin  American  students 
coming  to  the  United  States.  An  inquiry  recently  received  by  the  Section  of 
Education  of  the  Pan  American  Union  from  Cienfuegos,  Cuba,  as  to  the  best 
curriculum  for  a  Pan  American  School  of  Commerce  is  one  of  the  evidences  of 
the  growing  interest  in  this  subject,  as  well  as  the  Congress  of  American  Economic 
Expansion  and  Commercial  Education  held  in  Montevideo  last  February.  That 
Congress  made  some  excellent  recommendations  along  the  line  of  broadening  the 
scope  of  higher  commercial  studies,  one  of  which  was  the  exchange  of  professors 
and  students  between  higher  institutions  of  commercial  education  in  the  American 
Republics. 

As  to  language  study,  the  Section  of  Education  has  not  ceased  for  a  day 
to  recommend  through  correspondence  and  other  means  of  propaganda  the  study 
of  Spanish  and  Portuguese  im  the  United  States  and  that  of  English  in  Latin 
America.  Just  how  far  the  study  of  Spanish  in  this  country  has  developed,  is 
hard  to  say,  but  it  can  be  stated  that  its  progress  has  been  extraordinary,  far 
beyond  our  hopes.  Spanish  is  now  taught  in  all  the  colleges  and  universities  of 
the  major  type,  and  in  the  great  majority  of  minor  colleges,  besides  thousands  of 
secondary  schools.  It  is  undoubtedly  the  most  important  commercial  language 
for  the  United  States  today,  and  that  this  fact  is  coming  to  be  recognized  is  shown 
by  its  being  placed  on  a  par  with  other  modern  languages  in  many  schools  and 
colleges,  while  in  some  instances  it  has  practically  replaced  German.  Portuguese 
has  also  been  added  to  the  curriculum  of  some  of  the  large  institutions  for  the 
benefit  of  those  especially  interested  in  Brazil. 

With  regard  to  the  exchange  of  professors  and  students,  these  are  factors 
of  the  greatest  importance  which  are  receiving  especial  attention  from  the  Pan 
American  Educational  Section.  Our  correspondence  shows  a  growing  desire  on 
the  part  of  teachers  in  the  United  States  to  spend  a  year  or  more  in  Latin  America 


370  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

and  of  Latin  American  professors  to  come  to  the  United  States.  The  University 
of  Washington  at  Seattle  has  had  an  exchange  arrangement  with  a  Chilean  insti- 
tution and  is  planning  a  similar  one  .with  the  University  of  Mexico.  Arrange- 
ments are  now  being  completed  whereby  Latin  American  teachers  will  exchange 
with  those  in  two  colleges  of  Texas  and  Wisconsin.  The  Mexican  Government 
has  expressed  an  especially  cordial  desire  to  carry  into  effect  an  interchange  of 
teachers,  and  students  with  the  United  States. 

As  to  students,  the  number  of  young  Latin  Americans  coming  to  the  United 
States  is  increasing  daily,  to  such  an  extent  that  we  have  been  unable  to  obtain 
an  accurate  census  of  these  students,  but  there  are  probably  over  3,000.  A  recent 
investigation  made  by  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  has  revealed  at 
least  125  women  students  from  Latin  America.  In  this  connection  it  should  be  said 
that  a  very  special  interest  in  and  cordial  attitude  toward  Latin  American  students 
have  been  shown  by  the  majority  of  the  colleges  and  universities  of  the  United 
States,  either  by  offering  them  special  scholarship  assistance,  showing  liberality 
in  the  matter  of  entrance  requirements,  providing  special  faculty  advisers,  or  in 
other  ways  granting  them  various  facilities.  Other  agencies  are  also  rendering 
help  to  these  students.  The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  a  special  Com- 
mittee on  Friendly  Relations  among  Foreign  Students  which  offers  its  services 
freely  in  meeting  incoming  Latin  American  students  and  directing  and  advising 
them,  also  in  promoting  Latin  American  student  clubs  and  dormitories ;  the  Young 
Women's  Christian  Association  has  detailed  a  special  secretary  for  Latin  American 
women  students ;  the  Catholic  University  of  Washington  is  considering  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  dormitory  and  clubhouse  for  Latin  Americans  in  this  city. 

The  Section  of  Education  of  the  Pan  American  Union  .carries  on  with 
Latin  American  students  an  increasing  correspondence,  conveying  a  vast  amount 
of  information,  and  undertakes  to  translate  the  credentials  of  Latin  American 
applicants  and  to  arrange  for  their  entrance  into  the  educational  institutions  they 
have  selected.  Through  our  efforts  the  University  of  Georgia  has  agreed  to  pro- 
vide, in  connection  with  its  regular  summer  session,  a  summer  school  of  English 
for  the  benefit  of  any  Latin  American  students  desiring  such  instruction. 

The  number  of  United  States  students  desiring  to  go  to  Latin  America  is 
also  on  the  increase,  comprising  both  teachers  wishing  to  take  post-graduate 
courses,  and  undergraduates,  some  of  whom  have  the  express  purpose  of  fitting 
themselves  for  the  consular  service. 

The  Section  of  Education  has  many  requests  for  aid  in  arranging  exchanges 
of  correspondence  between  schools  in  the  United  States  an'd  in  Latin  America. 
Such  interchange  is  not  only  of  much  educational  value,  but  may  eventually  lead 
pupils  who  have  become  interested  in  another  country  to  go  there  for  further 
study. 

This  is,  briefly  stated,  and  so  far  as  the  Section  of  Education  is  advised, 
the  situation  in  this  hemisphere  with  regard  to  education  and  social  intercourse 
as  auxiliaries  'to  commerce.  In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  make  a  practical  suggestion 
which,  if  carried  out,  would  be  of  inestimable  value  to  international  commerce. 
The  students  who  would  derive  most  practical  benefit  from  study  in  a  foreign 
country  are  those  who  are  preparing  for  a  foreign  trade  career.  Why  could  not 
commercial  organizations  throughout  the  United  States  give  travel  scholarships  to 
the  best  students  in  foreign  trade  courses,  thus  stimulating  interest  in  this  kind 
of  scientific  preparation  which  will  one  day  revolutionize  the  commercial  relations  of 
the  Americas? 


VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION  FOR  THE  BUSINESS  OF  EXPORTING 

BY  DR.  ROY  S.  MACELWEE,  SECOND  ASSISTANT  DIRECTOR,  BUREAU  OF  FOREIGN  AND 

DOMESTIC  COMMERCE. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

The  object  of  education  for  the  business  of  exporting  is  essentially  and 
primarily  vocational.  Its  object  is  to  train  clerks  who  will  become  managers.  The 
object  is  to  train  people  how  to  do  certain  things,  not  simply  to  talk  about  them. 


EDUCATIONAL  AUXILIARIES  TO  COMMERCE  371 

1  his  does  not  mean  that  a  broad  cultural  background  is  not  necessary  or  desirable 
for  a  young  man  in  order  to  assist  him  to  get  on  in  the  business  and  rise  in  it. 
The  practical  task  is  to  train  people  to  do  certain  definite  things. 

Job  Analysis  as  Basis  for  Planning  Courses  in  Vocational  Education. — The 
relation  of  commercial  education  for  the  exporting  or  shipping  office  to  the  entire 
subject  of  education  in  general  may  be  fixed  at  the  start.  Vocational  education  for 
an  export  department  job  of  a  certain  grade  and  age  is  added  to  the  proper  educa- 
tional foundation  that  a  person  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  have  at  that  age. 

The  basis  for  planning  any  vocational  education  for  exporting  is  the  analysis 
of  the  position  that  a  person  of  a  certain  age  may  be  reasonably  expected  to  fill. 

General  Educational  Groundwork  of  Clerks  in  Exporting  Offices. — We  look  over 
our  office  force  at  home  and  find  the  largest  number  of  employees  in  Group  I,  em- 
ployees who  come  into  the  exporting  office  from  high  school  in  junior  clerical 
positions.  Those  who  have  had  the  advantage  of  going  to  college  are  exceptions ; 
their  numbers  must  be  increased. 

In  the  home  office  we  find  that  in  addition  to  the  army  of  young  clerks  of 
high-school  age  in  Group  I,  we  have  Group  II,  comprising  senior  clerks  and  assistant 
managers  who  have  been  in  business  for  several  years.  They  may  have  come  into 
the  business  from  high  school,  or  from  grammar  school  even,  and  worked  up 
slowly,  or  they  may  have  come  in  as  college  graduates  and  have  worked  up  with 
fewer  years  in  business  because  of  their  superior  educational  equipment.  Other 
things  being  equal,  it  is  now  generally  conceded  that  the  person  with  the  college 
education  will  eventually  catch  up  to  and  pass  the  person  with  the  same  ability 
who  has  not  had  this  advantage.  Confusion  arises  in  comparing  men  of  different 
natural  capabilities.  In  the  home  office,  then,  we  have  junior  and  senior  clerks,  and 
junior  and  senior  managers. 

Educational  Prerequisites  for  Foreign  Service. — Persons  in  service  overseas 
constitute  Group  III.  To  be  sent  by  the  house  into  foreign  service  is  an  advance- 
ment. The  preparation  for  this  service  requires  more  than  the  experience  as  a 
clerk,  or  as  a  junior  manager  in  the  home  office,  or  as  a  successful  salesman. 
Foreign  service  for  the  firm  demands  all  the  training  in  language  and  knowledge  of 
foreign  affairs  that  will  make  a  man  or  woman  successful  as  a  salesman  or  a  buyer 
or  a  branch  manager  overseas.  The  special  training  for  this  advanced  service  re- 
quires the  prerequisite  of  more  mature  business  experience  and  mastery  of  technical 
subjects  in  school  and  on  the  job,  and  also  more  mature  years.  Courses  of  reading 
and  training  for  overseas  service  are,  therefore,  not  of  high-school  grade,  but  of 
university  post-graduate  grade — even  if  not  taken  for  credits  toward  a  Ph.  D. 

Under  this  group  of  service  abroad  we  must  also  add  the  manager  and 
specialists  of  a  division  of  the  home  office  that  deals  with  the  business  of  a  specific 
commercial  area  of  the  world,  such  as  the. Far  East,  Latin  America,  or  Russia. 
The  manager  of  such  a  division  should  have  had  actual  foreign  experience  in  the 
particular  area-  The  clerks  may  be  trained  here  at  home  by  proper  courses  of  study. 

Therefore  in  reply  to  our  question,  "Whom  shall  we  teach?"  a  job  analysis  of 
the  entire  organization  shows  us  that  we  have  the  three  groups  enumerated:  (1) 
Clerks,  (2)  Assistant  Managers  at  home,  and  (3)  those  persons  in  service  over- 
seas specializing  in  certain  parts  of  the  world.  We  are  interested  here  in  the  study 
of  the  South  American  areas. 

Managerial  Apprenticeship  is  Shortened  by  Vocational  Training. — It  must  be 
decidedly  emphasized  at  this  point  that  this  category  of  clerks,  managers  and  men  in 
foreign  service  represent  a 'progression  in  the  responsibilities  and  age  of  the  indi- 
vidual covering  roughly  20  years,  and  therefore  an  increase  in  the  breadth  and 
depth  of  the  knowledge  of  the  technique  and  markets  of  foreign  trade  that  the 
individual  must  have.  There  is  an  average  age  of  employee  for  certain  positions, 
because  of  the  degree  of  experience  and  responsibility  demanded  by  the  position.  For 
argument,  we  may  say  that  he  enters  at  16,  is  a  salesman  abroad  at  26,  and  a  man- 
ager at  36.  For  the  boy  or  girl  entering  an  export  office  it  is  usually  at  least  a 
20-year  pull  to  the  position  of  manager.  Obviously  the  training  for  the  job  will 
progress  accordingly.  Yet  the  object  of  the  training  is  to  cut  down  the  20  years 
by  substituting  vocational  teaching  for  some  of  the  slowly  acquired  experience. 
For  instance,  by  studying  until  19  or  20  the  managerial  or  foreign-representative 
rank  may  be  reached  at  30 — a  net  gain  of  six  years  in  a  young  man's  life  in  addition 
to  greatly  increased  efficiency  all  along  the  line  of  progression.  The  college  graduate 
may  start  five  or  six  years  later,  but  because  of  superior  training  and  mental  dis- 
cipline should  arrive  several  years  sooner  at  the  managerial  grade.  His  training 
should  cut  down  the  unproductive  years. 


372  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Studies  Essential  to  Success  in  Foreign  Trade — Vocational  Technique. — We 
now  face  the  question  of  "What  to  teach?"  Again  we  have  three  classes  of  studies: 
(1)  We  have  the  technique  or  routine  of  the  practice  of  exporting;  (2)  we  have 
market  studies  by  major-commercial  areas ;  (3)  we  have  the  language  studies. 
These  three  must  also  be  kept  clearly  in  mind  as  separate  entities.  Technique  com- 
prises two  groups  of  subjects:  (a)  Those  that  are  elementary  and  specific  and  (b) 
those  that  are  advanced  and  general.  In  commercial  education  we  have  long 
since  come  to  the  belief  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  study  there  should  be  a  group 
of  practical  subjects  that  will  fit  the  pupil  of  a  certain  age  to  hold  the  best  po- 
sition it  is  reasonably  supposed  that  a  person  of  his  years  and  maturity  can  fill 
satisfactorily.  The  first  courses  should  teach  him  something  definite,  to  hold  a 
definite  job.  Upon  these  can  be  built  up  all  the  other  courses  which  take  a  youth 
forward  in  his  knowledge  along  with  his  advancement  in  years  until  he  is  master 
of  all  the  details  of  business  administration. 

Foreign  Trade  a  Profession — Tech-nical  Literature  in  Press. — The  mere 
enumeration  of  title  of  single  lectures  or  of  courses  is  bootless  for  advancing  foreign 
trade  education,  unless  the  literature  is  forthcoming  for  use  as  texts.  We  have 
long  since  left  the  stage  and  development  in  our  foreign  trade  education  when  we 
can  give  a  course  on  foreign  trade.  A  course  in  hygiene  will  not  make  a  physician. 
Foreign  trade  is  a  profession,  just  as  medicine  or  engineering — not  a  subject  for  a 
course.  In  order  to  have  enough  knowledge  on  any  one  of  these  subjects  to  induce 
an  employer  to  hire  a  man  for  that  particular  work,  the  subject  must  be  gone  into 
in  great  detail — and  in  the  most  practical  way  possible.  From  this  point  of  view  it 
has  been  necessary  to  create  a  new  literature — and  this  process  of  creating  a  new 
literature  has  only  started.  As  the  demand  increases,  we  will  have  practical  men 
cooperating  with  professional  teachers  in  bringing  out  the  printed  results  of  their 
careful  analysis  of  various  phases  of  this  great  profession. 

Two  new  manuals  for  foundation  courses  are  joint  products  of  the  Bureau 
of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  and  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Edu- 
cation. Also,  an  export  manager  and  a  professor  have  combined  to  produce  a 
book  on  "Foreign  Correspondence."  A  book  on  " Foreign  ^Advertising"  is  in  the 
mill,  and  also  one  on  "Foreign  Credits,"  and  another  on  'Tacking  for  Export." 
Others  are  in  process  by  one  or  another  agency.  The  fact  that  we  are  trying  to 
br,ing  out  right  at  this  stage  is  this — we  have  passed  the  day  of  glittering  gener- 
alities and  must  now  get  down  to  details  and  concrete  studies  of  the  practical  facts 
involved  in  conducting  an  export  business. 

Necessity  of  Foreign  Market  Studies. — A  study  simply  of  the  technique  or 
routine  of  exporting,  whether  it  be  letter  writing,  tariffs,  or  documents,  is  not 
sufficient. 

The  second  group  we  said  is  market  studies.  Market  studies  are  important 
for  the  manager  at  home  and  for  the  salesman  or  manager  who  goes  abroad.  In 
the  very  nature  of  the  subject  we  are  now  dealing  with  a  mature  student. 

Market  studies  present  a  unique  and  difficult  problem.  It  is  obvious  that 
no  one  man  can  know  enough  about  all  the  world  to  have  his  knowledge  on  any 
part  of  it  worth  an  addition  to  his  pay  envelope.  To  make  this  knowledge  valuable 
it  must  be  specialized  and  specific. 

Obviously  the  world  must  be  divided  in  order  to  make  it  possible  to  study 
parts  of  it  with  sufficient  intensity  to  render  the  knowledge  of  any  area  of  real 
commercial  value.  The  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education  is  taking  the 
Shipping  Board  map  that  divides  the  world  into  ten  major-commercial  areas  and 
several  minor  sub-divisions,  and  using  that  as  a  basis  for  the  market  studies  for 
advanced  foreign-trade  education.  This  map  gives  four  major  divisions  of  Latin 
America,  namely,  (1)  Caribbean  area,  including  Mexico  and  North  Coast,  (2) 
West  Coast,  (3)  River  Plata,  and  (4)  Brazil. 

Curricula  for  Study  of  Foreign  Commercial  Areas.— Chiefs  of  divisions  of 
the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  are  cooperating  in  the  production 
of  commercial  area  curricula.  If  a  man  is  interested  in  a  certain  part  of  the  world, 
either  in  the  home  office  or  because  of  a  contemplated  sales  trip  abroad,  or  because 
he  expects  to  go  out  and  take  up  his  residence  as  a  representative  in  a  certain  com- 
mercial area,  he  desires  to  learn  all  he  can  about  that  area  in  as  short  a  period 
as  possible.  These  curricula,  therefore,  will  try  to  make  it  possible  to  give  a  15- 
week  intensive  training  in  major  outstanding  features  of  commercial  areas  and  the 
languages  that  are  used  there.  Thinking  in  terms  of  the  evening  continuation 
school  for  those  persons  who  are  on  the  job  in  the  exporting  business  and  therefore 


EDUCATIONAL  AUXILIARIES  TO  COMMERCE  373 

must  do  their  studying  at  night,  we  would  have  three  evenings  a  week,  in  which 
one  hour  and  a  half  would  be  devoted  to  intensive  language  practice,  and  the  other 
hour  and  a  half  each  evening  to  one  of  the  following  three  courses:  (1)  History, 
government,  and  institutions;  (2)  geography,  resources,  transportation,  population, 
trade  statistics,  etc.;  (3)  methods  and  practices  of  commerce  of  one  trade  region. 
The  fixed  purpose  is  to  fit  a  man  to  go  to  a  certain  part  of  the  world  and  to  sell 
his  goods  there.  Within  a  short  time  Mr.  McQueen  and  Dr.  Dunn.  Chief  and 
Assistant  Chief  of  the  Latin  American  Division  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Commerce,  will  have  completed  a  four  course  curriculum  of  study  on 
each  of  the  four  major  commercial  areas  of  Latin  America.  These  study  outlines, 
for  home  reading  or  classroom  teaching,  will  appear  this  summer  in  an  enlarged 
and  revised  edition  of  Bulletin  24,  published  by  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education.  The  work  on  study  outlines  and  curricula  that  I  began  there  so  feebly 
is  being  forcefully  carried  on  by  Dr.  Samuel  MacClintock,  who  will  tell  you  more 
about  it.  Also  other  curricula  for  other  commercial  areas  are  coming  along.  Mr. 
Eldridge,  Chief  of  the  Far  Eastern  Division  is  preparing  a  similar  set  of  study 
outlines  for  his  special  field.  Likewise,  Dr.  Robinson  on  the  Near  East  and  Dr. 
Huntington  on  Russia.  These  and  others  to  come  in  addition  to  the  many  elementary 
and  advanced  technical  courses  outlined  in  Bulletin  24  present  and  future,  together 
with  the  literature  underway  will  make  it  possible  for  a  number  of  educational  in- 
stitutions to  open  broad  gauge  schools  of  foreign  trade  with  extended  curricula 
this  very  fall. 

Six  manuals  to  serve  as  texts  for  six  unit  courses  on  the  steamship  business 
are  also  nearing  completion.  This  is  a  cooperative  effort  of  the  U.  S.  Shipping 
Board,  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education,  and  the  Bureau  of  Foreign 
and  Domestic  Commerce. 

Necessity  of  Practical  Foreign  Language  Study. — The  third  leg  of  the  stool  is 
language  proficiency.  If  one  stops  to  think  about  it  and  realizes  that  there  are  10 
or  12  important  commercial  languages,  and  that  in  each  one  of  these  languages 
there  may  be  50  different  trade  vocabularies,  the  impossibility  of  one  person  study- 
ing languages  for  world  trade  in  general,  without  a  particular  field  in  view,, is  at 
once  apparent.  Language  education  in  school  from  an  early  age  is  desirable  to 
form  the  language  habit.  I  believe  that  Spanish,  Portuguese  or  French,  or  both  are 
the  most  generally  in  use.  But  language  pedagogy  must  be  radically  changed.  A 
live  modern  language  or  two  should  be  taught  in  the  schools  from  an  early  age, 
provided,  of  course,  that  it  is  well  taught.  Such  language  study  is  cultural  and 
fundamental,  as  well  as  utilitarian. 

However,  when  one  begins  to  study  a  commercial  area  with  the  object  of 
conducting  business  for  the  firm  with  or  in  that  area,  or  of  going  there,  soon,  the 
necessity  of  learning  the  principal  language  of  that  area,  to  use  it  in  selling  goods, 
is  utilitarian.  The  time  is  short,  the  need  great,  the  necessity  of  ever  having  to 
learn  that  language  perhaps  unanticipated.  This  means  that  one  must  learn  to 
understand  and  speak  it  and  to  write  a  respectable  letter  in  it,  and  quickly.  Our 
evening  school  students  are  studying  the  language  to  be  able  to  sell  goods  in  it. 
The  language  is  a  tool,  not  a  decoration.  It  is  for  a  strictly  vocational  use,  not 
primarily  a  cultural  grace.  Nevertheless,  the  cultural  value  will  not  be  lost  upon 
your  representative  if  he  is  a  person  of  culture.  When  the  foreign  language  be- 
comes a  living  thing  to  him,  and  he  has  a  cultured  background  from  school  or 
college,  and  is  fond  of  reading,  the  literature  of  that  country  will  be  a  delight. 

Role  of  Educational  Institutions  in  Vocational  Training. — We  now  come  to 
the  next,  the  third,  subdivision  of  our  analysis.  "Where  will  foreign  trade  be 
taught,  and  who  is  going  to  teach  it?"  Father  Walsh  of  Georgetown  University 
started  a  large  set  of  courses  last  February  and  is  doubling  the  extent  of  the  curri- 
culum for  this  fall.  Already  he  has  five  hundred  applications  for  admission.  New 
York  University,  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Boston  University,  Uni- 
versity of  Oregon,  University  of  Seattle,  Harvard  and  several  others  have  ex- 
panded their  curricula  to  the  dignity  of  a  professional  training  in  foreign  trade. 
We  are  coming  on. 

To  aid  in  this  important  work  your  cooperation  is  solicited.  We  hope  to 
exchange  professors  and  students  in  time.  We  can  begin  to  exchange  ideas  right 
now.  Schools  in  Norway,  The  Netherlands,  Peru  and  Australia  have  already 
opened  exchange  relations.  The  commercial  attaches  have  been  instructed  to  aid 
such  exchanges.  By  close  cooperation  at  home  and  abroad  we  can  develop  a  liter- 
ature and  training  for  the  important  profession  of  international  commerce  that  will 
go  far  toward  closer  social  and  commercial  intellectual  association  of  the  21  sister 
Republics  of  the  Americas. 


374  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

TRAINING  FOR  FOREIGN  SERVICE 

BY   DR.   SAMUEL  MACCLINTOCK,   FEDERAL  BOARD  FOR  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION. 
(Read  at  the  Afternoon   Session  of   Friday,   June  6.) 

Training  is  necessary  in  order  to  develop  an  effective  personnel.  A  country 
may  have  goods  that  are  wanted  abroad,  it  may  have  ships  in  which  to  carry 
them,  it  may  have  adequate  banking  facilities,  but  unless  it  has  a  trained  and 
efficient  personnel,  it  will  find  its  foreign  trade  unduly  burdened  by  costly  mis- 
takes, delays,  and  irritating  friction. 

The  necessity  of  adequate  training  has  come  to  be  recognized  in  related 
business  fields.  Not  only  are  the  engineer,  the  architect,  and  other  members  of 
the  professions  thoroughly  trained  in  the  principles  and  procedure  of  their  work 
before  being  put  upon  their  jobs,  but  likewise  the  accountant,  the  business  corres- 
pondent, and  the  traffic  man  are  all  trained  in  addition  to  their  daily  office  experi- 
ence, and  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  individual  and  of  business. 

Similar  results  can  be  secured  by  training  of  an  adequate  type  for  those  in 
foreign  trade.  The  old-fashioned  single  course  in  foreign  trade,  however,  which 
has  heretofore  been  offered  in  a  limited  number  of  our  colleges,  is  not  adequate. 
Taught  by  an  economist  without  practical  experience,  such  a  course  gives,  to  be 
sure,  an  orientation  and  a  background  to  the  student  that  is  well  worth  having 
to  those  who  are  able  to  take  the  long  view,  but  it  is  not  vocational.  It  does  not 
prepare  the  young  man  to  go  into  a  foreign  trade  house  and  be  of  any  immediate 
service.  Furthermore,  few  men  who  take  such  foreign  trade  courses  in  college 
ever  go  into  the  field.  It  is  for  this  reason  then  that  I  advocate  foreign  trade 
courses  primarily  for  those  already  on  the  job  and  who  need  and  want  a  systematic 
training  in  connection  with  the  work  which  they  are  doing. 

What  is  needed  in  the  way  of  foreign  trade  courses  is  first  of  all  simple, 
practical,  vocational  training  for  those  already  on  the  job,  those  who  are  getting 
valuable  training  out  of  their  day's  work,  but  who  can  be  immensely  helped  by 
proper  organization,  interpretation  and  correlation  of  all  of  the  material  with 
which  they  have  to  deal.  As  a  result  of  considerable  study,  I  would  suggest  the 
following  basic  of  fundamental  courses  of  a  vocational  character  as  thus  described : 

(1)  Document  technique,  or  foreign  trade  paper  work.    This  means  a  study 
of  all  the  ordinary  clerical  papers  that  enter  into  the  routine  of  a  day's  work  in 
a  foreign  trade  office.     These  papers  should  be  followed  through  from  operation  to 
operation  until  the  procedure  not  only  becomes  clear,  but  their  significance  likewise. 

(2)  Foreign  trade  merchandising,  or  sales  practice.     Every  people  has  its 
own  psychology,   its  trade  customs,   and  its  peculiar  characteristics.     In  order   to 
buy  or  sell  abroad  successfully,  one  must  know  what  these  peculiarities  are  and 
how  they  should  be  met,  how  the  markets  are  organized,  what  are  the  best  agencies 
and  methods  for  reaching  such  markets. 

(3)  Foreign  trade  correspondence,  advertising,  and  publicity  enter  to  some 
extent   into   every   office   doing    foreign   trade.     Here,   again,    a   knowledge   of   the 
particular  psychology  and  trade  customs  of  different  countries  will  enable  one  to 
do  business  there  with  greater  ease  and  increased  efficiency  than  otherwise. 

(4)  Commercial   relations,   or  that  part  of   general   commercial   geography 
which  deals  with  the  foreign  trade  relations  of  one  country  and  of  one  geographi- 
cal area  with  another.    One  may  know,  for  example,  that  copper  comes  from  Peru, 
but  unless  he  knows  where  it  goes  and  what  Peru  secures  in  return  for  it,  he  will 
have  only  a  limited  vision  of  the  broad  flow  of  commercial  products.     Gathering 
up   drugs   in   small    driblets   in   backward   countries,    bringing    them    together    into 
regional  markets  and  finally  into  great  international  markets,  constitutes  one  ex- 
ample of  how  the  articles  of  commercial  importance  enter  into  world  trade  and 
make  the  great  commercial  centers  and  transportation   system  of  our  times.     As 
recent  events  show,  these  centers  and  routes  are  constantly  shifting  and  at  times  are 
permanently    dislocated,    with    interesting    results    to    many    people    and    countries 
concerned. 

(5)  Then   we   come  to   the  important   subject  of  foreign   languages.     We 
North  Americans  have  been  particularly  negligent  in  this  respect,  but  there  is  now 
a  ferment  throughout  educational  circles  with  regard  to  teaching  the  major  com- 
mercial languages  which  augurs  well  for  the  future.     It  goes  without  saying  that 
foreign  languages  should  be  taught  as  spoken,  as  well  as  written  tongues ;  as  living, 
not  as  dead  languages. 


EDUCATIONAL  AUXILIARIES   TO  COMMERCE  375 

After  these  rather  basic  courses  which,  in  their  essentials,  are  needed  alike 
by  adults  engaged  in  business  and  studying  during  the  evening,  by  college  students, 
arid  by  fourth  year  commercial  high  school  students,  we  come  to  a  further  group 
of  studies  which  may  be  designated  as  specialized,  or  advanced  studies.  Here  I 
would  make  the  following  suggestions: 

(1)  International  financing,  including  foreign  exchange,  investments,  credits, 
and  collections;  (2)  Principles  of  ocean  transportation;  (3)  Ports  and  terminals; 
(4)  Modern  tariffs,  commercial  treaties,  export  combinations,  and  customs  regu- 
lations. 

A  still  further  group  of  subjects  for  those  specially  interested  in  shipping 
might  be  suggested  as  follows:  (1)  Steamship  traffic  management;  (2)  Mer- 
chant vessels;  (3)  Wharf  management;  (4)  Marine  insurance;  (5)  Laws  of  the 
sea. 

Beyond  this,  we  might  well  extend  the  study  to  certain  regional,  or  special 
trade  area,  courses  such  as 

(1)  Latin-America  which  might  well  be  subdivided,  if  one  has  the  time  and 
the  organized  material,  into  the  Caribbean  Region,  Northern  South  America, 
Western  South  America,  and  Eastern  South  America;  (2)  Western  Europe;  (3) 
The  Near  East;  (4)  The  Orient;  (5)  Northern  Africa;  (6)  Southern  Africa. 

The  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education,  The  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Commerce,  and  the  Shipping  Board  are  cooperating,  to  some  extent,  in 
the  production  of  material  for  study  where  no  such  material  is  already  in  exist- 
ance ;  for  example,  manuals  dealing  with  the  documents  of  foreign  trade  and  with 
sales  practice  will  be  brought  out  as  government  publications  before  the  end  of 
Summer.  Likewise,  the  five  shipping  subjects  just  mentioned  will  be  prepared  by 
these  joint  agencies  mentioned,  but  published  by  a  private  firm. 

The  educational  institutions — colleges  high  schools  of  commerce,  evening 
schools,  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s,  private  business  colleges,  and  correspondence  schools — 
are  all  willing  and  anxious  to  cooperate  in  offering  the  training  required  for 
this  great  field  of  enterprise.  What  is  needed  now  is  the  effective  cooperation  of 
business  interests.  The  young  man  in  an  office  dealing,  perhaps,  only  to  a  limited 
extent  in  foreign  trade,  frequently  does  not  realize  the  great  desirability  of  an 
adequate  training  along  the  lines  of  the  work  which  he  is  handling.  What  he 
needs  is  not  only  a  word  of  encouragement,  but  continuing  help,  inducement  and 
urging  to  study  at  night  or  out  of  office  hours.  Big  men  of  vision  see  the  necessity 
of  training  and  are  generous  in  their  encouragement.  The  president  of  one  of  our 
largest  concerns,  himself  much  interested  in  overseas  developments,  said  not  long 
ago  that  the  "rawest  products  which  America  sends  abroad  are  not  infrequently  its 
own  business  agents."  At  the  foreign  trade  convention  at  Chicago  recently,  Mr. 
James  A.  Farrell,  President  of  the  Council,  attended  the  educational  meeting  one 
evening  in  preference  to  any  of  the  other  interesting  group  sessions  and  by  his 
presence  and  statements  from  the  floor  distinctly  encouraged  all  those  concerned 
with  the  educational  work. 

The  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education,  in  addition  to  outlining  courses 
of  study  and  preparing  suitable  material  for  student  use,  stands  ready  at  all  times 
to  cooperate  with  chambers  of  commerce,  groups  of  business  men  and  educators 
in  organizing  worth-while  educational  work  for  foreign  trade.  Such  work  has 
already  been  started  in  a  number  of  places. 

And  in  this  connection  I  would  like  to  offer  a  practical  suggestion  for 
cooperating  training.  Why  not  invite,  through  the  chambers  of  commerce  and 
the  universities  located  in  at  least  all  of  our  important  foreign  trade  centers,  a 
number  of  foreign  students  to  come  and  study  part-time  and  work  part-time  in 
our  business  establishments.  This  will  establish  a  knowledge  of  customs,  familiarity 
with  the  language  and  people,  and  a  ready  sympathy  which  is  hard  to  obtain 
otherwise.  And  let  me  say  that  this  plan,  I  understand,  will  be  put  into  opera- 
tion this  Fall  at  the  University  of  Washington,  where  some  twenty-five  or  thirty 
students  from  China  will  study  and  work  in  Seattle  during  the  coming  year. 
Needless  to  say,  such  an  arrangement  should  not  be  one-sided,  but  similar  arrange- 
ments should  be  worked  out  for  our  American  students  to  go  abroad  and  do 
likewise. 


376  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

THE  VALUE  OF  THE  CULTURAL  ELEMENT  IN  LATIN  AMERICAN  TRADE 

BY  DR.  W.  E,  DUNN,  ASSISTANT  CHIEF,  LATIN  AMERICAN  DIVISION,  BUREAU  OF 
FOREIGN  AND  DOMESTIC  COMMERCE. 

(Delivered  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

One  of  the  most  serious  mistakes  that  can  be  made  by  business  men  of  the 
United  States  is  that  of  not  taking  into  consideration  what  might  be  called  the 
cultural  element  in  their  commercial  dealings  with  Latin  America.  This  element 
is  perhaps  of  greater  importance  in  transacting  business  with  the  countries  com- 
prised in  that  Held  than  is  the  case  with  other  portions  of  the  world.  This  is  not 
because  Latin  Americans  are  sentimentalists,  theorists,  or  dreamers,  for  the  fact 
has  been  brought  out  many  tinges,  during  this  Conference  that  for  integrity,  shrewd- 
ness, and  general  business  ability  they  cannot  be  surpassed  by  any  other  peoples 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  No,  this  statement  is  true  because  the  average  business 
man  of  our  neighboring  republics  to  the  southward  is  greatly  interested  in  the  cul- 
tural side  of  life,  and  appreciates  most  keenly  similar  tastes  on  the  part  of  others. 

The  business  man  of  a  certain  type  will  probably  take  issue  with  me,  and  say 
that  I  am  not  practical.  He  will  say  that  provided  the  Latin  American  merchant 
gets  the  goods  he  wants  at  the  most  favorable  prices,  little  will  he  care  whether  the 
seller  of  those  goods  knows  whether  his  country  was  discovered  and  settled  in  the 
sixteenth  century  or  the  eighteenth ;  whether  it  was  a  portion  of  the  viceroyalty  of 
New  Spain,  of  Peru,  of  La  Plata,  or  of  New  Granada;  whether  the  national  hero 
is  Bolivar,  San  Martin,  Artigas,  Belgrano,  Hidalgo,  or  some  other  of  the  great 
men  who  were  responsible  for  the  independence  of  their  respective  regions.  But 
that  is  a  mistake;  these  facts  are  important.  Of  course,  no  one  can  deny  that  the 
material  side  must  be  predominant  in  any  business  transaction,  but  that  does  not 
mean  that  the  finesse  of  business  is  not  also  of  great  moment.  What  American 
business  men  need  in  this  new  age  on  which  we  have  entered  is  a  broader  way  of 
looking  at  things,  a  more  sympathetic  attitude  toward  foreign  peoples— in  a  word, 
we  need  to  acquire  the  international  point  of  view  from  the  ground  up.  Until  we 
get  this  larger  perspective,  we  shall  continue  to  be  the  more  or  less  provincial  nation 
that  we  have  undoubtedly  been  in  the  past — a  nation  absorbed  in  its  own  needs, 
and  unappreciative  of  the  psychology  of  those  to  whom  they  must  look  for  aid 
and  cooperation  and  friendship  in  the  future. 

The  question  now  naturally  occurs,  how  are  we  to  acquire  this  larger  per- 
spective, this  more  intimate  understanding  and  sympathy  with  our  Latin  American 
neighbors?  How  are  we  to  make  of  practical  value  this  cultural  element  to  which 
1  have  referred?  The  answer  is  simple:  By  making  a  careful  study  of  the  history, 
political  heritage,  institutions,  culture,  and  languages  of  those  republics.  The 
syllabus  which  Dr.  MacElwee  and  Dr.  McClintock  have  just  described  will  furnish 
a  practical  instrument  and  guide  for  such  study,  and  there  are  many  excellent  in- 
stitutions which  offer  co'urses  for  that  purpose.  I  have  yet  to  meet  a  man  or  woman 
who  has  made  a  close  study  of  Latin  America  who  has  really  become  acquainted 
with  Latin  American  people,  who  did  not  cherish  a  feeling  of  cordiality,  friendly 
sympathy,  and  appreciation  for  them  and  the  countries  in  which  they  live.  Before 
the  United  States  can  attain  to  the  highest  success  in  trade  with  Latin  America, 
we  must  develop  this  feeling  of  mutual  understanding.  We  must  find  some 
common  footing,  some  mutual  ground  of  interest  other  than  that  of  trade  and 
barter.  We  must  become  real  friends,  and  not  content  ourselves  with  remaining 
mere  business  acquaintances. 

Ask  any  well-informed  Latiu  American  business  man  what  North  Americans 
lack  most  in  order  -to  achieve  complete  success  in  their  commercial  dealings  with 
Latin  America,  and  almost  invariably  he  will  reply,  the  personal  touch.  And  this 
personal  touch,  in  the  sense  that  they  mean  it,  cannot  be  obtained  satisfactorily  until 
there  is  some  appreciation  on  the  part  of  our  business  men  of  the  great  heritage 
of  Latin  America,  and  a  willingness  to  accord  to  those  countries  their  full  share  of 
the  glory  to  which  the  deeds  of  their  forebears,  as  well  as  their  own  achievements 
and  aspirations  so  justly  entitle  them. 

I  would  say,  then,  to  the  business  man  who  desires  to  develop  to  the  fullest 
extent  his  trade  with  Latin  America,  study  something  more  than  the  technical  points 
connected  with  yolir  particular  line.  Endeavor  to  acquire  a  cultural  background. 
Make  your  customers  in  Latin  America  your  friends  in  something  more  than  a 


EDUCATIONAL   AUXILIARIES   TO  COMMERCE  377 

business  way.  We  in  the  Latin  American  Division  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Commerce,  fully  recognize  the  necessity  for  progress  along  these  lines, 
and  our  advice  to  those  who  are  interested  in  Latin  American  trade  is  this :  Get 
the  concrete,  practical  information  that  is  essential  for  the  promotion  of  your  ex- 
port business,  but  by  all  means  do  not  neglect  the  larger  aspects  of  commerce.  If 
you  have  the  right  sort  of  background  the  little  everyday  facts  will  be  easily  taken 
care  of,  and  the  bhmders  which  have  often  been  characteristic  of  our  foreign  com- 
merce will  cease  to  be  perpetrated.  Do  not  ignore  the  cultural  element  in  Latin 
American  trade 


ADMINISTRATIVE  DEFECTS  IN  LANGUAGE  TEACHING 

BY  J.  MORENO-LACALLE,  ASSISTANT  PROFESSOR  OF  SPANISH,  UNITED  STATES  NAVAL 

ACADEMY,  AND  DEAN  OF  THE  SPANISH  SCHOOL  OF  THE  MIDDLEBURY 

COLLEGE    SUMMER  SESSION. 

(Delivered  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  dwell 
upon  the  importance  of  languages  in  foreign  trade.  All  of  you  know  that  language 
is  the  key  to  the  psychology  of  the  people  with  whom  one  deals,  as  proven  by  the 
success  invariably  achieved  by  the  Germans  in  whatever  foreign  countries  they 
traded.  Certainly  while  their  aims  were  questionable  their  means  were  most  effec- 
tive and  more  worthy  of  a  better  end.  No  German  ever  went  to  a  foreign  country 
without  previously  learning  the  language,  and  once  in  the  country  he  adapted  him- 
self— at  least  apparently — to  the  customs,  habits  and  tastes  of  the  native. 

Speaking  of  the  importance  of  Spanish  to  the  North  American  business  man, 
we  must  not  forget  that  Portuguese  is  also  necessary.  I  would  advocate,  especially  in 
the  larger  cities,  the  organization  of  courses  of  Portuguese  along  with  the  Spanish 
courses.  Yesterday  Senhor  Sampaio,  the  enterprising  Br?zilian  Consul  in  St.  Louis, 
brought  out  the  fact  that  no  Brazilian  individual  or  firm  would  accept  a  letter 
written  in  Spanish. 

I  am  not  going  to  speak  to  you  about  the  method  or  technique  of  teaching 
languages ;  that  would  not  be  germane  to  the  subjects  under  discussion.  I  shall 
confine  my  brief  remarks  to  bringing  to  your  attention  some  deficiencies  of  a  purely 
administrative  nature  which  seriously  hamper  the  teaching  of  modern  languages  in 
our  public  schools  and  actually  defeat  our  aims.  I  appeal  to  you  because  I  do  not 
doubt  that  you  can  do  a  great  deal  to  remedy  these  defects  by  exerting  your  in- 
fluence in  your  respective  communities,  and  by  starting  an  active  and  systematic 
campaign  for  the  purpose  of  awakening  parents  and  school  officials  to  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  transcendental  significance  of  language  study  as  an  essential  part  of 
the  education  of  our  boys  and  girls. 

The"  first  serious  obstacle  to  effective  language  teaching  is  the  excessive  num- 
ber of  pupils  under  one  teacher — a  very  common  occurrence,  in  fact  the  rule,  in 
the  larger  cities,  in  many  of  which  the  average  number  of  pupils  per  class  varies 
between  thirty  and  forty.  I  know  of  cases  where  the  number  of  pupils  in  a  room 
is  over  sixty,  one-half  of  whom  have  to  stand  up  throughout  the  period.  Those  of 
you  who  have  had  experience  with  some  foreign  language  or  other  will  agree  with 
me  when  I  say — as  all  language  teachers  do — that  there  is  no  school  subject  that 
requires  as  much  individual  attention  as  language  study.  In  point  of  individual 
instruction  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  compare  the  teaching  of  languages  with  the 
teaching  of  piano,  for  instance.  Certainly  no  parent  would  ever  think  of  letting 
his  child  study  piano  in  a  class  where  there  were,  say,  thirty  pupils  all  under  one 
single  teacher.  He  would  think  it  preposterous ;  but  he  never  stops  to  consider 
that  in  order  to  learn  Spanish  or  Portuguese,  or  any  other  language  his  child  must 
have  the  same  individual  attention  that  is  needed  for  piano  instruction. 

The  second  deficiency,  closely  related  to  the  first,  is  the  lack  of  language 
teachers,  the  most  serious  result  of  which  is  that  of  overworking  the  teacher. 
Throiugh  my  summer  school  for  teachers  for  Spanish  I  have  come  in  personal  con- 
tact with  hundreds  of  teachers  from  all  over  the  country,  and  I  know  that  a  great 
number  have  as  many  as  thirty-five  hours  of  teaching  per  week,  and  not  a  few 
of  them  have  to  teach  two  or  three  other  subjects  besides  Spanish.  To  these  hours 
of  teaching  you  must  add  the  hours  of  office  work  out  of  recitation  periods  re- 


v378  SECOND     PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

quired  of  most  teachers,  work  such  as  preparing  the  lessons,  correcting  exercises 
and  examinations,  keeping  records,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  (and  I  could,  without  distorting 
facts,  add  two  or  three  more  et  ceteras).  But  this  is  not  all.  There  is  yet  to  be 
added  the  hours  of  study  and  the  classes  which  teachers  have  to  attend  in  pursuing 
their  post-graduate  courses  during  both  winter  and  summer.  Really,  no  comment 
is  necessary.  But,  I  moist  say  this:  that  it  is  evident  that  some  school  boards. do 
not  regard  teachers  as  human  beings.  What  results  can  you  reasonably  expect  of 
even  the  best  and  most  enthusiastic  teachers  if  they  are  overworked^  How  can 
Spanish  be  effectively  taught  if  the  teaching  is  done  by  a  teacher,  who,  through 
no  fault  of  hers,  is  fagged  and  worn  out? 

Turning  now  to  the  third  administrative  fault,  we  find  that  in  addition  to 
being  overworked,  public  school  teachers  are  underpaid,  even  in  some  of  the 
larger  cities.  No  wonder  that  many  of  the  language  teachers  are  abandoning  the 
profession  for  more  lucrative  fields.  Specially  in  the  case  of  Spanish  teachers  the 
situation  is  really  critical.  The  increase  of  pupils  of  Spanish  has  been  so  rapid 
and  so  large  in  the  last  three  years  that  the  demand  by  far  exceeds  the  supply.  In 
many  schools  no  Spanish  can  be  taught  because  no  teachers  are  to  be  found.  Add 
to  this  the  fact  I  have  just  pointed  out — the  loss  by  resignation  of  many  of  the 
best  teachers,  and  you  can  get  an  approximate  idea  of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation. 

The  fourth  shortcoming,  a  very  vital  one,  is  that  the  course  in  languages  in 
most  cities — two  or  three  years — is  entirely  too  short.  No  practical  results  can  be 
accomplished  thus  in  a  subject  which  requires  so  much  drill.  Just  compare  this 
with  the  number  of  years  assigned  in  some  European  countries  to  language  study, 
which  varies  between  six  and  nine  years. 

As  remedies  for  these  defects  I  would  recommended  that : 

(1)  Language  classes  in  the  public  schools  be  limited  to  a  maximum  of  fifteen 
pupils ;  (2)  Teachers  should  not  be  required  to  teach  more  than  twenty  recitation 
periods  per  week  (it  goes  without  saying  that  to  achieve  the  above  two  aims  it  is 
necessary  to  provide  for  a  larger  number  of  teachers)  ;  (3)  Higher  salaries  should 
be  provided  along  with  a  systematic  scheme  of  promotion  and  retirement  (pen- 
sions) ;  (4)  the  junior  high  school  system  should  be  adopted  in  all  cities  of  the 
United  States  so  that  language  study  may  be  begun  in  the  grades,  two  or  three 
years  earlier  than  at  present. 

It  is  up  to  the  business  men  of  the  country  to  make  parents,  taxpayers  and 
school  authorities  realize  that  the  knowledge  of  languages,  especially  Spanish  and 
Portuguese,  is  a  most  valuable  as  well  as  indispensable  element  in  the  educational 
equipment  of  our  future  citizens.  When  that  realization  comes  the  evils  I  have 
mentioned  will  be  overcome  and  then  the  teaching  of  languages  will  be  done 
effectively  for  commercial  as  well  as  for  other  purposes. 


EXCHANGE  OF  STUDENTS  AND  PREPARATION  FOR  LEADERSHIP  IN  PAN 
AMERICAN  TRADE  AND  TRADE  RELATIONS 

BY  DR.  H.  E.  BARD,  SECRETARY,  ARGENTINE-AMERICAN  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE, 

NEW  YORK. 

(Read  at  the  Afternoon  Session  of  Friday,  June  6) 
\ 

During  the  last  half  decade  great  progress  has  been  made  along  several 
of  the  lines  suggested  by  the  topic  under  discussion. 

Students  from  the  other  republics  have  been  coming  to  our  colleges  and  uni- 
versities in  rapidly  increasing  numbers;  a  beginning  has  been  made  in  the  ex- 
change of  teachers;  and  in  a  few  cases  successful  arrangements  have  been  made 
for  the  exchange  of  professors. 

One  of  the  most  important  educational  phenomena  of  the  period  is  the 
changing  attitude  in  university  circles  in  the  United  States  towards  the  teaching 
of  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  and  the  increased  demand  for  these  languages  in 
both  secondary  and  higher  educational  institutions.  These  languages  are  gen- 
erally considered  today  on  a  par  with  other  foreign  languages,  which  was  by  no 
means  the  case  a  few  years  ago.  As  a  consequence  of  this  there  has  come  also 
a  more  satisfactory  recognition  of  credits  for  studies  pursued  by  Latin  American 
students  in  home  educational  institutions. 


EDUCATIONAL  AUXILIARIES   TO  COMMERCE  379 

It  is  now  as  easy  for  a  student  from  one  of  the  other  republics  to  secure 
entrance  in  one  of  our  colleges  or  universities  as  it  is  for  one  of  our  own 
students. 

The  problem  of  vocational  training  for  commerce  in  the  foreign  field  has 
received  extraordinary  attention  during  the  last  three  of  four  years,  and  much 
has  been  accomplished  as  will  have  been  gathered  from  what  has  already  been 
said  before  this  Conference. 

But,  after  all,  the  greatest  and  most  important  achievement,  perhaps,  of 
this  brief  period  is  widespread  public  recognition  gained  for  these  things.  Not 
so  very  long  ago  we  listened  in  vain  to  hear  from  leaders  in  business  or  university 
life  some  word  of  recognition  of  the  value  of  Spanish  in  the  field  of  Pan  Amer- 
ican commerce,  or  of  the  need  of  thorough  vocational  training  together  with  ade- 
quate cultural  preparation.  But  this  recognition  now  is  complete,  and  there  re- 
mains only  the  more  interesting  problem  of  constructive  work. 

There  are  just  two  things  in  connection  with  the  subject  that  I  would 
wish  to  emphasize  which  have  not  been  given  all  consideration  deserved,  and 
these  two  things  might  be  accomplished  in  a  large  measure  by  a  single  process. 

One  of  these  is  the  tendency  yet  too  strong  to  place  too  exclusive  em- 
phasis on  what  may  be  regarded  as  the  intermediate  phase  of  vocational  training 
in  relation  to  foreign  commerce,  and  insufficient  emphasis  on  the  importance  of 
the  broader  training  which  fits  for  leadership.  The  other  thing  is  the  one-sided- 
ness  of  the  so-called  exchange  of  students.  If  something  could  be  done  to  en- 
able a  satisfactory  number  of  American  students  to  pursue  advanced  studies  in 
the  universities  of  some  of  the  other  republics  this  would  no  doubt  greatly  en- 
courage the  broader  preparation  requisite  for  leadership  and  in  itself  at  the  same 
time  contribute  effectively  towards  better  understanding  and  close  friendly  re- 
lations, which  is  the  chief  end  of  Pan  Americanism. 

While  students  from  the  other  republics  studying  in  our  higher  educa- 
tional institutions  are  now  numbered  in  the  thousands,  scarcely  a  single  Amer- 
ican student  has  so  far  sought  to  continue  "his  studies  in  a  higher  institution  of 
one  of  the  other  republics.  It  is  worth-while  to  seek  why  this  is  so. 

A  too  general  ignorance  of  the  advantages  to  be  gained  is  undoubtedly 
one  of  the  reasons;  but  not,  it  is  believed,  the  most  immediate  and  direct  ob- 
stacle. The  cost  also  stands  in  the  way,  and  should  be  overcome  to  some  con- 
siderable degree.  But,  the  real  explanation  lies  more  especially  in  our  system. 
It  is  the  all-controlling  influence  of  the  higher  degrees. 

Few  American  students  pursue  studies  who  are  not  candidates  for  a  higher 
degree,  and  it  is  uniformly  expected  that  the  studies  pursued  will  be  credited 
and  count  towards  securing  such  degree.  There  are  as  yet  no  provisions  by  which 
one  of  our  students  might  pursue  studies  in  a  university  of  Argentina,  for  in- 
stance, and  receive  credit  towards  a  degree  in  one  of  the  universities  of  this 
country.  There  is  still  even  a  strong  feeling  against  allowing  such  credits. 

If  provisions  were  made  in  our  universities  by  which  candidates  for  higher 
degrees  might  spend  one  or  two  years  in  one  or  more  universities  of  South 
America  and  have  their  studies  credited  towards  a  higher  degree  here,  the  same 
as  if  pursued  in  an  accepted  institution  in  this  country,  it  is  practically  certain 
that  many  of  these  candidates  would  soon  be  found  taking  advantage  of  such 
provisions. 

After  spending  the  first  year,  or  possibly  the  first  two  years,  of  his  can- 
didacy for  a  higher  degree  in  a  university  here,  what  better  could  a  student  do 
than  to  spend  one  or  two  years  in  further  study  and  research  in  one  or  more  of 
the  more  important  universities  in  South  America? 

After  a  year  of  graduate  study  in  one  of  our  universities  a  student  is 
supposed  to  have  become  master  of  methods  of  research  and  to  have  the  subject 
of  his  dissertation  well  in  hand.  If  this  subject  lies  in  the  field  of  Pan  Amer- 
ican commerce  or  Pan  American  relations  of  any  other  character,  and  there  are 
many  subjects  for  dissertations  in  this  field,  one  or  two  years  at  one  of  the  uni- 
versities of  South  America  would  be  of  the  greatest  possible  value,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  scholarship  alone. 

But  the  privilege  of  living  the  life  of  a  student  at  such  university  centres 
as  there  are  in  South  America  will  be  of  equal  or  greater  value.  Contact  as 
students  with  the  future  leaders  of  Latin  American  thought  and  activities;  mas- 
tery of  a  foreign  language ;  familiarity  with  social  customs ;  and  some  personal 


380  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

acquaintance  with  social  like  of  the  peoples  of  the  other  republics  thus  gained 
could  not  but  prove  to  be  assets  of  inestimable  value  whatever  might  be  the 
field  of  future  work  of  the  student. 

The  influence  of  our  own  people  of  one  hundred  or  more  students  return- 
ing each  year  from  study  as  regularly  matriculated  students  in  such  universities 
as  those  of  Buenos  Aires,  Santiago  and  Lima,  for  example,  would  be  greatly 
beneficial,  and  would  contribute  effectively  toward  better  understanding  between 
our  people  and  the  peoples  of  the  other  republics. 

The  opportunities  offered  for  graduate  study  or  research  work  in  the  uni- 
versities of  Latin  America  need  to  be  brought  more  effectively  to  the  attention 
of  professors  and  faculties  of  our  universities,  provisions  as  suggested  should  be 
promptly  made,  and  students  be  kept  informed  relative  to  these  opportunities 
that  they  may  be  encouraged  to  take  due  advantage  of  them. 

Work  in  this  direction  would,  as  already  suggested,'  relieve  the  matter  of 
exchange  of  students  of  its  onesidedness,  and  at  the  same  time  encourage,  as 
perhaps  nothing  else  could,  the  broader  preparation  requisite  for  service  and 
leadership  in  Pan  American  affairs,  whether  in  commerce  or  other  field  of  in- 
terest. 


PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCE  AS  A  CAREER 

BY  PHILIP  L.  GREEN,  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen: — The  Second  Pan  American  Commercial 
Conference  is  no  doubt  the  most  noteworthy  event  in  the  history  of  modern 
commerce.  The  facts  we  learn  and  the  opinions  we  present  here,  will  cause  a 
true  Pan  American  Union,  a  union  of  ideas,  a  composite  commercial  opinion  of 
the  Western  World. 

It  is  no  longer  a  question  whether  or  not  we  desire  Latin  American  trade. 
The  war  has  taught  us  the  value  of  Latin  American  markets.  The  question  be- 
fore us,  is  how  to  obtain,  in  normal  times,  the  commercial  supremacy  so  acci- 
dentally achieved  through  abnormal  war  conditions.  A  ravished  Europe  is  not 
necessarily  a  commercially  crippled  Europe.  Even  at  the  present  moment,  Eu- 
ropeans are  planning  for  the  recovery  of  Latin  American  markets.  It  is  there- 
fore a  question  of  comparative  efficiency  and  preparation. 

Our  Latin  American  colleagues  in  this  conference  are  more  ably  fitted  to 
relate  to  this  gathering,  some  instances  of  our  comparative  inefficiency  in  so- 
liciting and  attending  to  our  export  business,  for  they  were  the  victims  thereof. 
The  efficiency  standard  will,  and  is,  in  fact,  being  elevated,  as  our  merchants 
and  exporters  realize  that  the  Latin  American  market  is  a  precious  one.  Fur- 
thermore, the  opening  of  branch  banks  in  Latin  America,  under  the  Federal 
Reserve  Act  and  its  amendments ;  and  the  turning  over  of  shipping  facilities 
for  export,  will  make  exporting  a  less  expensive  proposition  for  all  concerned, 
thus  aiding  commercial  intercourse  with  Latin  America. 

However,  we  are  not  seeking  orders  alone.  The  world  is  so  large  that 
any  firm  can  obtain  orders.  We  want  a  permanent,  safe  business,  based  on 
confidence,  efficiency  and  preparation.  It  is  necessary  to  have  a  thorough  un- 
derstanding of  our  business,  from  the  time  our  salesmen  are  sent  on  their  mis- 
sions, up  to  the  time  we  discount  our  drafts  and  receive  payment  for  order?. 
Among  the  things  we  must  know,  in  order  to  obtain  and  retain  Latin  American 
commerce,  are  languages,  trade  conditions,  geography,  customs,  history,  laws, 
traits,  commerce,  transportation,  packing,  insurance,  shipping  and  finance. 

You  see  therefore,  gentlemen,  that  Latin  American  commerce  is  no  easy 
task.  It  is  a  profession ;  and  as  such,  requires  a  thorough  professional  training. 
It  should  be  made  a  career,  worthy  of  the  name  and  financially  attractive  to  the 
well-trained  young  man.  In  England,  Germany  and  France,  it  is  not  an  un- 
common thing  for  a  young  maif  to  speak  several  languages,  to  know  Latin 
American  countries  as  he  knows  his  own,  to  be  thoroughly  conversant  with  in- 
ternational, mercantile  and  marine  law,  export  practice,  geography,  customs,  law5, 
government  and  history  of  the  Latin  American  countries;  and  to  be  thoroughly 
sympathetic  towards  Latin  Americans  in  general.  In  recent  years,  we  too  have 
taken  some  wonderful  steps  in  this  direction. 


EDUCATIONAL  AUXILIARIES   TO  COMMERCE  381 

All  American  colleges  with  few  exceptions  offer  courses  in  Spanish.  Ac- 
cording to  latest  information,  Portuguese  is  being  taught  at  Yale,  Notre  Dame, 
Boston,  Harvard,  Cornell,  Columbia,  Virginia,  Wisconsin;  and  at  Simmons  Col- 
lege at  Boston.  Latin  American  history  and  cognate  subjects  are  being  offered 
at  Virginia,  Harvard,  Yale,  California,  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Columbia  and  Penn- 
sylvania. Many  of  these  institutions  have  their  Spanish  Clubs,  Pan  American  So- 
cieties and  Latin  American  Clubs. 

Even  in  the  high  schools,  progress  has  been  made  in  Pan  American  re- 
lations. Through  the  unselfish  and  high-minded  cooperation  of  the  Chairman 
of  the  Modern  Language  Department  of  the  High  School  of  Commerce,  of 
New  York  City,  Dr.  Edwin  W.  Roessler,  there  was  founded  two  years  ago, 
the  first  Spanish  magazine  ever  to  be  published  among  students  of  the  United 
States  of  North  America.  In  the  same  school,  there  has  been  existing  for  the 
past  eight  years,  a  Spanish  Club,  under  the  direction  of  such  men  as  the  ever 
industrious  Mr.  Austin  E.  Spear  and  Dr.  Manuel  Barranco,  at  present  Minister 
of  Education  in  Mexico  City.  One  of  the  pioneers  of  education  in  commercial 
geography,  foreign  trade  and  practical  exporting,  is  Mr.  Leslie  Brewster  Smith, 
who  is  at  present  extending  his  course  to  two  years.  Hundreds  of  persons 
could  be  mentioned  who  are  engaged  in  the  great  work  of  training  our  future 
business  men. 

These  courses  are  very  beneficial,  but  will  never  make  a  career  out  of 
Pan  American  commerce  or  really  supply  the  need  for  trained  men  unless  they 
are  properly  co-ordinated.  Such  co-ordination  could  be  obtained  by  organizing 
a  Pan  American  Student  League,  to  consist  of  student  organizations  in  every 
university,  high  school  and  college.  The  object  of  this  organization  would  be 
to  present  in  convenient  form,  the  valuable  but  now  rarely  used  information 
which  is  being  compiled  by  existing  organizations,  to  foster  a  genuine  Pan 
American  interest  among  the  students  and  to  organize  a  propaganda  for  thor- 
ough and  uniform  preparation  for  Latin  American  commerce.  This  is  the  only 
way;  to  make  it  a  career. 

It  is  impossible  to  obtain  $500,000,000  worth  of  Latin  American  business 
by  employing  men  who  have  just  discovered  that  they  are  interested  in  the 
subject.  The  men  who  take  care  of  this  important  business,  must  be  carefully 
trained  in  their  line,  in  the  same  way  that  doctors  are  trained  in  medicine  or 
surgery.  They  must  be  men  who  have  made  it  their  business  to  specialize  in 
this  newest  and  greatest  of  professions. 

Of  course,  not  being  an  educator,  I  can  only  present  these  suggestions 
from  the  standpoint  of  one  who  has  been  in  the  Pan  American  business  long 
enough  to  observe  that  our  commerce  could  be  improved  greatly  by  employing 
thoroughly  and  uniformly  trained  men;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  idea 
of  a  Pan  American  Student  League  has. suggested  itself  to  me  as  the  best  means 
for  giving  us  men  who  come  prepared  to  battle  and  win  in  their  chosen  ca- 
reer— Pan  American  Commerce. 


REGARDING  OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  YOUNG  MEN  IN  LATIN  AMERICA 

BY  WILLIAM  A.  REID,  TRADE  ADVISER,  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

Whether  it  is  wise  or  unwise  for  the  young  man  born  and  reared  in  the 
United  States  to  partially  close  his  eyes  to  the  opportunities  within  his  native 
land  and  seek  business  connections  that  demand  his  time  over  the  seas  is  a  ques- 
tion that  he  alone  must  settle.  Much  depends  upon  circumstances  and  the  incli- 
nation of  the  individual  and  also  whether  he  goes  forth  on  a  special  mission  of 
short  duration  or  to  make  a  permanent  home.  It  may  be  detrimental  to  the 
United  States  if  vast  numbers  of  her  young  men,  who  in  very  recent  years  have 
imbibed  the  spirit  of  unrest,  should  elect  to  scatter  further  to  foreign  lands  for 
pursuing  their  life  work.  On  the  other  hand,  "the  shuttle  of  fate  has  woven  us 
into  the  web  of  the  world,"  and  there  are  foreign  demands  and  opportunities  today 
that  have  not  existed  in  the  past. 

Probably  more  citizens  of  the  United  States  are  engaged  in  trading  with 
the  several  nations  of  Latin  America  than  at  any  former  period,  and  certainly 
at  no  other  time  could  so  many  young  Latin  American  students  be  found  in  edu- 


382  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

cational  institutions  of  this  country  as  is  the  case  at  present.  If  peoples  of  the 
Americas  have  not  been  introduced,  the  tendencies  of  the  times  are  undoubtedly 
drawing  them  toward  acquaintanceship.  With  15-day  voyages  in  prospect  from 
our  eastern  cities  to  Buenos  Aires  and  Valparaiso  and  quicker  time  to  interme- 
diate ports  and  air  services  assuming  tangible  form,  the  three  Americas  are  cer- 
tainly in  closer  personal  contact  than  ever  before. 

Many  young  North  Americans,  however,  mistake  their  closer  business  re- 
lations for  specific  rather  than  indirect  calls  for  their  services;  they  appear  dis- 
appointed when  informed  that  in  South  or  Central  America  there  is  only  slight 
demand  at  present  for  additional  business  and  professional  workers  from  the 
United  States  unless  they  have  capital  for  investment.  The  young  man  fails  to 
remember  that  the  progress  of  Latin  American  nations,  like  all  others,  has  been 
seriously  handicapp'ed  and  many  industries  lie  dormant  or  abandoned  owing  to 
the  effects  of  the  great  war;  and  that  abnormal  conditions  have  not  yet  passed. 
Furthermore,  it  should  be  remembered  that  most  enterprises  of  Latin  America 
financed  by  domestic  or  European  capital  prefer  to  give  employment  largely  to 
natives  of  the  respective  countries  or  to  Europeans.  Ihese  young  men  are  accus- 
tomed to  work  for  smaller  salaries  than  men  of  similar  ages  and  experience 
readily  command  in  the  United  States.  Again,  Europeans  more  easily  adapt 
themselves  to  Latin  American  customs  and  characteristics  than  do  those  from  the 
United  States;  and  they  are  as  a  rule  better  linguists  and  are  also  willing  to  live 
more  economically.  Therefore,  unless  one's  desires  are  merely  for  experience,  it 
is  not  advisable  to  seek  a  position  in  Latin  America  in  the  service  of  native  firms 
or  European  corporations. 

One  of  the  best  courses  for  a  well  qualified  man,  and  the  word  qualified  has 
a  strong  bearing  on  future  progress,  is  to  become  associated  with  some  United 
States  corporation  engaged  in  Latin  American  enterprise. 

By  actual  observation  we  have  ascertained  that  of  the  hundreds  of  men  who 
visit  or  write  to  the  Pan  American  Union  for  information  relative  to  securing 
positions  in  Latin  America,  a  very  small  percentage  have  an  idea  of  the  methods  of 
procedure  or  of  the  true  facts  upon  which  rest  the  chances  of  employment.  They 
have  in  numerous  cases  been  led  to  believe  that  it  is  only  necessary  to  let  it  be 
known  that  their  services  are  available  and  they  will  be  quickly  engaged.  News- 
paper and  magazine  articles,  often  written  by  those  who  have  never  seen  the 
countries  of  which  they  speak,  have  painted  glowing,  alluring  and  misleading 
pictures. 

It  is  quite  true  that  in  each  one  of  the  twenty  Latin  American  Republics 
there  are  good  opportunities  for  the  investment  of  capital,  the  building  of  enter- 
prise, the  production  of  food  and  raiment  for  the  densely  populated  countries  of 
the  world.  But  the  individual  with  limited  means  and  the  corporation  admit  of 
no  comparison.  The  latter  with  unlimited  funds  is  in  a  position  to  make  its  own 
conditions  while  the  former  must  accept  whatever  conditions  exist — he  cannot 
change  them. 

In  a  large  measure  one  may  study  his  own  chances — feel  his  way,  so  to 
speak — by  watching  the  movement  of  capital.  But  many  young  men  tell  me  they 
cannot  keep  tab  on  what  our  financiers  are  doing.  To  be>  sure,  capital  often 
moves  mysteriously;  but  there  is  power  in  the  press,  and  press  clippings  are  within 
the  reach  of  every  young  man.  Spend  a  few  dollars  for  a  hundred  clippings  bear- 
ing on  the  specific  line  of  work  in  which  you  are  interested.  If  you  are  an  engineer 
seeking  employment  you  may  be  confident  that  you  will  find  the  name  and  address 
of  contractors  or  builders  if  you  peruse  carefully  the  clippings  from  many  papers. 

Have  you  ever  considered  the  fact  that  numerous  banks  and  other  corpora- 
tions interested  in  Latin  American  development  publish  weekly  or  monthly  journals 
or  house  organs?  Here  again  is  another  medium  for  keeping  in  touch  with  the 
movement  of  capital.  The  house  organ  tells  of  the  coming  and  going  of  its 
officials  and  employes,  carries  their  pictures  and  is  more  or  less  a  general  sum- 
mary of  activities.  As  typical  examples  we  have  the  Americas,  the  Dodge  Idea, 
the  Guaranty  News,  the  Grace  Log,  the  "N.  C.  R.,"  the  DuPont  News,  and  scores 
of  others  which  anyone  may  find  in  first-class  libraries  or  chambers  of  commerce 
all  over  the  land.  Read  them  and  then  get  in  touch  with  people  who  are  doing 
the  thing  that  you  would  like  to  do,  or  are  engaged  in  a  line  of  work  for  which 
you  are  peculiarly  fitted. 

Read  the  Daily  Commerce  Reports  of  our  own  government.  The  United 
States  consular  force  all  over  South  and  Central  America  has  been  growing  and 


EDUCATIONAL  AUXILIARIES  TO  COMMERCE  383 

improving  in  recent  years.  The  reports  of  these  officials  are  highly  interesting 
and  instructive  and  have  been  of  inestimable  value  to  the  corporation  seeking  fields 
of  labor  and  to  the  professional  and  business  man  who  wishes  to  obtain  employ- 
ment. 

Closely  allied  with  official  reports  are  the  numerous  trade  and  professional 
journals  scattered  over  the  United  States,  which  chronicle  the  movement  of 
capital,  of  exports,  imports,  and  other  subjects,  which  have  a  bearing  on  business 
openings. 

During  the  last  five  years  branches  of  numerous  United  States  banks — 
about  two  score  I  should  say — have  been  placed  in  the  larger  cities  of  Central 
and  South  America  and  the  West  Indies.  It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  visit 
about  two-thirds  of  these  banking  establishments  and  in  each  of  them  I  have 
found  a  sprinkling  of  North  American  banking  men.  In  connection  with  United 
States  banks  in  Latin  America,  no  doubt,  there  will  be  a  gradual  demand  for 
additional  clerks,  Spanish-English  stenographers,  bookkeepers,  accountants,  and 
other  employees  from  this  country.  In  fact,  several  of  these  banks  are  now  train- 
ing young  college  men  for  work  in  banking.  The  course  is  partly  in  college  and 
partly  in  practical  foreign  and  domestic  banking  as  practiced  in  the  parent  estab- 
lishment. After  being  fitted,  so  far  as  early  training  is  possible,  these  young  men 
are  sent  out  to  different  banks  in  Latin  America.  Their  salaries  are  at  least  suffi- 
cient for  a  living  or  a  little  more  which  is  about  all  a  beginner  could  expect.  In 
these  establishments  we  also  find  a  number  of  natives,,  who,  naturally,  will  be 
permanently  employed  to  popularize  and  give  local  color  to  the  institutions. 
Numerous  French  and  English  men  are  also  employed  in  the  North  American 
banks.  Some  of  these  organizations  have  employees  known  as  commercial  attaches, 
and  as  indicated  by  the  name,  their  duties  are  somewhat  different  from  those  of 
a  strictly  banking  nature.  Exporting  and  importing  are  closely  associated  with 
some  of  our  new  banks  in  Latin  America  which  field  also  offers  opportunities 
along  lines  which  we  might  term  contributory  services. 

According  to  my  observations,  the  largest  and  one  of  the  most  inviting 
fields  in  Latin  America  is  for  the  traveling  salesman  and  the  traveling  buyer.  We 
must  remember  that  the  twenty  nations  have  products  to  sell,  and  these  commo- 
dities are  multitudinous  in  number.  Latin  America's  foods,  rubber,  minerals, 
lumber,  medicinal  plants,  and  a  hundred  and  one  other  raw  products  are  needed 
in  all  of  the  great  manufacturing  nations  and  must  find  larger  markets  in  order 
to  provide  their  producers  with  funds  to  purchase  a  motor  car,  a  sewing  machine, 
a  cash  register,  a  safety  razor,  a  locomotive,  an  electric  cook  stove,  or  in  fact,  the 
many  modernizing  devices  that  manufacturing  nations  are  placing  upon  the  market. 
There  must  be  a  fair  exchange — no  one-sided  commerce. 

A  close  study  of  statistical  data,  which  are  available  to  any  young  man,  will 
show  the  raw  products  in  detail  exported  from  each  Latin  American  country; 
on  the  other  hand,  such  figures  also  indicate  the  goods  annually  imported  into  each 
republic  and  the  nation  that  supplies  these  needs.  So  I  would  say,  study  statistics 
to  know  what  is  saleable  or  purchasable  in  any  given  nation.  It  must  be  under- 
stood, of  course,  that  to  meet  full  success  the  salesman  going  to  Latin  America 
should  have  at  least  a  speaking  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language,  and  if  destined 
to  Brazil,  it  is  wise  to  know  Portuguese. 

If  one  has  had  no  experience  in  Spanish  speaking  countries  it  might  be  well 
to  first  visit  Cuba,  Porto  Rico  or  some  other  nearby  country  where  Spanish  is 
used.  Try  your  hand  in  buying  or  in  selling.  This  personal  contact  will  be  worth 
more  to  you  than  the  reading  of  the  best  book  on  salesmanship  in  existence. 
The  experience,  slight  as  it  may  have  been,  will  have  opened  your  eyes  as  to 
customs,  characteristics,  habits,  business  methods,  etc.,  of  Spanish  speaking  peo- 
ple ;  and  the  same  experience  will  be  found  useful  in  dealing  with  somewhat  similar 
conditions  of  other  Latin  American  countries.  It  will  also  be  useful  in  attempting 
to  find  employment  as  a  sales  representative  of  some  United  States  firm. 

A  very  large  number  of  young  men,  especially  those  from  our  western 
states,  show  a  decided  tendency  to  embark  in  stock  raising  and  agriculture  in 
South  America.  They  have  read  of  vast  pampas  and  virgin'  lands  over  which  the 
cowboy  tends  the  herd  and  where  the  modern  tractor  is  beginning  to  turn  the  soil. 
Indeed,  the  lure  of  the  pampa  is  strong;  but  let  it  be  remembered  that  in  a 
majority  of  cases  it  is  the  big  cornoration  rather  than  the  individual  with  limited 
means  that  has  succeeded  th*re.  Operation  on  a  large  scale  offers  much,  but  small 
scale  development  is  yet  in  its  infancy  in  the  southern  continent.  A  few  United 


384  SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

States  corporations,  like  the  one  which  recently  acquired  15  miles  or  more  of  land 
along  the  Paraguay  River,  are  developing  cattle  lands  and  other  industries  in  a 
vast  interior  region.  From  time  to  time  such  enterprises  have  a  few  vacancies 
for  men  suited  to  their  activities  or  who  have  a  small  capital  and  are  willing,  let 
us  say  for  instance,  to  start  the  raising  of  hogs.  The  latter  are  needed  in  con- 
nection with  the  slaughtering  and  canning  industry  operated  by  the  company  to 
which  we  refer.  It  is  this  connection  or  in  the  service  of  such  corporations,  rather 
than  "going  it  alone,"  that  best  opportunities  in  stock  raising  seem  to  exist.  Of 
course  if  one  possesses  capital,  the  outlook  is  different  and  conditions  altered. 

In  most  Latin  American  countries  the  temptations  to  intemperance  are,  ac- 
cording to  my  observation,  rather  greater  than  in  North  America.  In  smaller 
cities  public  amusements  are  limited ;  the  Latin's  hours  for  sleep  begin  much  later 
than  is  customary  in  the  United  States,  and  the  hours  for  commencing  the  day's 
labor  are  correspondingly  later.  Amusements  are  prolonged  far  into  the  night  and 
at  times  hilarity  is  most  pronounced.  In  the  gay  Paris  of  South  America,  Buenos 
Aires,  one  sits  at  the  open  air  cafes  along  the  Avenida  de  Mayo ;  during  meals 
everybody  drinks  domestic  or  imported  wines  and  liquors.  Music  is  to  be  heard 
on  every  side  and  business  for  the  time  is  forgotten.  Some  can  stand  this 
gayety,  others  cannot. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  many  English-speaking  people,  if  they  are  not 
very  careful  of  their  habits,  deteriorate  after  some  years  residence  in  tropical  or 
semi-tropical  countries.  Whether  this  is  caused  by  climatic  conditions  or  from 
isolation  from  home  and  friends  I  cannot  say,  but  I  firmly  believe  the  statement 
which  was  first  made  to  me  by  a  successful  Englishman  who  had  spent  thirty 
years  in  the  tropics ;  I  have  seen  the  statement  verified  again  and  again. 

Outside  and  away  from  the  larger  Latin  American  cities  the  country  is 
still  in  the  making  and  railways,  mining  operations  and  other  large  commercial 
enterprises  that  are  penetrating  interior  regions  are  followed  by  a  crowd  of  laborers 
and  adventurers  as  well  as  by  the  stable  man  of  business,  and  as  the  former 
classes  so  far  exceed  the  latter  in  point  of  number,  the  rough  element  in  popula- 
tion is  very  apparent  just  as  it  was  in  our  own  western  development. 

It  is  into  the  midst  of  such  society  that  the  educated  young  man  comes  for 
the  purpose  of  aiding  and  directing  the  trend  of  commercial  and  industrial  progress, 
and  woe  unto  him  if  his  character  is  not  sufficiently  moulded  or  is  too  weak  to 
withstand  the  temptations  that  constantly  prey  upon  him.  He  is  away  from  family 
and  friends,  mails  from  home  are  few,  and  his  whole  environment  tends  to  dis- 
sipation. 

Such  experiences  are  but  crucibles,  and  often  there  emerge  therefrom  young 
men  of  character,  nerve,  strength  and  ability  that  challenge  the  admiration  of  the 
man  who  has  never  wandered  beyond  the  confines  of  his  state,  and  who  has  lived 
the  quiet  life  where  strenuous  endeavor  and  big  reward  are  unknown. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  suggest  to  the  young  man  who  feels  dissatisfied  with 
present  prospects  in  the  United  States  and  whose  ambition  urges  him  to  consider 
the  possibilities  of  South  or  Central  America  or  the  West  Indies  as  fields  of 
business  usefulness,  that  there  are  at  least  three  different  courses  that  might  be 
worthy  of  consideration;  and  each  one  is  beset  with  trials  and  difficulties,  as  in 
every  walk  of  life.  To  engage  in  business  with  these  nations  does  not  necessarily 
imply  permanent  residence  away  from  one's  country.  To  practice  electrical  engi- 
neering in  Brazil  or  Chile,  for  instance,  the  engineer  is  expected  to  reside  near 
his  field  of  labor;  the  selling  of  United  States  goods  in  Latin  America  presupposes 
periodical  travels  throughout  those  republics,  while  the  importer  of  raw  products 
from  any  or  all  of  these  countries  may  reside  in  any  part  of  the  United  States. 
Thus,  one  may  in  a  measure,  choose  the.  line  of  work  best  suited  to  his  training  and 
inclination  and  also  decide  for  himself  whether  he  will  travel  or  maintain  a  fixed 
abode  at  home  or  abroad. 


COMMERCIAL  FEATURES  OF  THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 

BY  CHARLES  E.   BABCOCK,  ACTING  LIBRARIAN,  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

For  the  use  of  importers  and  exporters,  manufacturers  and  business  men, 
students,  writers,  investigators,  travellers  and  all  persons  interested  in  Latin 
America  there  is,  in  the  Pan  American  Union,  what  Ts  considered  the  most  com- 
prehensive special  library  of  Pan  Americana  in  the  United  States.  This  collec- 


EDUCATIONAL  AUXILIARIES  TO  COMMERCE  385 

tion  is  for  free  consultation,  during  regular  office  hours,  and  every  facility  for 
its  use  is  given  by  the  attendants.  Special  reading  tables  are  provided  for  study, 
and  such  aid  in  locating  required  data  as  needed  is  given. 

Numerically,  the  collection  contains  over  40,000  volumes  and  pamphlets, 
1500  maps,  110  atlases,  22,000  photographs,  1500  lantern  slides,  and  receives  over 
1200  daily,  weekly,  or  monthly  periodicals.  Its  index  cards  number  over  150,000 
and  are  used  to  answer  practically  any  question  which  may  arise  in  the  study  of 
Pan  Americanism  from  any  point  of  view. 

For  every  American  Republic  the  books  include,  government  reports,  laws, 
treaties,  description  and  travel,  history,  geography,  guide  books,  directories,  com- 
merce, transportation,  sociology,  literature,  education,  mining,  agriculture,  biog- 
raphy, foreign  relations.  An  important  feature  of  each  country  is  the  bound  daily 
newspapers,  extending  in  some  cases  over  a  period  of  ten  years,  bound  sets  of 
the  daily  official  newspapers,  and  sets  of  magazines  issued  by  government  depart- 
ments, commercial  organizations,  and  of  a  general  character.  To  keep  this  col- 
lection as  nearly  complete  as  "possible,  the  Library  is  in  constant  correspondence 
with  the  various  Embassies  and  Legations,  book  dealers,  authors,  libraries  and 
others  throughout  all  Latin  America.  The  effort  has  been  so  successful  that  in 
many  cases  complete  collections  are  on  file  of  the  laws,  reports,  official  newspa- 
pers, and  scientific  or  literary  series. 

The  delegates  to  this  Conference  will  appreciate  the  extent  of  this  collec- 
tion when  I  state  that  it  is  a  daily  occurrence  for  us  in  the  Library  to  supply  sat- 
isfactory data  to  the  enquirer  who  only  knows  Latin  America  as  a  single  country 
or  unit  and  not  as  twenty  individual  countries,  and  desires  to  locate  somewhere 
for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  his  particular  trade,  or  to  supply  definite  informa- 
tion to  the  manufacturer  seeking  for  the  first  time  the  trade  of  foreign  countries, 
or  to  supply  material  for  a  book  or  thesis  to  the  highly  trained  expert  who  has 
spent  many  years  studying  and  travelling  in  Latin  America. 

Practically  the  entire  north  side  of  the  building  of  the  Pan  American 
Union  is  occupied  by  the  Library,  its  stack  room  extending  for  five  floors  in 
height  in  a  room  211/£x53  feet.  This  room  is  equipped  with  the  most  modern 
steel  stacks  and  has  an  estimated  capacity  of  100,000  volumes. 

Owing  to  the  unique  organization  of  the  Library  it  is  necessary  to  main- 
tain a  fundamental  classification  or  grouping  by  countries,  and  under  each  country 
give  the  usual  subject  arrangement  found  in  all  larger  libraries.  The  scope,  within 
its  field,  has  been  extended  until  each  country  is  completely  represented  by  an 
individual  collection,  making  in  all  twenty-one  small  libraries.  The  card  catalogue 
conforms  to  the  same  arrangement,  so  that  all  material  is  readily  available. 

A  special  press  clipping  bureau  is  maintained,  in  which  over  10,000  clippings 
are  made  annually.  These  are  classified  and  filed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  of 
instant  use  and  are  a  valuable  source  of  present  day  development.  As  an  illus- 
tration, the  Library  has  the  day  by  day  story  of  Mexico  as  published  in  daily 
newspapers  from  1912  to  date,  arranged  chronologically,  and  available  for  instant 
reference  to  anyone  interested  in  that  country.  Through  these  clippings  can  be 
traced  the  current  news  of  an  industrial  or  financial  enterprise,  the  development 
of  shipping,  or  the  opinion  of  prominent  Pan  Americanists,  either  North  or  South, 
on  the  affairs  of  the  United  States  as  they  relate  to  some  particular  country. 

During  the  years  of  its  existence  many  duplicate  publications  have  been 
received,  and  these  have  been  used  to  maintain  an  inter-library  exchange  of  dupli- 
cates between  the  Pan  American  Union  and  the  libraries  of  South  and  Cen- 
tral America  and  the  West  Indies.  This  exchange  was  established  in  1912  and 
1913  by  personal  visits  and  by  correspondence  with  the  more  important  Latin 
American  libraries,  until  today  it  includes  practically  all  the  larger  institutions. 
It  is  intended  by  this  means  to  bring  to  the  American  business  man  books  and 
other  material  needed  in  the  development  of  trade,  and  while  it  is  as  yet  undevel- 
oped to  its  largest  possibilities  it  will  prove  an  almost  unlimited  source  for  data 
in  the  future  development  of  the  Library. 

In  the  main  reading  room  are  large  tables  on  which  are  kept  the  current 
numbers  of  commercial  and  literary  magazines  and  where  the  current  city  or 
telephone  directories  of  each  capital  city  can  be  consulted.  These  latter  books  are 
an  excellent  source  for  names  of  persons  to  whom  advertising  matter  may  be 
sent. 


386  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

To  the  North  American  exporter,  manufacturer,  or  merchant,  the  Library 
is  especially  valuable  because  in  it  he  may  consult  the  laws  of  the  country  in 
which  he  desires  to  do  business,  or  ascertain  from  the  latest  commercial  statistics 
the  amount  of  the  particular  goods  which  a  certain  country  imports,  and  from 
which  countries  it  is  received ;  he  can  obtain  from  the  directories  on  file  the  names 
of  persons  interested  in  his  special  line ;  he  can  learn  the  tariff  and  customs 
usages ;  the  shipping  facilities ;  and  if  directly  represented  by  his  own  travelling 
salesman  he  can  find  the  amount  of  license  fees  such  as  salesmen  pay;  the  hotel 
charges ;  the  railroad  fares ;  the  time  required  to  go  from  one  point  to  another. 
In  addition,  he  can  be  directed  to  sources  of  information  of  a  general  charac- 
ter; such  as  guide  books  and  books  of  description,  not  essential  to  business,  but 
so  very  necessary  to  a  salesman  entering  a  country  new  to  him ;  and  for  the  home 
office  staff,  information  on  books  or  manuals  on  exporting  trade  can  be  had, 
»which  will  assist  them  in  gaining  a  broader  idea  of  the  business  and  corre- 
spondingly extend  their  usefulness.  To  emphasize  this  instruction  to  the  home 
staff,  a  limited  use  of  lantern  slides  is  advisable,  and  for  this  purpose  the  Li- 
brary makes  limited  loans,  under  certain  restriction  of  the  slides  in  its  possession. 
The  photographic  collection  affords  an  excellent  opportunity  to  see  certain  lines 
of  merchandise  in  actual  use.  For  instance,  a  manufacturer  of  fencing*  can  see 
fences  as  erected ;  the  maker  of  wagons  can  see  pictures  of  the  types  desired  in 
specific  countries ;  the  lumberman  can  learn  the  various  styles  of  mill  work  used 
in  doors  and  windows;  the  foundryman  can  ascertain  the  style  of  window  grat- 
ings, and  so  on  throughout  the  various  industries.  One  of  the  most  common 
expressions  heard  by  visitors  to  the  Library  is,  "I  did  not  know  such  data  was 
available." 

In  closing,  you  are  requested  to  send  in  your  queries  relative  to  Latin 
America,  either  by  mail  or  in  person.  As  a  general  rule  practically  any  question 
can  be  answered  from  the  material  at  hand,  but  for  the  cases  where  material  is 
not  available,  or  compilations  have  not  been  made,  we  can  often  point  the  way 
for  obtaining  it  at  the  least  expense  and  with  the  least  delay. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  389 

APPENDIX 

PRACTICAL  PAN  AMERICANISM 

BY  JOHN  BARRETT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION  AND  FORMER 
UNITED  STATES  MINISTER  TO  ARGENTINA,  PANAMA  AND  COLOMBIA. 

(Specially  prepared  for  the  information  of  the  United  States  Delegation  at  the 
Peace  Conference  and  reproduced  here  by  general  request.) 

Pan  America — All  America — today  faces  a  magnificently  potential  future. 
Pan  Americanism — the  cooperation  of  all  the  American  republics  and  peoples  for 
their  common  good — should  appeal  to  all  intelligently  patriotic  citizens  of  every 
American  country.  What  more  noble  and  practical  principle  is  there  in  interna- 
tional relationship  than  that  of  a  group  of  nations  of  close  geographical  associa- 
tion, similar  inspirations  and  aspirations  of  liberty,  freedom  and  justice,  correspond- 
ing historical  struggles  for  existence,  interdependent  commerce  and  trade  should 
do  all  in  their  power  for  their  own  welfare  and  through  united  attitude  for  the 
welfare  of  the  world? 

Pan  Americanism  has  experienced  a  remarkable  development  during  the 
last  ten  years.  The  next  ten,  however,  should  show  a  far  greater  record  of 
achievement.  The  Pan  American  movement  dates  back  directly  to  the  call  of  the 
famous  Liberator  Simon  Bolivar  of  northern  South  America  for  a  Pan  American 
Congress  in  1821  at  Panama.  It  was  most  eloquently  championed  by  Henry  Clay  in 
and  out  of  the  United  States  Congress  nearly  one  hundred  years  ago.  Its  basic 
purpose  was  in  the  minds  and  words  of  San  Martin  of  Argentina,  O'Higgins  of 
Chile,  Artigas  of  Uruguay,  when  southern  South  America  was  striving  for  inde- 
pendence from  Spain  a  century  back.  It  received  its  greatest  impetus  from  the 
declaration  of  President  Monroe  of  the  United  States  in  1823. 

It  had  its  ups  and  downs  of  attention,  discussion  and  action  in  the  various 
capitals  of  the  Americas  for  nearly  seventy  years  until  the  so-called  First  Pan 
American  Conference  met  at  Washington  in  the  winter  of  1889-90  under  the  dis- 
tinguished chairmanship  of  James  G.  Blaine,  then  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States,  and  attended  by  the  ablest  statesmen  of  the  other  American  governments. 
The  chief  practical  result  of  this  Conference  was  the  organization  of  the  ''Inter- 
national Bureau  of  the  American  Republics,"  now  known  as  the  "Pan  American 
Union."  That  office  did  its  work  as  best  it  could  with  limited  income,  staff  and 
facilities  until  it  was  reorganized  in  1907  in  accordance  with  the  action  of  the 
Third  Pan  American  Conference  held  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil,  in  1906.  This 
conference  was  rendered  notable  by  the  presence  at  its  opening  of  Elihu  Root,  then 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  who  made  an  official  visit  to  most  of  the 
South  American  countries,  and  of  equally  prominent  representatives  of  all  other 
nations. 

As  it  was  my  unexpected  privilege  and  honor  to  be  elected  in  1907  the  first 
executive  officer  of  the  Pan  American  Union  under  the  plan  of  reorganization  and 
to  have  held  that  position  since  then,  I  hope  that  I  may  be  able  to  speak  with  some 
actual  knowledge  of  the  growth  of  real  Pan  Americanism  and  especially  Pan 
American  commerce  in  the  period  of  my  incumbency.  As,  moreover,  I  enjoyed 
the  experience  of  serving  as  United  States  Minister  to  the  Argentine  Republic, 
Panama,  and  Colombia  between  1903  and  1907  and  attending  the  Second  Pan 
American  Conference  at  Mexico  in  1901  as  a  delegate  of  the  United  States,  I  trust 
that  I  know  the  Latin  American  as  well  as  United  States  viewpoint  of  practical 
Pan  Americanism. 

May  I,  therefore,  say  plainly  and  unreservedly  that  I  have  always  held  that 
no  conception  or  interpretation  of  Pan  Americanism  could  stand  which  suggests  or 
expects  in  the  slightest  degree  the  domination  or  isolated  leadership  of  any  one 
country  or  any  lesser  group  of  countries  in  the  general  group  which  today  form  the 
Pan  American  Union.  While  a  few  enemies  of  the  United  States  in  Latin  America 
try  to  interpret  Pan  Americanism  as  camouflaged  "Pan  Yankeeism"  and  my  own 
humble  efforts  as  a  Pan  American  officer  in' behalf  of  the  cause  as  a  special  agent 
of  the  United  States,  let  me  put  it  down  as  a  matter  of  indisputable  record  that 
under  my  administration  the  Pan  American  Union,  as  far  as  the  attitude  and  in- 
terest of  its  staff,  the  tone  of  its  publications,  and  the  character  of  the  general 


390  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

information,  correspondence  and  publicity  work  are  concerned,  has  been  tireless, 
loyal  and  responsible  in  spreading  all  over  the  world  accurate  data  regarding  each 
and  every  American  republic. 

That  the  attitude  and  efforts  of  the  Pan  American  Union  are  appreciated 
and  respected  in  Latin  America  by  all  familiar  with  its  real  work  is  proved  by  the 
increasing  demand  for  its  publications,  by  the  constant  use  by  ninety  per  cent  of 
all  the  newspapers  of  Latin  America  (usually  without  acknowledgment  because 
they  naturally  hold  that  the  Pan  American  Union  belongs  to  them  and  hence  its 
data  is  theirs)  of  the  material  it  publishes  or  distributes,  and  by  the  correspondence 
and  inquiries  of  all  classes  of  men  and  women  from  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  Straits 
of  Magellan.  Seekers  after  information  in  all  parts  of  the  world  address  it  as 
the  chief  central  bureau  of  information  where  reliable  answers  to  inquiries  about 
every  imaginable  subject  concerning  any  American  country  can  be  obtained  with- 
out delay.*  As  for  the  people  of  the  United  States  being  dependent  upon  it, 
emphasis  should  be  placed  on  the  fact  that  every  day  brings  numerous  letters  from 
manufacturers  and  students,  merchants  and  travelers,  shippers  and  authors,  bankers 
and  lawyers,  statesmen  and  laborers,  aside  from  those  who  personally  consult  its 
well  selected  library  of  40,000  volumes  and  pamphlets,  its  150,000  subject  index 
cards,  its  21,000  photographs,  its  1,500  maps,  and  its  files  of  1,300  Latin  American 
newspapers,  magazines  and  other  publications. 

Some  of  the  very  tangible  evidences  of  growth  during  the  last  twelve  years 
of  interest  throughout  the  United  States  in  Latin  America,  which  the  Pan  American 
Union  has  aided  and  of  which  it  has  record,  can  be  enumerated.  Twelve  years 
ago  any  effort  of  its  executive  officers  in  speeches,  articles,  or  public  comment  to 
call  attention  to  the  importance  of  Latin  American  countries,  progress,  and  sub- 
jects, met  with  slight  response;  now  the  demand  for  such  effort  is  greater  than 
can  be  met.  Then  such  effort  was  often  misconstrued  and  even  ridiculed  as  only  an 
advertisement  of  the  office  and  its  staff ;  now  it  is  everywhere  taken  seriously. 
Then  the  newspapers  cared  little  or  nothing  for  data  and  press  releases  regarding 
Latin  America ;  now  nearly  two  thousand  representative  papers  ask  for  it.  Then  few 
magazines  and  reviews  printed  articles  about  Latin  America;  now  the  majority  seek 
them.  Then  very  few  colleges  and  almost  no  secondary  educational  institutions  had 
courses  relating  to  Latin  America  and  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  languages ;  now 
nearly  all  universities,  colleges  and  high  educational  institutions  teach  Spanish, 
many  have  regular  Latin  American  courses,  and  a  few  teach  Portuguese,  while 
several  thousand  secondary  schools  give  instruction  in  Spanish.  Then  not  ten 
per  cent  of  the  United  States  Congressmen  called  upon  the  Pan  American  Union  for 
information  and  reports ;  now  ninety  per  cent  do.  Then  not  twenty  per  cent  of  the 
manufacturers,  merchants  and  bankers  doing,  or  interested  in,  foreign  trade  sought 
information  regarding  the  Latin  American  field ;  now  eigthy  per  cent  seek  all  the 
information  they  can  get  and  sixty  per  cent  are  making  or  preparing  to  make  a 
campaign  in  Latin  America.  Then,  to  be  very  practical,  the  annual  exports  and 
imports  of  the  United  States  to  and  from  Latin  America  were  valued  in  round 
numbers  at  respectively  $217,000,000  and  $272,000,000,  or  a  grand  total  of 
$489,000.000;  no\y  in  figures  stand  at  respectively  $1,024,000,000  and  $719,000,000,  or 
a  grand  total  of  $1,743,000,000.  Then  the  trade  of  all  Latin  America  with  all  the 
world  did  not  much  exceed  $1,500,000,000;  now  it  approaches  the  mark  of- 
$3,000,000,000. 

Surely  in  the  light  of  the  above  data  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  Pan  American 
Union  has  labored  in  vain  or  been  an  ornamental  rather  than  a  useful  organization.* 

Lest  what  has  just  been  written  should  be  construed  as  giving  too  much 
credit  to  the  Pan  American  Union  and  not  enough  to  other  influences,  it  is  right  to 
point  out  some  of  the  more  powerful  agencies  of  legitimate  Pan  American  propa- 
ganda which  have  responded  to  the  initiative  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  First 
corresponding  Ministries  of  the  Latin  American  countries ;  second,  the  personal 
attention  to  the  subject  of  Secretaries  of  State  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
Latin  American  diplomatic  representatives  in  Washington,  who  form  the  Governing 
Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union;  third,  the  diplomatic  and  consular  representa- 
tives and  the  commercial  agents  of  the  United  States  in  Latin  America  and  the  same 
service  of  Latin  America  in  the  United  States ;  fourth,  the  regular  Pan  American  or 
International  Conferences  of  American  States,  the  Pan  American  Scientific  Con- 
gresses, the  Pan  American  Financial  Conferences  and  the  International  High  Com- 

*  In  this  connection  please  see  report  of  the  Director  General  for  the  fiscal  year  1917-1918, 
page  394,  Appendix. 


APPENDIX  391 

mission ;  fifth,  the  special  consideration  of  the  Latin  American  commercial  field 
given  by  the  United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  National  Foreign  Trade 
Council  and  other  unofficial  commercial  organizations,  and  the  hospitality  shown 
prominent  Latin  Americans  by  the  Pan  American  Society  of  the  United  States 
(of  which  I  am  proud  to  say  I  have  the  honor  of  being  the  Founder)  ;  sixth,  the 
cooperation  of  the  Carnegie  Endowment,  especially  through  its  Pan  American  Sec- 
tion ;  seventh,  the  establishment  of  branch  banks  and  agencies  in  the  principal  cen- 
ters of  South  America  by  financial  institutions  of  the  United  States ;  eighth,  the 
new  attitude  and  attention  of  the  newspapers,  magazines  and  reviews  of  both 
North  and  South  America  in  Pan  American  matters ;  ninth,  the  tolerant  and  appre- 
ciative articles  and  addresses  of  representative  Latin  American  statesmen  and 
scholars  relating  to  the  United  States,  its  people  and  its  cultural  and  intellectual 
life  and  similar  treatment  of  Latin  America  by  influential  men  of  the  United 
States ;  tenth,  the  addresses  and  messages  referring  to  Pan  American  and  Latin 
American  matters  of  Presidents  Roosevelt,  Taft  and  Wilson  and  responsive  utter- 
ances of  the  Presidents  of  Latin  America. 

Finally,  no  other  great  international  influence  since  the  declaration  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  in  1823  has  done  so  much  to  promote  Pan  American  solidarity  of 
sentiment  as  the  recent  war.  Proof  of  this  statement  lies  in  the  fact  that  thirteen 
Latin  American  governments  officially  broke  relations  with  the  enemy  of  the 
United  States ;  nine  officially  declared  war ;  only  seven  remained  technically  neutral, 
and  their  popular  sympathy,  judging  from  the  attitude  of  the  majority  of  their 
press,  the  expressed  views  of  their  representative  statesmen,  and  their  friendly 
commercial  cooperation  was  plainly  pro  American  and  pro  Ally. 

The  material  and  economic  bearing  upon  both  Pan  Americanism  and  Inter 
Americanism  of  the  past,  present  and  future  commerce  between  the  United  States 
and  all  Latin  America  and  again  between  the  United  States  and  each  Latin  Ameri- 
can country  demands  today  the  best  attention  of  the  official,  financial,  commercial 
and  industrial  leaders  of  all  the  American  countries.  The  simple  statement  of  the 
remarkable  and  almost  astonishing  fact  that  the  total  value  of  the  trade  conducted 
between  the  United  States  and  the  twenty  other  American  republics  for  the  fiscal 
year  of  1917-18,  that  is,  from  July  1,  1917,  to  June  30,  1918,  showed  the  enormous 
increase  of  nearly  $1,000,000,000  over  the  total  of  1913-14,  the  last  year  before  the 
war,  or  in  a  period  of  only  four  years,  demonstrates  beyond  issue  the  vast  im- 
portance of  the  Pan  American  field  of  commerce.  In  other  terms  the  United 
States  exports  to,  and  imports  from,  Latin  America  grew  in  round  figures  from 
$747,000,000  four  years  ago  to  $1,743,000,000  for  the  last  year.  The  official  records 
tell  the  story  that  nothing  equal  to  this  trade  expansion  has  heretofore  been  known 
in  the  history  of  the  world — and  yet  numerous  critics  of  my  Pan  American  policy 
twelve  years  ago  declared  that  the  value  of  the  United  States  trade  with  Latin 
America  would  not  reach  a  thousand  millions  in  a  thousand  years ! 

Now  let  us  analyze  these  figures  more  closely.  Noting  first  the  exports  of 
the  United  States  to  Latin  America,  we  find  that  they  leaped  from  approximately 
$280,000,000  in  1913-14  to  $719,000,000  in  1917-18,  or  157  per  cent;  that  imports 
from  Latin  America  jumped  from  $468,000,000  in  1913-14  to  $1,024,000,000  in  1917-18, 
or  119  per  cent;  and  that  the  grand  total  of  exports  and  imports  already  given 
advanced  133  per  cent.  The  reports  for  individual  countries  are  equally  impressive. 
United  States  trade  with  Chile  grew  in  the  same  period  from  $43,000,000  to 
$205,000,000  or  376  per  cent;  Argentina,  from  $90,000,000  to  $305,000,000,  or  240 
per  cent;  Cuba,  from  $200,000,000  to  $500,000,000,  or  150  per  cent;  Mexico,  from 
$132,000,000  to  $248,000,000,  or  88  per  cent;  Brazil,  from  $131,000,000  to  $180,000,000, 
or  37  per  cent;  Peru,  from  $20,000,000  to  $64,000.000,  or  220  per  cent;  Uruguay, 
from  $13,000,000  to  $41,000,000,  or  215  per  cent;  Colombia,  from  $23,000,000  to 
$37,000,000,  or  60  per  cent;  Dominican  Republic,  from  $9,000,000  to  $24,000,000,  or 
166  per  cent;  Guatemala,  from  $8,000,000  to  $14,000,000,  or  75  per  cent;  Salvador, 
from  $3,000,000  to  $10,000,000,  or  233  per  cent;  Honduras,  from  $8,000,000  to 
$10,000,000,  or  25  per  cent;  Nicaragua,  from  $4,000,000  to  $9,000,000,  or  125  per 
cent;  Costa  Rica,  from  $7,000,000,  to  $10,000,000  or  43  per  cent;  Panama,  from 
$27,000,000,  to  $32,000,000,  or  18  per  cent;  Haiti,  from  $6,000,000  to  $13,000,000, 
or  116  per  cent;  Bolivia,  from  $1,000,000  to  $4,000,000  or  300  per  cent;  Ecuador, 
from  $7,000,000  to  $16,000,000,  or  129  per  cent ;  Paraguay,  from  $240,000  to  $740,000, 
or  208  per  cent;  Venezuela,  from  $15,000,000  to  $21,000,000,  or  40  per  cent. 

The  figures  given  emphasize  the  vast  possibilities  of  Pan  American  com- 
merce but  they  must  not  be  misleading.  The  exceptional  and  extraordinary  growth 


392  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

is  due  to  many  causes.  Of  these  the  principal  are  as  follows:  First,  the  supplanting 
largely  by  the  United  States  of  the  total  t/ade  of  the  Central  European  Allies, 
especially  Germany's ;  second,  the  caring  by  the  United  States  for  that  portion  of 
the  trade  of  Great  Britain,  France,  Italy  and  Belgium,  for  which  they  themsel-ves 
under  war  conditions  could  not  possibly  provide,  and  also  for  that  part  of  the 
commerce  of  Holland,  Spain,  Norway  and  Sweden,  and  other  neutrals  which  they 
also  lost  under  war  environment ;  third,  the  heavy  war  demands  for  raw  industrial 
and  food  products  from  the  United  States  and  also  from  the  Allies  as  expressed 
through  the  United  States  as  purchaser  and  manufacturer;  fourth,  the  greatly 
increased  demands  upon  the  United  States  from  Latin  America  for  all  such  manu- 
factured products  and  supplies  as  it  formerly  obtained  from  other  countries;  fifth, 
the  greater  efforts  and  better  facilities  which  the  manufacturers,  exporters,  im- 
porters and  bankers  of  the  United  States  had  made  and  developed  in  the  five  years 
before  the  war  broke  out  to  care  for  the  Latin  American  field ;  sixth,  the  increased 
cost  of  nearly  everything  exported  and  imported  and  the  lessened  purchasing 
value  of  the  dollar;  and,  seventh,  the  better  knowledge  in  Latin  America  of 
United  States  supply  and  demand. 

Without  minimizing  the  first  four  influences  but  enlarging  upon  the  last  two 
just  given,  let  me  quote  from  an  illuminating  paper  recently  prepared  by  W.  C. 
Wells,  Chief  Statistician  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  He  says:  "America  (mean- 
ing Pan  America)  is  coming  to  know  itself.  No  part  thereof  need  longer  consider 
itself  as  an  appendage,  culturally,  industrially  or  commercially  of  any  part  of 
Europe.  The  European  trade  with  America  will  revive  after  the  war.  No  one 
doubts  that  fact,  but  it  will  never  occupy  the  predominating  position  in  the  public 
mind  that  in  half  at  least  of  Latin  America  it  did  occupy  before  the  war.  Even 
in  the  comparatively  few  Latin  American  countries  where  in  reality  the  European 
trade  before  the  war  was  the  great  predominating  trade,  the  Inter  American  trade 
had  a  volume  and  an  importance  by  no  means  justly  recognized." 

At  this  point  let  us  dispose  of  one  of  the  most  common  errors  committed  by 
men  of  both  North  and  South  America  in  commenting  upon  or  describing  the 
foreign  commerce  of  Central  and  South  America,  namely,  that  Germany  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  was  far  ahead  of  the  United  States  in  its  share  of  Latin 
America's  imports  and  exports  and  that  German  manufacturers,  exporters,  im- 
porters, shippers,  and  bankers  were  everywhere  outdistancing  and  outgeneraling 
their  rivals  of  the  United  States.  The  indisputable  facts  are  to  the  contrary.  The 
official  statistics  of  Germany,  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  Latin  American 
countries,  show  that  the  United  States  during  the  last  six  or  seven  years  before 
the  war  began,  or  between  1907  and  1914,  was  more  surely  and  rapidly  increasing 
its  Latin  American  trade  than  was  Germany.  The  total  value  of  the  exports  and 
imports  exchanged  between  the  United  States  and  Latin  America  in  1913-14,  the 
last  prior  war  fiscal  year,  exceeded  those  exchanged  between  Germany  and  Latin 
America  by  over  $200,000,000!  In  fifteen  of  the  twenty  Latin  American  countries. 
United  States  trade  in  both  exports  and  imports  was  ahead  of  that  of  Germany  and 
in  the  other  five  it  was  growing  more  rapidly  than  that  of  Germany  !  Why  then 
all  this  talk  about  the  mighty  danger  of  German  competition?  It  is  largely  due 
to  remembrance  of  conditions  of  ten  and  twelve  years  ago  which  many  of  us 
pointed  out  in  appeals  to  manufacturers  and  governments,  in  order  to  arouse 
them — but  without  general  appreciation  that  these  appeals  met  response,  that  the 
commercial  and  financial  interests  of  the  United  States  had  awakened,  and  that 
when  the  first  shot  of  the  world  war  was  fired,  the  foreign  trade  and  financial 
interests  of  the  United  States  and  their  new  and  old  friends  in  Latin  America, 
suddenly  realized  that,  war  or  no  war,  the  representative  business  leaders  of  both 
North  and  South  America  had  made  up  their  minds  that  Pan  American  or  Inter 
American  (whatever  it  be  termed)  commerce  could  take  care  of  itself  without 
regard  to  Germany.  For  this  development  the  importers  and  buyers,  the  ex- 
porters and  sellers,  the  bankers  and  financial  leaders  of  Latin  America  deserve  just 
as  much  credit  as,  or  more  than,  their  friends  and  associates  of  the  United  States, 
because  they  told  the  latter  what  they  must  do  to  meet  successfully  German  com- 
petition and  announced  that  they  did  not  buy  from  or  sell  to  Germany  for  senti- 
mental but  for  purely  material  reasons;  if  the  business  interests  of  the  United 
States  could  satisfy  them  as  well  as  those  of  Germany,  they  were  perfectly  willing 
to  buy  from  and  sell  to  them. 

Despite  the  prejudices  of  war,  I  am  saying  nothing  against  German  trade 
but  simply  relating  facts.  German  trade  is  entitled  to  all  it  can  justly  get  and 


APPENDIX  393 

let  the  best  man  win.  If  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  with  Latin  America 
cannot  stand  the  competition  with  that  of  Germany  which  will  follow  the  war,  it 
does  not  deserve  to  succeed.  Simply  let  it  be  known  that  the  United  States  must 
not  be  frightened  by  prospect  of  German  competition,  but  it  must  realize  that  it  is 
eventually  coming  and  that  adequate  preparations  must  be  made  to  meet  it.  Com- 
petition is  also  coming  as  never  before  in  a  friendly  but  earnest  way  from  Great 
Britain,  France,  Holland,  Spain,  Italy,  Belgium,  Japan  and  even  China.  Each  of 
these  countries  is  going  to  do  its  part  to  share  adequately  in  Latin  American  com- 
merce— and  Latin  America  is  not  going  to  play  favorites  after  the  war  except 
to  favor  the  sellers  and  buyers  of  the  country  that  will  give  it  the  most  for  its 
money  and  products.  This  is  sensible,  natural  and  logical. 

We  come  now  to  the  big  question  of  what  the  United  States  Government, 
its  commercial  and  financial  interests,  its  average  exporter  and  importer,  and  its 
people  generally,  as  the  case  may  be,  must  do  to  meet  successfully  the  post-bellum 
economic  and  commercial  conditions  in  Latin  America. 

1.  The  opportunity  must  be  approached  in  a  spirit  of  appreciation  of  each 
country's  ^conditions  of  buying  and  selling,  of  credits  and  banking,  of  port,  ship- 
ping,   tariff,   patent   and    trade-mark    regulations,    and    of    laws    of    commerce   and 
foreign  trade  intercourse. 

2.  Reciprocity  of  attitude  and  action  both  by  governments  and  individuals 
must  be  always  kept  in  mind,  such  as  will  expect  as  much  of  the  North  American 
as  of  the  South  American  and  the  reverse  thereof. 

3.  Abundant  shipping   facilities  and  space  and  competitive   rates,   for  ships 
will  be  a  determining  factor  in  the  after-the-war  trade.     The  passenger  and  mail 
facilities  must  equal  those  of  freight  and  express.     This  condition  must  apply  to 
both  East  and  West  Coasts  of  North  and  South  America,  and  to  those  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  and  Central  America  and  of  the  Caribbean  and  northern  South  America 
as  well. 

4.  The  great  progress  that  has  been  made  in  United  States  banking  facilities 
in  the  principal  capitals  and  commercial  centers  of  Latin  America  must  be  con- 
tinued and  still  further  improved,   for  such  extension  and  improvement  are  abso- 
lutely essential. 

5.  Despite  the  overwhelming  demands  made  upon  the  banks  and  people  of 
the  United   States   for   Liberty   Bonds   and  War   Savings   Stamps   during  the   war 
and  the  call  that  is  going  up  from/  all  over  the  United  States  for  money  for  local 
enterprises  after  the  war,  its  financial  institutions  and  moneyed  interests  must  be 
ready  to  loan  freely  and  generously  to  the  governments  and  legitimate  undertakings 
of  Latin  America,  which  will  require  hundreds  of  million  of  dollars   for  recon- 
struction and  advancement.     For  every  million  of  dollars  loaned  to  Latin  America 
there  will  be  an  increase  of  an  equal  amount  of  trade.     Corollary  to  this  is  the 
vital    necessity    of   the    early    stabilizing    and    equalizing    of    exchange    which    was 
badly  upset  by  war  conditions. 

6.  As  soon  as  possible  after  final  peace  comes,  the  Fifth  International  Con- 
ference of  American  States,  commonly  known  as  the  Pan  American  Conference, 
which  was  to  have  met  in  Santiago,  Chile,  should  be  called  to  consider  important 
Pan   American   and    Inter   American   questions,   while   the    Second    Pan   American 
Financial  Conference  to  be  convened  in  January,  1920,  will  accomplish  great  good. 

7.  It  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  every  firm,  agency,  or  man  planning 
to  enter  the  Latin  American  field,  should  study  it  in  every  detail,  visit  it  if  possi- 
ble, master  conditions  of  demand  and  supply,  and  establish  agencies  and  connec- 
tions. 

8.  On   the   other   hand,    for  their   own   good   and   for  the   benefit   of   Latin 
American  exporters  to,  and   importers  from,  the  United   States,  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that   they  will   make   a   corresponding   study  of   conditions   in   the   United    States 
and  establish  themselves  directly  or  indirectly  in  New  York,  Boston,  New  Orleans, 
Chicago  and  San  Francisco,  or  elsewhere,  in  order  that  they  may  gain  the  same 
advantage  for  their  interests  and  countries  as  do  their  northern  neighbors  in  going 
south. 

9.  Among  other  influences  which  will  greatly  aid  Pan  American  and  Inter 
American  intercourse  and  commerce  are   (a)   the  systematized  and  practical  study 
in   appropriate   institutions  throughout  the   United    States   of  the   Latin  American 
languages,  Latin  American  geography,  resources,  history,  commerce,  and  customs 
and  similar  studies  relating  to  the  United  States  in  Latin  America;   (b)  judicious 
advertising  in  the  representative  newspapers  of  both   North  and   South   America ; 


394  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

(c)  preparations  with  special  care  of  catalogues  in  Spanish  and  Portuguese  and 
avoidance  of  common  mistakes  in  this  respect;  (d)  improved  insurance  condi- 
tions, and  better  packing  where  packages  must  pass  through  the  tropics  or  travel 
over  rough  trails  in  mountain  districts;  (e)  development  of  the  parcel  post  and 
fast  express  for  smaller  and  quickly  needed  articles;  (f)  establishment  of  aviation 
routes  for  mails  and  possibly  for  passengers  and  urgent  express;  (g)  contruction 
and  improvement  of  automobile  roads  in  the  interior  of  Latin  American  countries, 
especially  where  railway  building  is  expensive  and  difficult;  (h)  extension  of 
cable  routes,  lessening  of  cable  rates,  and  use  of  wireless  telegraph;  (i)  uniform 
laws  for  samples  and  traveling  salesmen;  (j)  better  hotel  facilities  in  the  majority 
of  Latin  American  commercial  centers;  (k)  the  development  of  travel  for  better 
acquaintance  and  first  hand  knowledge;  (1)  and  the  sending  out  of  high  class 
representatives  with  a  knowledge  of  the  languages  used. 


REPORT  OF  THE  DIRECTOR  GENERAL   OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 

SUMMARIZED  STATEMENT  TO  THE  GOVERNING  BOARD  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 
PREPARED  BY  JOHN   BARRETT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL 

Covering  His  Report  on  the  Administration  of  the  Office  for  the  Fiscal  Year 
1917-18  and  the  Program  for  the  Year  1919-20. 

To  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union: 

Gentlemen:  The  Director  General  has  the  honor  to  submit  herewith,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  Rules  and  Regulations,  the  following  report : 

General  Statement. 

(a)  The  past  fiscal  year  from  July  1,  1917,  to  June  30,  1918,  has,  under  the 
influence  of  the  war,  been  a  peculiar  but  very  busy  one  for  the  Pan  American 
Union.  The  demand  for  information  not  only  from  individuals  but  from  official 
sources  has  been  unremitting,  despite  the  war,  and  of  a  character  requiring  ex- 
ceptional effort  and  oftentimes  most  careful  and  extended  research.  It  is  no  exag- 
geration, if  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  the  written  and  spoken  comment  of 
those  in  authority,  that,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  carefully  indexed  library  and 
information  files  and  the  ready  knowledge  possessed  by  the  trained  experts  of 
the  Pan  American  Union,  nearly  every  department  and  bureau  of  the  United 
States  and  other  governments,  desiring  without  delay  accurate  data  regarding  the 
various  American  republics,  would  have  been  greatly  handicapped  in  starting,  or- 
ganizing and  conducting  work  involving  Pan  American  relations  resulting  from 
the  war. 

Not  a  day  has  passed  that  there  have  not  been  in  the  library  or  other  offices 
of  the  Pan  American  Union  skilled  men  and  women  of  departments  and  bureaus 
of  the  United  States  and  other  government  agencies  here,  seeking  reliable  informa- 
tion. The  heads  of  all  special  war  bureaus  in  Washington,  which  have  anything 
to  do  with  other  American  countries,  have  repeatedly  informed  the  Director 
General  ihat  they  were  most  dependent  on  information  secured  and  for  impartial 
assistance  rendered.  Especially  have  the  facilities  and  staff  of  the  Pan  American 
Union  been  helpful  in  correcting  errors  of  fact  and  in  providing  accurate  informa- 
tion based  on  the  official  reports  of  all  American  governments. 

From  exporting  and  importing  houses,  manufacturers  and  merchants,  bank- 
ers and  financiers,  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  universities  and  secondary  schools, 
college  professors  and  students,  editors  and  special  writers,  lecturers  and  travelers, 
on  the  other  hand,  of  both  North  and  South  America,  have  come  in  constantly 
increasing  quantities,  serious  inquiries  of  every  kind,  requiring  thorough  con- 
sideration and  frequently  special  research  before  they  could  be  satisfactorily 
answered.  Then  there  has  been  a  rapidly  growing  army  of  specially  interested 
callers,  representing  every  variety  of  private  and  public,  national  and  international 
activity,  seeking  all  classes  of  information  relating  to  Pan  America. 

It  is  also  remarkable  to  what  degree  the  members  of  the  special  foreign 
missions  in  Washington  have  used  the  facilities  of  the  Pan  American  Union  to 
obtain  the  data  they  desired  regarding  the  American  republics.  On  one  day,  for 


APPENDIX  395 

example,  representatives  of  eleven  European  and  Asiatic  countries  were  consulting 
its  library,  the  files  of  the  information  section,  the  official  gazettes  and  the  news- 
papers, according  to  what  knowledge  they  sought.  Some  days  the  offices  of  the 
Pan  American  Union  have  looked  as  if  they  were  the  designated  common  meeting 
place  of  so-called  "dollar  _a  year  men,"  having  to  do  with  international  trade  rela- 
tions, shipping,  etc.,  who  came  here  in  search  of  official  information  which  they 
could  not  secure  easily  and  quickly  elsewhere,  or  without  long  delays  and  red  tape. 

By  avoiding  all  prejudicial  comment  and  hewing  close  to  the  line  of  truth 
in  giving  facts,  the  staff  of  the  Pan  American  Union  have  thus  done  a  far-reaching 
and  valuable  service  for  practical  Pan  Americanism. 

Very  impressive  has  been  the  demand  on  the  Pan  American  Union  of  news- 
papers and  other  publications  throughout  Latin  America  for  information  that  they 
could  use  in  their  columns.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  letters  being  received  in 
Spanish,  Portuguese  and  French  as  well  as  English. 

The  fact  is  that  as  year  after  year  passes  the  Pan  American  Union  strength- 
ens its  unique  position  and  adds  to  its  world-wide  reputation  as  a  central  interna- 
tional Pan  American  bureau  of  reliable,  easily  accessible  and  rapidly  given  informa- 
tion, and  also  as  an  office  of  useful,  practical,  impartial,  and  unselfish  activities  in 
behalf  of  the  welfare  of  every  American  republic. 

(b)  THE  MAIL  ROOM  REPORT  is  conclusive  evidence  of  the  busy  year 
led  by  the  Pan  American  Union.    This  shows  that  the  total  incoming  and  outgoing 
mail  for  the  three  hundred  odd  working  days  of  the  year  reached  the  immense 
total   of  471,034  pieces,   which,  in  turn,  represented  an   increase  of  71,932  pieces 
over  the  grand  total  for  the  preceding  year.     This  means  a  daily  average  of  ap- 
proximately 1,570  pieces.    The  number  of  incoming  and  outgoing  personally  signed 
letters,    not   including    circular    letters    but   those    requiring   personal    attention    or 
acknowledgement,    was    55,413,    a    steady   daily   average   of    185.      Circular   letters 
sent  out  numbered  40,575;  press  releases  71,800.     There  were  mailed  out  269,104 
packages  carrying  671,208  individual  pieces  of  printed  matter,  or  a  daily  average 
of  2,237  pieces.    None  of  these  was  sent  .carelessly  broadcast  but  the  great  majority 
of  them  went  in  response  to  special  requests  and  to  the  regular  mailing  list.    2,730 
newspapers,  upon  their  own  request,  are  upon  the  regular  mailing  list  of  the  Pan 
American  Union  to  receive  its  reports,  descriptive  pamphlets,  press  releases,  etc. 
These   are   divided   as    follows:    English,    1,207;    Spanish,   917;    Portuguese,    366; 
French,  29;  miscellaneous,  211. 

Particular  credit  should  be  given  the  mail  room  clerk  and  his  assistants  for 
the  skillful  and  effective  manner  in  which  they  handled  this  large  volume  of 
business. 

Members  of  the  Governing  Board  seldom  visit  the  mail  room,  as  it  is  in  the 
basement,  but  the  Director  General  respectfully  submits  that  it  is  worthy  of  their 
attention  and  interest  if  they  can  conveniently  find  a  few  spare  moments  to 
inspect  it. 

(c)  THE  MONTHLY  BULLETIN  has   steadily  grown  in  popularity  and 
usefulness,  if  a  safe  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  the  demand  for  it.    Despite 
severe  restrictions  on  white  paper,  greater  cost  of  both  printing  annd  paper,  and 
the  cutting  of  the  free  list,  the  total  number  of  names  receiving  the  Bulletin  has 
grown  from  13,437  in  1916-17  to  16,719  in  1917-18,  or  a  bona  fide  increase  of  3,282. 
The  total  number  of  Bulletins   distributed   for  the  year  was   181,416,  divided  as 
follows:  Spanish  111,180;  English,  40,764;  Portuguese,  17,112;  French,  12,360. 

It  can  here  be  said  that  if  the  Pan  American  Union  'had  the  funds  and 
facilities  to  care  for  a  large  circulation  of  the  Bulletin  it  could  undoubtedly  be 
increased  in  a  short  period  to  100,000  per  month  or  even  more,  and  rank  with 
such  a  magazine  as  that  of  the  National  Geographic  Society. 

Every  effort  is  now  being  made,  consistent  with  conditions  for  obtaining 
material  and  under  the  limitations  of  cost  of  production,  to  follow  the  wishes  of 
the  Governing  Board  in  shaping  the  character  and  the  scope  of  the  monthly 
Bulletin.  If  there  are  shortcomings,  they  are  almost  unavoidable  under  the  circum- 
stances. The  earnest  cooperation,  advice  and  sympathy  of  every  member  of  the 
B,oard  is  desired  in  making  it  worthy  of  the  organization.  The  editorial  staff  of 
the  Bulletin  has  certainly  worked  diligently  to  maintain  a  high  standard  and  it  is 
a  pleasure  for  the  Director  General  to  give  them  credit  for  their  efforts. 

(d)  OTHER  PUBLICATIONS,  including  the  general  descriptive  pamphlets, 
commercial  data  for  each  country,  and  special  reports  and  articles  on  various  sub- 
jects, printed  and  distributed  throughout  the  year,  reached  a  total  of  248,431,  and 


396  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

would  have  gone  far  beyond  this  figure  had  printing  and  cost  difficulties  not  in- 
creased as  rapidly  as  the  demand  for  such  material.  This  represents  an  increase 
of  75,540  over  the  preceding  year. 

(e)  THE    COLUMBUS    MEMORIAL    LIBRARY    experienced    a   healthy 
growth  and  exercised  a  more  practical  usefulness  than  ever  before.     The  demands 
upon  it  have  sorely  taxed  the  efforts  of  the  Acting  Librarian  and  his  assistants, 
but  they  have  done  the  best  possible  under  the  circumstances  and  made  it  a  center 
of    research    for   all   kinds    of    official    and    unofficial    investigators    and    students. 
Additional  stacks  are  now  being  placed  in  position  to  meet  the  increasing  require- 
ments of  space.     The  report  of  the  Acting  Librarian  gives  the  following  interest- 
ing figures,   each  of   which   represents   a   substantial    increase   over  the   preceding 
year:    Number    of    volumes    and    pamphlets,    39,810;    catalogue    and    index    cards, 
149,517;   maps,    1,475;    atlases,    110;    lantern   slides,    1,377;    photographic   negatives, 
3,374;  actual  accessible  photographs,  21,037.     The  library  regularly  received   1,204 
representative  periodicals  from  the  different  countries,  whose  information,  like  that 
of  books,  pamphlets  and  reports,  is  duly  catalogued,  indexed  and  made  accessible. 

(f)  THE  EDUCATIONAL  SECTION  has  been  carefully  looked  after  and 
extended   by   tine   Assistant   Director,    who    has   prepared   a    separate    and    special 
report  on  this  subject,  which  is  in  the  hands  of  the  printer  and  will  be  presented 
at  the  next  meeting. 

(g)  THE   STATISTICAL    SECTION   has   been    kept    exceptionally   busy, 
aside   from  the   regular  demands  of  the   Pan  American   Union,   by  the  numerous 
and  constant  requests  for  reliable  statistical  data  made  upon  it  as  already  indicated, 
not  only  by  the  War  Trade  Board,  the  War  Industries  Board,  the  Shipping  Board, 
the  Food  Administration,  and  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  of 
the  United  States  Government,  but  by  similar  agencies  and  offices  of  other  Ameri- 
can and  foreign  governments.     In  each  case  the  information  given  has  been  that 
compiled  from  official  sources  of  the  American  republics. 

(h)  THE  BUILDINGS  AND  GROUNDS  have  been  maintained  in  har- 
mony with  their  striking  beauty,  and  in  as. good  condition  as  could  be  expected  in 
the  face  of  serious  difficulties  of  poor  and  expensive  labor,  high  cost  of  materials, 
bad  coal,  smoke  and  soot  from  the  furnaces  of  the  surrounding  cordon  of  war 
buildings  and  dirt  and  dust  from  the  tearing  up  of  streets  and  new  construction.  A 
serious  problem  in  the  present  and  future  budgets  will  be  that  of  keeping  in  proper 
condition  the  exquisite  buildings  and  carefully  laid  out  grounds  which  represent  an 
actual  investment  of  $1,100,000  but  which  could  not  be  duplicated  now  for  double 
that  sum.  During  the  last  eighteen  months  of  the  war  period  the  Pan  American 
Building  has  been  the  only  notable  official  structure  in  Washington  open  absolutely 
without  any  restrictions  to  visitors.  That  this  privilege  has  been  appreciated  is 
proved  by  the  throngs  of  persons  who  pass  its  portals  and  study  its  meaning, 
its  exhibits,  its  facilities  and  its  architecture.  It  might  be  said  that  every  govern- 
ment of  the  Pan  American  Union  might  appreciate  the  opportunty,  so  to  speak,  of 
capitalizing  this  daily  attendance  of  interested  representative  visitors,  unequalled 
anywhere  else  in  the  world,  by  providing  additional  and  special  exhibits,  maps, 
photographs,  and  moving  pictures  as  often  urged  heretofore  by  the  Director 
General.  In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  beautiful  Hall  of  the 
Americas  will  be  utilized  this  winter  for  appropriate  lectures  and  exhibits  of  pic- 
tures covering  each  country.  Assuredly  the  necessary  latent  talent  exists  in  and 
out  of  the  Board,  with  appreciative  audiences  only  awaiting  the  summons  to 
attend. 

Receipts  and  Expenditures,  1917-18. 

The  receipts  and  expenditures  for  the  fiscal  year  of  July  1,  1917 — June  30, 
1918,  were  respectively  $158,281.48  and  $156,388.40.  (See  note  at  end  of  report.) 

Future   Work  of  the  Office. 

Looking  forward  to  the  after-the-war  period,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  Pan 
American  Union  will  face  extraordinary  demands  upon  its  facilities.  The  present 
daily  correspondence,  the  character  of  inquiries  and  the  word  of  numerous  per- 
sons who  call  at  the  office,  leave  no  doubt  upon  this  point.  If  the  Pan  American 
Union  has  made  good  in  the  past  by  serving  all  the  American  Republics — and  all 
the  world  in  fact — it  will  have  far  greater  activity  and  responsibility  in  the  imme- 
diate future. 


APPENDIX  397 

There  is  much  constructive  work  ahead  of  it  in  which  it  must  not  fail.  It 
must  also  take  and  tie  up  agai-n  tnany  of  the  threads  of  practical  Pan  Americanism 
which  were  broken  by  the  war.  Under  this  latter  head  comes  the  vital  question  of 
holding  the  Fifth  Pan  American  .Conference  which  was  to  have  met  in  Santiago, 
Chile,  in  1914,  but  was  postponed  on  account  of  the  war.  The  date  for  this 
gathering  will  probably  be  determined  after  peace  is  declared,  and  then  a  new  pro- 
gram will  have  to  be  framed. 

Plans  will  also  naturally  be  brought  forward  for  the  Third  Pan  American 
Scientific  Congress  which  will  be  held  in  Lima  in  1920. 

Already  there  are  possibilities  of  a  second  Pan  American  Financial  Confer- 
ence being  called.  Although  this  is  under  the  International  High  Commission,  the 
Pan  American  Union,  as  in  the  case  of  the  first  Conference,  will  be  asked  to 
cooperate.* 

Among  many  opportunities  of  extending  the  office  responsibilities  of  the  Pan 
American  Union  are  the  following:  (1)  providing  for  daily  or  frequent  illustrated 
lectures  in  the  building  on  the  countries  of  the  Union,  as  practical  educational 
work  among  not  only  those  specially  interested  but  the  throng  of  regular  daily 
visitors ;  (2)  special  lectures  or  conferences  in  the  Hall  of  the  Americas,  given  by 
members  of  the  Governing  Board  or  others  whom  they  may  designate;  (3)  the 
giving  by  its  staff  or  others  recommended  by  it  of  informative  lectures  and 
addresses  throughout  the  countries  of  the  Union,  especially  before  universities, 
learned  societies,  and  commercial  and  social  organizations;  (4)  extension  in  the 
building  of  actual  exhibits  of  the  products  and  re'sources  of  the  different  countries, 
because  the  Pan  American  Building  is  the  most  appropriate  place  for  such  exhibits ; 
(5)  improvement  of  the  monthly  Bulletin  in  every  way  practical,  so  that  its  pres- 
ent great  usefulness  and  popularity  may  be  extended  and  perfected;  (6)  enlarge- 
ment of  the  scope  and  work  of  the  Educational  Section  so  that  it  may  become  a 
powerful  factor  in  promoting  educational  and  intellectual  exchange;  (7)  as  corol- 
lary to  the  above,  the  popularizing  of  the  study  of  the  Spanish,  Portuguese  and 
English  languages,  respectively,  according  to  countries,  and  their  literature,  and 
the  study  of  Pan  American  history  and  progress  among  both  the  higher  and 
secondary  institutions  of  all  the  Americas;  (8)  development  of  the  Columbus 
M'emorial  Library  through  the  cooperation  of  the  governments  and  members  of 
the  Board,  so  that  it  may  become  more  than  ever  a  central  point  of  depositing 
and  obtaining  accurate  information;  (9)  extension  of  the  statistical  and  informa- 
tion sections  by  a  more  comprehensive  plan  for  the  publication  of  special  reports 
that  will  promote,  not  only  material,  commercial  and  financial  relations,  but  closer 
intellectual  and  social  ties. 

The  above  are  only  part  of  the  program  of  the  Director  General,  the  Assistant 
Director  and  the  staff  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  but  they  are  respectfully  sub- 
mitted to  the  Governing  Board  for  their  interest  and  consideration,  because  they 
can  only  be  carried  out  by  their  sincere  and  constant  cooperation.  Any  suggestion, 
moreover,  for  the  good  of  the  Pan  American  Union  which  may  be  made  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  are  most  heartily  welcomed  by  the  executive  officers. 

In  conclusion,  the  Director  General  desires  to  acknowledge  with  gratitude 
the  kind  interest,  advice  and  assistance  which  he  has  always  received  from  mem- 
bers of  the  Board,  and  he  respectfully  invites  a  continuance  of  such  generous 
attitude  during  the  coming  year.  He  wishes  also  to  thank  especially  the  able, 
sympathetic  and  wise-counselling  Assistant  Director,  the  hard-working  Chief  Clerk, 
the  conservative  and  responsible  Chief  Accountant,  and  all  the  other  members  of 
the  staff  who  have  done  their  best  to  make  the  Pan  American  Union  an  organization 
and  institution  of  practical  usefulness  to  every  American  republic  and  to  all  the 
world. 


NOTE — An  itemized  statement  of  all  expenditures  and  receipts  for  the  past 
fiscal  year,  1917-18,  and  of  estimated  expenditures  and  receipts  for  the  next  fiscal 
year,  1919-20,  was  included  in  the  original  complete  report  and  duly  approved  by 
the  Governing  Board. 


*  Since  this  was  written,  it  has  been  officially  announced  that  President 
Wilson  has  issued  the  invitations  to  the  Latin  American  for  the  Second  Pan 
American  Financial  Conference  to  be  held  in  Washington  in  January,  1920. 


398  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

LATIN  AMERICAN  FOREIGN  TRADE  -1913-1917— A  COMPARATIVE  SURVEY 

• 

Specially  Prepared  for  the  Second  Pan  American   Commercial  Conference 
BY  MATILDA  PHILLIPS,  ASSISTANT  STATISTICIAN,  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

The  foreign  trade  of  the  twenty  Latin  American  Republics  for  the  calendar 
year  1917,  compiled  from  the  latest  reports  of  the  statistical  offices  of  the  several 
countries,  and  expressed  in  customs  valuations  converted  into  United  States  cur- 
rency, amounted  to  $3,281,003,645.  This  is  the  highest  figure  ever  attained  and 
represents  an  increase  over  1913,  the  former  high  water  mark,  of  $400,280,627. 

Comparing  the  year  1917  with  the  last  full  year  before  the  war  (1913),  there 
was  a  decrease  in  all  Latin  American  imports  of  10.38  per  cent,  and  an  increase 
in  exports  of  34.55  per  cent. 

In  the  northern  group  of  countries,  comprising  Mexico,  Guatemala,  Salvador, 
Honduras,  Nicaragua,  Costa  Rica,  Panama,  Cuba,  Dominican  Republic,  and  Haiti, 
there  was  an  increase  in  both  exports  and  imports,  97.54  per  cent,  in  the  former, 
and  57.66  per  cent,  in  the  latter.  In  the  southern  group — Argentina,  Bolivia,  Brazil, 
Chile,  Colombia,  Ecuador,  Paraguay,  Peru,  Uruguay  and  Venezuela — there  was  a 
decrease  of  30.91  per  cent,  in  imports  and  an  increase  of  22.14  per  cent,  in  exports, 
as  shown  by  the  following  tables : 

All  Latin  America. 

Imports.  Exports.  Total. 

1917   $1,188,953,129  $2,092,050,516  $3,281,003,645 

1913  1,326,639,783  1,554,083,235  2,880,723,018 

Increase    .  $137,686,6541  $537,967,281  $400,280,627 

Per  cent 10.381  34.55  13.89 

Latin  Republics  of  North  America. 

Imports.  Exports.  Total. 

1917        $483,972,903  $667,753,198  $1,151,726,101 

1913   306,331,362  388,017,904  694,349,266 


Increase   $177,641,541              $279,735,294  $457,376,835 

Per  cent 57.66                         97.54  65.87 

South  American  Republics. 

Imports.                     Exports.  Total. 

1917   .                                              $704,980,226           $1,424,297,318  $2,129,277,544 

1913   $1,020,308,421             1,166,065,331  2,186,373,752 


Increase   $315,328,195  $258,231,987  $57,096,208 

Per  cent.  ,  30.911  22.14  2.611 


1  Decrease. 

In  per  cent,  of  the  whole,  the  imports  from  the  United  States  into  Latin 
America  represent  58.80  in  1917,  as  opposed  to  24.69  in  1913.  The  proportion  of 
the  United  Kingdom  in  1913  was  27.70  per  cent.;  in  1917  it  was  19.01  per  cent. 
France  fell  from  8.65  per  cent,  to  4.11  per  cent.  Germany,  with  18.34  per  cent,  in 
1913,  disappeared,  and  Spain,  with  3.80  per  cent.,  has  taken  her  place. 

Of  the  total  Latin  American  exports,  the  United  States  increased  her  trade 
in  1917  over  that  of  1913  by  121.70  per  cent.;  the  United  Kingdom  by  28.24  per 
cent. ;  France  by  28.69  per  cent,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  imports,  Germany  disap- 
peared, her  place  being  taken  by  Spain  with  1.85  per  cent. 

The  statistical  tables  forming  a  part  of  this  survey  give  the  total  imports  and 
exports  of  Latin  America  for  the  years  1913  and  1917,  and  the  share  of  the  leading 
countries  participating  therein. 


APPENDIX  399 

CHARACTER  OF  IMPORTS  AND  EXPORTS. 
Imports. 

Latin  American  imports  are  in  general  of  the  same  character  as  the  imports 
of  western  European  countries  and  of  the  United  States,  except  that  they  do  not 
comprehend  any  large  proportion  of  raw  material  for  use  in  manufacturing.  The 
great  bulk  of  the  imports,  other  than  foodstuffs,  are  articles  of  a  high  degree  of 
manufacture,  finished  for  consumption.  Outside  of  commodities  not  so  included, 
the  chief  are  lumber,  gold,  mineral  oils,  iron  and  steel  construction  material,  flour, 
canned  goods,  and  some  unwrought  iron,  steel,  copper,  and  other  metals.  Of  the 
manufactured  articles  not  food,  which  comprise  the  bulk  of  the  imports,  the  range 
is  very  large,  covering  practically  all  the  finished  manufactured  products  known 
in  Europe  or  in  the  United  States — textiles,  leather  manufactures,  furniture, 
household  utensils,  office  appliances,  tools,  hardware,  machinery,  especially  the 
lighter  kind,  agricultural  implements,  mining  supplies  and  tools,  engines,  motors, 
glassware,  telephonic,  telegraphic,  and  other  electrical  apparatus  and  material,  and 
paper.  Edible  oils,  canned  vegetables,  meats  and  fish,  sweets  and  jams,  edible  pastes, 
spices  and  condiments,  and  wines  and  liquors,  comprise  the  chief  import  of  the 
more  highly  manufactured  food  products.  In  countries  not  producing  the  same, 
there  are  imports  of  sugar,  tobacco  and  fruits. 

There  is  a  remarkable  uniformity  in  the  imports  of  all  the  20  countries. 
As  a  general  rule  what  can  be  sold  in  Cuba  or  Mexico  can  also  be  sold  in  Argentina 
or  Chile. 

Exports. 

On  the  contrary,  Latin  American  exports,  while  in  general  falling  in  one 
class,  i.e.,  raw  materials  for  use  in  manufacturing,  primary  food  products,  and 
metals,  yet  owing  to  the  great  differences  of  soil,  climate,  rainfall,  and  other 
natural  conditions,  proximity  or  remoteness  to  markets,  and  development  of  trans- 
portation systems,  are  widely  differentiated  in  the  several  countries.  With  the 
exception  of  Argentina,  Uruguay,  and  Chile,  food  exports  in  general  are  tropical 
or  subtropical  products,  such  as  coffee,  cane  sugar  and  cacao.  The  food  exports 
of  the  three  countries — Argentina,  Uruguay,  and  Chile — are,  however,  of  the  same 
character  as  the  food  exports  of  the  United  States — meats  and  grain. 

The  principal  exports  of  the  20  countries  are  as  follows : 

Mexico. — Gold,  silver,  antimony,  mercury,  copper,  lead,  zinc,  mineral  oils, 
sisal,  hides  and  skins.  There  are  some  exports  of  rubber,  woods,  peas  and  beans. 

Guatemala. — Coffee,  hides,  woods,  bananas. 

Salvador. — Coffee,  silver,  gold,  indigo,   sugar. 

Honduras. — Gold,  silver,  bananas. 

Nicaragua. — Coffee,  woods,  rubber,  sugar. 

Costa  Rica. — Coffee,  bananas,  gold,  silver. 

Panama. — Bananas,  ivory  nuts,  coconuts,  rubber. 

Cuba. — Sugar,  molasses,  distillates,  tobacco,  iron  and  copper  ore,  woods, 
fruits,  hides  and  skins. 

Dominican   Republic. — Sugar,  cacao,  tobacco,  coffee,  bananas,  hides. 

Haiti. — Coffee,  cacao,  honey,  cotton,  cotton  seed,  logwood. 

Argentina. — Frozen  beef  and  mutton ;  hides,  wool,  sheepskins,  goat  skins, 
bristles,  canned  meats,  beef  scrap,  tallow,  butter,  grease,  bones,  wheat  flour,  corn, 
linseed,  oats,  hay,  bran,  quebracho. 

Bolivia. — /Tin,    silver,    bismuth,   copper,   rubber,   coco,    wolframite. 

Brazil. — Coffee,  rubber,  hides,  yerba  mate,  cacao,  tobacco,  skins,  sugar,  gold, 
manganese,  cotton,  cotton  seed,  beef,  bran,  monazite  sand. 

Chile. — Nitrate  of  soda,  copper,  silver,  fruits  and  grains,  hides,  wool,  fur 
skins. 

Colombia. — Coffee,  bananas,  tobacco,  ivory  nuts,  rubber,  cacao. 

Ecuador. — Cacao,  ivory  nuts,  rubber,  coffee,  gold,  hides. 

Paraguay. — Hides,   quebracho,  yerba  mate,  tobacco,   fruits. 

Peru. — 'Copper,  vanadium,  wolframite,  rubber,  sugar,  cotton,  wool,  guano, 
hides. 

Uruguay. — Wool,  hides,  beef,  tallow,  hair,  wheat,  flour. 

Venezuela. — Coffee,  cacao,  rubber,  hides,  goatskins,  gold,  meats,  copper, 
sugar. 


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BY  ANNIE  S.  PECK,  F.  R.  G.  S.,  AUTHOR  OF  "THE  SOUTH  AMERICAN  TOUR/' 

A  DESCRIPTIVE  GUIDE. 

The  well-defined  routes  of  trade  and  travel  in  South  America  may  and  should 
be  thoroughly  understood  by  commercial  men,  although  at  the  moment  the  means 
of  communication  between  the  two  continents  are  somewhat  irregular,  and  wholly 
inadequate,  while  the  plans  for  their  development  are  hardly  yet  crystallized.  There 
is  no  doubt,  however,  that  within  a  few  months,  the  accommodation  for  tourist  and 
business  travel  and  for  freight  transportation  will  be  sufficient  for  present  require- 
ments. Information  in  regard  to  the  increased  facilities  will  then  be  easily  se- 
cured. These  will  naturally  be  arranged  to  suit  existing  conditions  in  South 
America  which  are  not  likely  to  vary  much  within  the  next  two  or  three  years, 
so  far  as  railways  are  concerned.  The  various  steamship  lines  serving  the  several 
coasts  will  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  each. 

The  routes  of  travel  for  a  business  man  on  a  tour  of  investigation  are  much 
the  same  as  for  a  pleasure  tourist.  Both  wish  to  visit  the  largest  cities  and  to 
patronize  the  best  hotels.  Those  of  the  East  and  West  coasts  are  adequately 
described  in  the  book  "The  South  American  Tour."  The  North  coast  by  tourist 
and  salesman  is  ordinarily  visited  on  a  separate  trip  in  connection  with  Central 
America  and  the  West  Indies.  It  may,  however,  be  included  with  the  tour  of 
South  America  by  connections  made  at  Trinidad  or  Barbados  at  Panama  or 
Buenaventura. 

For  one  planning  to  visit  the  chief  cities  only,  the  way  is  simple.  Unless 
business  reasons  imperatively  demand  an  immediate  vist  to  the  East  Coast,  it  is 
far  better  to  take  the  West  Coast  first.  The  slight  inconveniences  of  travel  there 
will  be  less  noticeable  than  if  returning  a  little  fatigued,  and  when  comparison  is 
made  with  the  luxuries  of  the  East  Coast.  For  such  a  tour  one  sails  in  general 
from  New  York,  New  Orleans,  or  San  Francisco  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  there 
transferring  to  one  of  the  West  Coast  steamers,  unless  indeed  one  has  journeyed 
from  New  York  by  the  new  United  States  and  Pacific  Line  which  now  has  a 
single  steamer  in  service  making  the  voyage  from  New  York  to  Valparaiso  in 
eighteen  days.  This  service  will  be  fortnightly  as  soon  as  the  other  ships  of  the 
company  are  returned  by  the  United  States  Government.  These  are  new  ships  of 
ten  thousand  tons  each,  with  all  modern  requirements,  making  the  voyage  in 
several  days  less  time  than  any  of  the  other  steamers.  This  may  at  times  be  the 
quickest  way  to  reach  Buenos  Aires,  as  the  rail  journey  across  from  Valparaiso 
requires  but  forty-eight  hours.  It  is  rumored  that  the  Pacific  Steam  Navigation 
Company  may  later  inaugurate  a  similar  through  service  from  New  York  to 
Valparaiso. 

Service  from  New  York  to  the  Isthmus  is  now  carried  on  by  the  United 
Fruit  Company  with  weekly  sailings,  and  by  the  Panama  Steamship  Company 
also  generally  with  a  weekly  steamer.  The  United  Fruit  Company  expects  to 
resume  its  former  service  of  three  weekly  sailings  from  New  York  and  three  from 
New  Orleans  as  soon  as  its  ships  are  released  from  the  United  States  service. 
There  is  now  one  weekly  sailing  from  New  Orleans  as  from  New  York  to  Cristo- 
bal. The  Royal  Mail  will  probably  resume  its  former  service  before  long. 

The  service  on  the  West  Coast  is  given  by  three  lines:  the  Pacific  Steam 
Navigation  Company,  the  Peruvian  and  the  Chilean  Lines.  The  first  has  a  fort- 
nightly service  to  Valparaiso  and  one  every  ten  or  twelve  days  to  Colombian  and 
Ecuadorian  ports.  The  other  two  have  weekly  sailings  on  Mondays  from  Cristo- 
bal;  the  first  to  Peruvian  ports  only,  Paita,  Eten,  Pacasmayo,  Salaverry,  Callao, 
Pisco  and  Mollendo;  the  last  to  the  same  ports  in  Peru,  except  Pisco,  and  in 
Chile  calling  at  Arica,  Iquique,  Antofagasta,  Coquimbo,  Valparaiso,  Talcahuano  and 
Lota.  The  Pacific  Steamship  Navigation  Company  visits  about  the  same  ports. 

Many  commercial  men  will  find  it  sufficient  for  their  business  to  establish 
an  agency  in  the  capital  or  chief  port  of  the  several  Republics,  from  which  point 
the  goods  will  be  distributed  by  the  local  agent  to  desirable  localities.  Making  a 
trip  with  this  idea  the  first  call  below  Panama  will  be  at  Guayaquil  or  Callao. 
The  former  city  is  the  important  distributing  point  for  Ecuador,  but  care  must  be 
taken  to  learn  whether  there  is  a  quarantine  against  the  place  in  Peru'  or  Panama, 
according  to  the  direction  in  which  one  is  going,  as  the  delay  thus  involved  may 
be  annoying. 


APPENDIX  -*03 

In  Peru,  Callao,  or  preferably  Lima,  eight  miles  distant,  will  serve  as  a  distribut- 
ing point  for  the  entire  country;  but  one  visiting  La  Paz  may  well  place  another 
agency  in  the  South  at  Arequipa.  The  route  via  Mollendo  is  altogether  the  best 
way  to  go  up  to  the  table  land,  this  being  an  important  reason  for  taking  the  West 
Coast  first.  It  is  desirable  to  begin  Bolivia  at  the  capital,  La  Paz,  rather  than 
at  the  South,  and  the  upward  journey  from  Mollendo  is  both  safer  and  more 
comfortable.  It  is  well  known  that  under  similar  conditions  otherwise,  one 
suffers  from  soroche  or  mountain  sickness  more  at  night  than  in  the  day  time. 
Also  a  gradual  ascent  to  a  great  altitude  is  less  likely  to  be  dangerous  or  un- 
pleasant than  one  made  rapidly.  Going  up  from  Mollendo  one  must  spend  at  least 
one  night  at  Arequipa,  altitude  7,500  feet.  One  having  business  will  remain  a  few 
days.  The  journey  made  by  day  will  then  be  much  easier  over  the  pass,  4,666 
feet  down  to  Lake  Titicaca  12,500  feet.  The  single  night  in  a  stateroom  on  the 
steamer  is  far  more  agreeable  than  the  two  nights  in  a  sleeping  car  coming  up 
from  Antofagasta,  when  almost  everyone  suffers  from  headache  the  second  night. 
After  visiting  La  Paz,  one  may  safely  descend  in  a  single  night  to  Arica 
or  go  south  to  Antofagasta,  if  wishing  to  make  calls  in  Bolivia  on  the  way. 

In  Chile,  Valparaiso,  the  port,  or  Santiago,  the  capital,  four  hours  by  rail, 
or  both  may  serve  as  trade  centres  for  the  Republic.  • 

The  rail  journey  to  Buenos  Aires  is  comfortable  and  pleasant,  the  highest 
point  on  the  Trans- Andine,  10,486  feet  passed  by  day,  occasioning  no  inconvenience 
to  the  person  in  ordinary  condition.  Buenos  Aires  may  serve  as  a  centre  for  the 
whole  of  Argentina  and  for  Paraguay  and  Uruguay  as  well ;  but  Montevideo  is  so 
near  and  on  the  way  that  it  is  better  to  pause  there  and  have  a  centre  for 
Uruguay  even  though  that  country  is  small. 

In  case  of  a  snow  blockade  on  the  Trans-Andine  Railway,  there  are  two  other 
routes,  one  by  boat  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  a  voyage  of  twelve  days 
from  Valparaiso,  the  other  from  Bolivia.  The  latter  would  involve  a  return  by  sea 
to  Antofagasta,  a  24-hour  journey  by  rail  to  Uyuni,  thence  southeast  to  Atocha. 
From  the  rail  terminus  at  that  point  an  automobile  covers  the  distance  to  the  end 
of  the  Argentina  line,  by  which  one  may  be  transported  in  48  hours  to  Buenos  Aires. 
This  break  in  the  rail  connection  ought  to  be  speedily  filled,  while  more  sheds 
on  the  Trans-Andine,  let  us  hope,  will  make  service  on  that  road  possible  without 
interruption. 

Brazil,  however,  needs  more  than  one  centre.  Rio  de  Janeiro  is  of  course 
the  chief,  but  Manaos  is  a  journey  of  three  weeks  from  the  capital ;  and  Para, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  is  therefore  a  desirable  centre  for  North  Brazil, 
while  Porto  Alegre  may  serve  for  the  south. 

The  steamship  lines  now  serving  the  East  Coast  are  the  Lamport  and  Holt, 
the  Lloyd  Brazileiro,  and  the  Booth.  The  first,  having  lost  three  ships  in  the 
War,  now  maintains  only  a  monthly  service  to  Buenos  Aires,  calling  also  at 
Montevideo,  Santos,  Rio  and  Bahia.  Other  boats,  running  to  Brazil  only,  provide 
thus  a  fortnightly  service  as  far  as  Rio.  These  boats  are  now  planning  also  a 
call  at  Para. 

The  Lloyd  Brazileiro  has  now  monthly  sailings,  with  calls  at  Barbados, 
Para  Ceara,  Pernambuco,  Bahia  and  Rio.  The  company  has  other  lines  serving 
both  South  and  North  Brazil,  including  the  Amazon  River.  The  service  may  be 
increased  later. 

The  Booth  Line  gives  weekly  service  to  Para  and  Manaos  on  the  Amazon, 
and  to  the  coast  cities  of  Sao  Luiz  in  the  state  of  Maranhao,  Fortaleza  in  Ceara, 
Cabadello  in  Parahyba,  Pernambuco  in  that  state  and  to  Maceio  in  Alagoas.  It 
has  a  monthly  service  farther  up  the  Amazon  to  Iquitos,  Peru. 

On  the  north  coast  Venezuela  is  served  by  the  Red  "D"  Line  only,  from  New 
York;  and  Colombia  by  the  United  Fruit.  Other  lines,  however,  British,  French, 
Dutch  or  Italian  help  out,  making  connection  at  Trinidad  for  La  Guaira  in 
Venezuela  or  at  Curasao.  La  Guaira,  the  port  ©f  Caracas,  is  served  weekly  by  the 
Red  "D"  Line,  which  calls  at  the  more  western  cities,  Puerto  Cabello  and  Maracaibo, 
once  in  two  weeks.  A  visit  to  Caracas  only  will  suffice  for  some  and  in  Colombia 
calls  at  Baranquilla  and  Cartagena. 

It  is  expected  that  a  frequent  service  to  Rio  and  Buenos  Aires  with  large 
government  built  passenger  and  freight  steamers  will  soon  be  inaugurated  by  a 
well-known  line.  There  are  many  lines  of  freight  steamers  now  running  to  the 
various  ports  which  need  not  be  enumerated. 


404  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Salesmen  desiring  to  canvass  the  territory  more  thoroughly  may  visit  to 
advantage  many  other  cities.  Of  one  should  begin  with  Venezuela,  after  a  call  at 
Caracas,  he  may  proceed  by  rail  to  Valencia,  the  second  city,  population  60,000,  and 
from  there  to  Puerto  Cabello,  population  14,000.  A  visit  to  Maracaibo  should 
follow,  a  city  of  50,000.  At  the  Island  of  Curasao  connection  may  be  made  for 
Colombian  ports.  Most  important  are  Colombia  and  Cartagena,  both  of  which  have 
rail  connection  with  Barranquilla,  Cartagena  itself  being  important  as  a  commer- 
cial centre.  Sixty  per  cent  of  the  commerce  of  the  country  passes  through  Barran- 
quilla. One  should  ascend  the  Magdalena  River  with  rail  connection  to  Bogota. 
Side  trips  to  Bucaramanga  and  Medellin  may  be  found  profitable.  A  hardy 
traveler  or  tourist  may  cross  the  mountain  ranges  to  the  pretty  city  of  Cili,  thence 
descending  by  rail  to  the  port  of  Buenaventura.  From  here  one  would  take  a 
Pacific  Steamship  Navigation  steamer,  which  would  permit  of  a  call  at  Esmeraldes 
in  Northern  Ecuador  and  at  Manta  farther  south.  From  Guayaquil  one  goes  by 
rail  to  the  capital  Quito,  and  from  Sibambe  on  the  return  one  may  diverge  from 
the  railway  to  go  on  horseback  to  Cuenca,  the  third  city  of  Ecuador. 

In  Peru  it  is  well  to  pause  at  Paita  for  the  short  railway  journey  to  Piura 
and  Catacaos,  Paita  being  third  in  importance  of  Peruvian  ports.  One  may  also 
call  at  Trujillo,  a  few  miles  from  Salaverry,  an  important  city  of  a  rich  sugar 
district  as  Piura  of  a  cotton  section.  It  is  desirable  for  some  to  go  up  from  Lima 
by  the  famous  Oroya  Railway,  and  a  branch  line,  to  Cerro  de  Pasco,  the  famous 
copper  city,  altitude  4,300  feet.  The  other  ports  of  call,  Eten  and  Pacasmayo  at 
the  north  and  Pisco  at  the  south  may  be  visited  if  one  has  ample  time.  On  the 
way  to  Bolivia  from  Arequipa  a  side  trip  by  rail  from  Juliaca  to  Cuzeo  may  be  of 
advantage. 

After  La  Paz  in  Bolivia,  calls  may  be  made  on  the  way  south  at  the  garden 
city,  Cochabamba,  and  the  mining  city,  Potosi,  reached  by  branches  from  the  main 
line,  and  Oruro  may  be  visited  without  turning  aside.  Thus  one  reaches  the  sea 
at  Antofagesta.  Coming  down  from  La  Paz  to  Arica,  besides  the  call  at  this  port 
one  has  the  opportunity  also  of  visiting  Iquique,  famous  for  nitrates,  as  is  Antofa- 
gasta,  two  hundred  miles  farther.  Taltal,  just  beyond,  is  important,  and  Coquimbo, 
the  port  of  the  considerable  city,  La  Serena. 

South  of  Santiago  and  Valparaiso  are  several  cities  of  consequence  all  easily 
reached  by  rail  and  also  by  boat  and  rail.  Talca  is  one  of  these,  its  port  Consti- 
tucion,  and  farther  south  in  the  interior  is  Chilan,  a  large  trading  centre.  Con- 
cepcion,  the  third  city  of  Chile,  should  not  be  neglected.  It  is  connected  by  rail 
with  the  port  Talcahuano  and  with  Lota,  as  well  as  with  the  Longitudinal  Railway, 
which  extends  from  the  far  north  to  Puerto  Monto  at  the  south.  If  one  has  the 
time  to  spare,  a  steamer  may  be  taken  at  Lota  for  Punta  Arenas,  a  thriving  centre 
of  trade,  and  so  come  around  to  Argentina,  calling  at  Bahia  Blanca  on  the  way  to 
Buenos  Aires. 

Argentina  is  well  served  by  railways  and  Bahia  Blanca  is  an  important 
centre  for  the  more  southern  district,  besides  having  a  better  natural  harbor  than 
Buenos  Aires.  Other  cities  in  Argentina  very  desirable  to  visit  are  of  course 
Rosario,  the  Chicago  of  the  country,  Mendoza  in  the  west  which  will  be  on  the 
way  for  one  coming  by  the  Trans-Andine.  Northwest  by  way  of  Rosario,  the 
cities  of  Santa  Fe,  Cordoba,  and  Tucuman  may  be  visited.  Nearer  to  Buenos 
Aires  is  La  Plata. 

Asuncion  is  of  course  the  distributing  point  of  Paraguay,  now  reached  by 
rail  or  by  river.  The  river  may  be  ascended  farther  to  Villa  Concepcion,  or  to 
Corumba  in  Brazil.  Returning  by  rail  from  Asuncion,  calls  at  Villa  Rica  and  Villa 
Encarnacion  may  be  worth  while.  In  Argentina  there  are  many  more  larger  cities 
which  may  be  included  in  a  thorough  canvas. 

In  Uruguay  besides  Montevideo,  Paysandu,  Fray  Bentos,  and  Salta  may 
all  be  visited  by  rail.  One  may  prefer,  too,  the  all-rail  route  to  Sao  Paulo,  now 
that  the  service  is  improved,  branches  leading  from  the  main  line  to  Rio  Grande 
do  Sul  and  Porto  Alegre  as  well  as  to  Curitiba  and  Paranagua. 

Santos  and  Sao  Paulo,  the  latter  the  third  city  in  South  America,  are  most 
important  for  tourist  and  business  man.  Several  cities  in  Minas  Geraes  may  be 
visited  by  rail  from  Rio,  as  well  as  Sao  Paulo.  Corning  north,  if  omitting  smaller 
ports,  Bahia  must  not  be  neglected,  and  the  various  ports  of  call  of  the  Booth 
Line  above  mentioned  may  be  worth  while  for  some.  Pernambuco  is  of  special 
importance,  still  more  Para  which  for  the  majority  will  suffice  without  the  nine 
hundred  miles  up  the  Amazon  to  Manaos,  or  the  2,300  to  Iquitos. 


APPENDIX 


405 


SIX  HUNDRED 

COMMERCIAL  ORGANIZATIONS,  BUSINESS  HOUSES,  FIRMS,  STATES  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES  AND  OTHER  ORGANIZATIONS  REPRESENTED  AT 
THE   SECOND   PAN   AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL   CONFER- 
ENCE, WITH  NAMES  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 


Adams,  Lovell,  Burlingham,  Inc New  York  City. ... 

Advanced  Agricultural  Pub.  Co.,  The.  .New  York  City... 

Aerial  Age   New  York  City. . . 

Aero  Club  of  America .. .  .New  York  City. . . 

Affiliated  Lecture  Bureaus Jackson,  Mo 

Aircraft  Advertising  Agency,  Inc.,  The. New  York  City... 

Ajax  Rubber  Co.,  Inc New  York  City. . . 

Alabama,   State  of Anniston,  Ala.   . . . 

Aldao,  Campos  &  Gil New  York  City. . . 

Alexander  Hamilton  Institute  New  York  City. . . 


All  America  Cables Washington,  D.  C. 

New  York  City. . . 

All  Americas  Publishing  Co New  York  City. . , 

Allied  Export  Association New  York  City. ... 

Chicago,  111 

Allied  Foreign  Trade  Corporation New  York  City... 

Allied  Machinery  Company  of  America. New  York  City. .. 


American  Aniline  Products,  Inc New  York  City... 

American  Asiatic  Association New  York  City. 

American  Assn.  for  Int.  Conciliation. .  .New  York  City... 

American  Association  of  Engineers. ..  .Washington,  D.  C. 

American  Automobile  Association Washington,  D.  C. 

American  Bankers  Association New  York  City. . . 

American  Bank  Note  Co New  York  City. . . 

American  Cane  Growers  Association. .  .New  Orleans,  La.. 

American  Crayon  Co.,  The New  York  City. . . 

American  Exporter   New  York  City . . . 

American  Express  Company New  York  City. . . 

American  Flexible  Bolt  Co New  York  City. . . 

Amer.  Inst.  of  Weights  and  Measures.  .New  York  City... 
American  International  Corporation. . .  .New  .York  City. . . 


Brooklyn,  N.  Y.. . 
American,  La  France  Fire  Engine  Co..  .New  York  City. ... 

American  Locomotive  Sales  Corp New  York  City. . . 

American  Machinery  Syndicate,  Inc.... New  York  City... 

American   Medical  Association Chicago,  111 

American  Metal  Co.,  Ltd New  York  City. 

American   Metric  Association New  .York  City. . . 

American  Milk  Products  Corp New  York  City. . . 

American  Multigraph  Sales  Co..... Washington,  D.  C. 

American  Paper  and  Pulp  Association.  .New  York  City. . . 
American  Red  Cross,  Insular  and 

Foreign  Division   Honolulu,  Hawaii 

American  Steel  Export  Co New  York  City. . . 


.William    Burlingham. 
.Walter   A.   Johnson. 
.Douglas   Wardrop. 
.Augustus  Post. 
.Rev.  M.  D.  Collins. 
.Granville  A.   Pollock. 
.A.  R.  Gormully. 
.J.  B.  Carrington. 
.Enrique  Gil. 
.R.  P.  Falkner,  Ph.  D. 
W.  F.  Hickernell. 
Jeremiah  W.  Jenks. 
.R.  J.  Hewitt. 
William  J.  O'Brien. 
John  J.  O'Donnell. 

•  D.  Havelock  Fisher. 

•  Louis  Henry. 

J.  de  Jara  Almonte. 

•  S.  T.  Henry. 
Bernardo  Prichard. 

•  Paul  Nobbe. 

•  Louis  D.  Froelick. 

•  Peter  H.  Goldsmith. 

•  Edgar  L.  Howard. 
J.  E.   Pennybacker. 

•  William  F.  Collins. 
F.  E.  Farnsworth. 

•Joseph  Claudet. 
F.  W.  Gullett. 

•  J.   C.   LeBourgeois. 
•W.  Henderson. 

•  Franklin  Johnston. 

•  F.  O.  French. 
A.  B.  Howard. 

•  R.  W.  Benson. 

•  F.  A.  Halsey. 

•  M.  D.  Carrel. 

Fred  Morris  Dearing. 
C.  S.  Gardner. 
Philip  W.  Henry. 
J.  C.  Luitweiler. 

•  Calvin  A.  Jones. 

•  Charles   M.   Muchnic. 

•  Henry  S.  Moos. 
.Aristides  A.  Moll. 

•  Henry  Bruere. 

H.  K.  Hochschild. 

•  H.  Richards,  Jr. 

•  Clarence  S.  Stevens. 

•  J.  Arthur  Finnigan. 
.L.  B.  Steward. 

.Robbins  B.  Anderson. 
.Edward  W.  Ames. 
F.  H.  Tackaberry. 


406 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


American  Sugar  Refining  Co.,  The New  York  City 

American  Surety  Co.  of  New  York.... New  York  City.... 
American  Surety  Co.,  Wash.  Branch. .  .Washington,  D.  C.. 

American  University  Washington,  D.  C.. 

Amsinck  &  Co.,  Inc.,  Gr .New  York  City 

Andrews  &  Co.,  Inc.,  D.  C New  York  City. . . . 

Anglo  South  American  Bank,  Ltd New  York  City 

Appalachian  Corp.,  Inc.,  of  Louisiana.  .New  Orleans,  La... 

Argentina-American   Chamber  of 

Commerce,    Inc New  York  City.  . . . 

Argentine  Republic,  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce   of    the    United    States    of 

America  in.  the  New  York  City 

Buenos  Aires,  Arg. 

Argentine  Industrial  &  Financial  Corp.. New  York  City.... 

Armstrong  Cork  Co Washington,  D.  C.. 

Artadi  &  Co.,  G New  York  City 

Art  and  Archaeology Washington,  D.  C.. 

Assn.  of  Limb  Manufacturers Washington,  D.  C.. 

Assn.  National  Advertisers New  York  City. . . . 

Associated  Press,  The Washington,  D.  C.. 

Atkins  &  Co.,  Inc.,  E.  C Indianapolis,  Ind.  . 

Atlantic  Refining  Co.,  The Philadelphia,   Pa.    . 

Atlas  Commerce  Corp New  York  City 

Austin  Baldwin  &  Co.,  Ine tNew  York  City. . . . 

Auto  Accessories  Co Washington,  D.  C. 

Automobile  Topics  Washington,  D.  C.. 

Aviation  and  Aircraft  Journal New  York  City. . . . 


.Judspn    Lounsbery. 
Jarvis  W.  Mason. 
.L.  Bert  Nye. 
.Frank  W.  Collier. 
.Camilo  Carrizosa. 
C.  A.   Seoane. 
.George  W.  Bankell. 
.Fred.  C.  Harding. 
.Louis   B.   Magid. 
Harry  Erwin  Bard. 
Ridgefield,  Conn. 


.M.  D.  Carrel. 
.A.  B.  Howard. 
.Arthur  Wolfsohn. 
.Conrad  H.  Young. 
.Henry  Hirtler. 
.Mitchell  Carroll. 

•  H.   B.  Hanger. 
.John   Sullivan. 
.F.  B.  Noyes. 

R.  M.  Whitney. 
. Adolf o  Dugue. 
.Carl  Vogel. 
.A.  E.  Holt 

O.  D.  O'Neill. 

•  Simeon  Shepard. 

•  Miss  Eva  K.  Fisher. 
Lauren  M.  Smith. 

•  Walter  F.  Eberhardt. 

•  L.  D.  Gardner. 


Babson's  Statistical  Organization Wellesley  Hills, 

Mass 

Baldwin  Locomotive  Works Philadelphia,  Pa.  . 

Baltimore  American  Washington,  D.  C. 

Baltimore,  City  of  /Baltimore,   Md.    . . 

Baltimore  Export  and  Import 

Board  of  Trade  of Baltimore,  Md.   . . 

Banco  Mercantil  Americano  de 

Caracas,  Caracas,  Venezuela New  York  City. . . 

Banco  Mercantil  Americano  de 

Colombia    Bogota,  Colombia 

Banco  Mercantil  Americano  de  Cuba... New  York  City... 

Bankers  Magazine,  The New  York  City. . . 

Bank  of  Pittsburgh  N.  A.,  The Pittsburgh,  Pa.  . . . 

Bankers   Trust   Co New  York  City. . . 

Barber  Asphalt  Paving  Co.,  The Philadelphia,    Pa. 

Barcelona-American  Chamber  of 

Commerce   New  York  City. . . 

Barrell  Co.,  William  L New  York  City. . . 

Bartley  Crucible  Co.,  Jonathan Trenton,  N.  J 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Bech,  Van  Siclen  &  Co.,  Inc New  York  City... 


Benedict  Coal  Corp Lynchburg,  Va.   ... 

Bennett  &  White,  Inc New  York  City 

Bethlehem  Motors  Corp New  York  City 

Bethlehem  Steel  Co New  York  City.  . . . 

Bird  &  Son,  Inc Washington,  D.  C.. 


.George  A.  Sanborn. 
.C.  H.  Crawford. 
Reeves  K.  Johnson. 

•  Louis  Garthe. 

•  Tunstall  Smith, 

•  Austin  McLanahan. 
.Percy  J.  Foley. 

.Major  Harry  Davis. 

•  Frank  J.  R.  Mitchell. 

•  Elmer  H.  Youngman. 

•  Dr.  J.  T.  Holdsworth. 

•  Fred  I.  Kent. 
.Edmund  A.  Pratt. 

.Antonio  M.  Opisso. 

•  Fred   S.   Bennett. 
.Lewis  H.  Lawton. 

•  Louis  C.  Witkowski. 
.Henning  Ege. 

John  Larsen. 
T.  Allo  Roth. 
.  W.  W.  Taylor. 
.D.  R.  Martinez. 
.Howard  B.  Hall. 
.Charles  M.  Schwab. 
E.   H.  Seal. 


APPENDIX 


407 


Blair,   Parker  Coal  &  Coke  Co Philadelphia,    Pa.    ...Henry  G.  Brown. 

Bolger,  Mosser  &  Williams Chicago,  111 

Bonnot  Co.,  The Canton,  Ohio   D.  W.  Jasper.     . 

Boomer  &  Co.,  Inc.. New  York  City R.  De  F.  Boomer. 

Boselli,  Jeramaz  Co.. Paterson,  N.  J Louis  Boselli. 

Boston  Export  Round  Table Boston,  Mass Henry  H.  Morse. 

Brandon,  Hadges  &  McLain,  Inc New  York  City 

Brill  Co.,  J.  G.,  The Philadelphia,    Pa.    . .  .Morrison  J.  Oswald. 

Brown  &  Cooksey New  York  City Charles   Paul   Brown. 

Brown  &  Sons,  Alex Baltimore,   Md Austin  McLanahan. 

Browning  &  Co.,  Victor  R .Cleveland,   Ohio    . . .  .Edwin  H.  Stowell. 

Bruna  Sampaio  &  Co.,  of 

Valparaiso,  Chile   New  York  City Arsacic  Ibanez. 

Buffalo    Commercial    Washington,  D.  C. .  .  A.  D.  Fairbairn. 

Buffalo  (N.  Y.)  Courier  Washington,  D.  C....Mrs.  R.  D.  Hopkins. 

Buffalo    Star    Washington,  D.  C.. . .  A.  D.  Fairbairn. 

Bull  &  Co.,  A.  H New  York  City J.  D.  Phillips. 

Bunnell  &  Co.,  J.  H -New  York  City John  J.  Ghegan. 

Business  Publishers  Association New  York  City A.  C.  Pearson. 

Business  Representative  Bureau Washington,  D.  C.... Linus  M.  Bailey. 

Busk  &   Daniels New  York  City Lorenzo   Daniels. 

Butler  Paper  Co.,  J.  W Chicago,  111 Paul  Butler. 


Caldwell-Burnet  Corporation  New  York  City H.  Q.  C.  Hatch. 

California,  State  of Sacramento,  Cal J.  A.  Elston,  M.  C., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Wm.  Kettner, 

San  Diego,  Cal. 

Canton   Co.   of   Baltimore Baltimore,   Md Kurtz  Wilson. 

Canton  Railroad  Co Baltimore,  Md Kurtz  Wilson. 

Carr  Brothers   New  York  City Herbert  J.  Carr. 

Carter  &  Co.,  R.  K New  York  City Alfred   C.   Greening. 

Casa  de  America   New  York  City Antonio  M.  Opisso. 

Castellanos  Bank   Philadelphia,  Pa T.  C.  Acevedo. 

Central  and  South  American  Tele- 
graph Co.  (All  America  Cables) . .  .New  York  City John  L.  Merrill. 

Central  Bureau  of  Planning 

and    Statistics    .' New  York  City Horace  M.  Goddard. 

Central  Trust  Co.  of  Illinois Chicago,  111 Geo.  W.  Doonan. 

Chamberlain  Medicine  Co Des  Moines,  Iowa... Will  A.  Peairs. 

Chandler  &  Company New  York  City Ernest  H.  Wands. 

Philadelphia,  Pa 

Chattahoochee  Furniture  Co '..... Flowery  Branch,  Ga.. Forrest  Additon. 

Chemical   and   Metallurgical 

Engineering  New  York  City Howard  C.  Parmelec. 

Chemical  National  Bank  of  N.  Y New  York  City John   Clausen. 

Chevy  Chase  School Washington,  D.  C Fred.  E.  Farrington. 

Chicago  Association  of  Commerce Chicago,  111 W.   Stimson   Barnes. 

Harry  H.  Merrick. 

Chicago  Paper  Company Chicago,  111 Robert  C.  Fay. 

Chicago  Pneumatic  Tool  Co Chicago,   111 W.   P.  Pressinger. 

Chile  and  Northern  News  Association.  .Washington,  D.  C....  Charles  M.  Pepper. 

Chilean    Commercial    Bureau .New  York  City Severe  Salcedo. 

Christoph  Company,  Paul  J New  York  City Leon  N.  Bensabat. 

Buenos  Aires  

Rio   de   Janeiro 

Cincinnati  Chamber  of  Commerce Cincinnati,  Ohio    ....James  B.  Morrow. 

Class  Journal  Co.,  The New  York  City David  Beecroft. 

Washington,  D.  C Allen  Sinsheimer. 

Clyde  Steamship  Co New  York  City Robert  Wardle. 

Coastwise   Shipbuilding  Co Baltimore,   Md Frank  A.   Brande. 

T.  W.  Whedfer. 
Columbian  Rope  Co Auburn,  N.  Y Alfred   Robertson. 


408 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Columbia  University   New  York  City Frank  Hederich, 

Committee  on  Friendly  Relations 

among  Foreign  Students New  York  City.  .. ..  .G  Du  Bois  Hurrey. 

Compania  Nacional  de  Metales New  York  City John  S.  Pendleton. 

Buenos  Aires  

Havana,   Cuba    

Santiago,   Chile    

Computing-Tabulating   Recording   Co..  .Washington,  D.  C... Harry  S.  Evans. 

Congressional   Information   Bureau Washington,  D.  C.... Claude  N.  Bennett 

D.  L.  Selke. 

Connett,  Burton  &  Co New  York  City 

Conpanhia  Nacional  de  Mates New  York  City John  S.  Pendleton. 

Rio   de  Janeiro 

Sao  Paulo,  Brazil.  . .  . 

Consolidated  Rolling  Mills  &  Co New  York  City H.  G.  Venable. 

Consolidated  Steel  Corp New  York  City W.  S.  Tower. 

Constitutional  Railways  of  Mexico New  York  City Alberto  de  Hoyos. 

Continental  and  Commercial 

National  Bank  of  Chicago Chicago,  111 Geo.   W.   Reynolds. 

Corbett  &  Co.,  M.  J New  York  City Carl  W.  Stern. 

Corby   Co.,    The Washington,  D.  C.. . .  W.  S.  Corby. 

Corn  Exchange  National  Bank Philadelphia,    Pa.    . .  .Charles   L.   Chandler. 

Corning  Glass  Works,  Pyrex  Division.  .Corning,  N.  Y Will  T.  Hedges. 

Costa  Rica  Chamber  of  Commerce San  Jose,  Costa  Rica. John  M.  Keith. 

Cottman  Co.,  Clarence  Baltimore,   Md Kurtz  Wilson. 

Craemer  Nail  &  Supply  Co New  York  City Henry  Craemer. 

Craemer  Trading  Corp New  York  City Henry  Craemer. 

Crex  Carpet  Co New  York  City A.  Garcinava. 

Myron   W.   Robinson. 

Criterian  Newspaper  Syndicate New  York  City Dr.  L.  Lara  Pardo. 

Cross  Co.,  J.  H Philadelphia,  Pa 

Crossmond  &  Co.,  L.  D New  York  City L.  D.   Crossmond. 

Cuban  American  Reduction  Co New  York  City Charles  S.  Munson. 

Curtiss  Aeroplane  &  Motor  Corp New  York  City F.  L.  Faurote. 

Daily  News  Record Washington,  D.  C.. . .  J.  B.  McDonnell. 

Davis  Hosiery  Mill   Fort  Payne,  Ala Miss  M.  W.  Mickler. 

Davies,  Turner  &  Co New  York  City. .. C.  B.  Ames. 

Delaware,   State  of Dover,  Del ' Col.  J.  Satterthwaite 

Wilmington,  Del. 

Delmarle  &  Co.,  O.  J Rochester,    N.    Y O.  J.  Delmarle. 

Deselcktro   Co.,   The Washington,  D.  C.. . .  W.  J.  Dunne. 

J.  L.  Hanlon. 

Fred  Brown  Whitney. 

Dexter  Portland  Cement  Co New  York  City Raymond  W.  Hilles. 

Dietzgen  Company,  Eugene Washington,  D.  C.. .  .F.  H.  Bryson. 

Disston  &  Sons,  Henry .Philadelphia,    Pa.    . .  .S.  Horace  Disston. 

District  of  Columbia  Paper  Mfg.  Co.. .  .Washington,  D.  C....D.  A.  Smith. 
Doubleday,  Page  &  Company New  York  City Kenneth  Andrews. 

A.  Eugene  Bolles. 

Herbert  S.  Houston. 

Drexel   Institute   Philadelphia,  Pa Hollis  Godfrey. 

Dun  &  Company,  R.  G Albany  N.  Y Francis  R.  Purdie. 

Dundas   Bros.   Co Philadelphia,  Pa J.  Marron  Dundas. 

Dunston,  Co.,  E.  W New  York  City J.  A.  Prigge,  Jr. 

Du   Pont  Chemical  Co Wilmington.  Del.    .  . .  J.  C.  Packard. 

Du  Pont  de  Nemours  Export  Co.,  E.  I.. New  York  City C.  de  Cordero. 

Eastman  Kodak  Co Rochester,   N.  Y D   E.  Delgado. 

Economy  Tumbler  Co Morgantown,  W.  Va.  W.  E.  Hunter. 

Edison  Electric  Appliance  Co.,  Inc Chicago,  111 C.  O.  Hard. 

El  Mercuric   Santiago,  Chile   Ernesto   Montenegro. 

"El  Nacional,"  Haban£,  Cuba. .,,,,.,  „  Washington,  D.  C.. .  .Nathan  Levin. 


APPENDIX  409 

''El  Paje"  of  Mexico  City Mexico  City,  Mex..  .  .Carlos  Arellano, 

.  New  York  City. 

Emerson  Brantingham  Co Rockford,  111 A.  T.  Jackson. 

Enfield  Pottery  &  Tile  Works Enfield,  Pa J.  H.  Dulles  Allen. 

Engineering  and  Mining  Journal Washington,  D.  C.. .  .Paul   Wooton. 

Engineering   News   Record New  York  City Charles   W.    Baker. 

Explorers  Club ...  .New  York  City Henry  C.  Walsh. 

Factory  Products  Corp New  York  City R.  del  Gallego. 

Frank  P.  Morgan, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Factory   Site   Commission. Baltimore,   Md Tunstall  Smith. 

Fairbanks,  Morse  &  Company New  York  City T.  T.  Bond. 

Allan  R.  Rea. 

Farmers  Fireside  Bulletin Arlington,  Texas W.  A.  Bowen. 

Fay's  Aliens  Bureau Boston,   Mass James  M.  G.  Fay. 

Federal   Reserve   Bank Boston,    Mass Frederic  H.  Curtiss. 

Films  of   Business New  York  City Joan   Calley    (Mrs. 

D.   M.). 

First    National    Bank Boston,   Mass Carl  S.  Wells. 

First    National    Bank Chicago,  111 John  J.   Arnold. 

First    National    Bank La  Junta,  Colo Robert  W.  Patterson. 

Flaherty  Co.,  Joseph Pittsburgh,   Pa.    : Joseph  Flaherty. 

Flemer,  Lewis   Washington,  D.  C.. .  .Lewis  Flemer. 

Flint  &   Company,   Inc New  York  City Charles  R.  Flint. 

Fontes  &  Company,  E.  G Rio  de  Janeiro, 

Brazil    Ernest  G.  Fontes. 

Fordham  University    New  York  City Edmund   J.    Burke. 

Foreign  Bond  &  Share  Corp New  York  City M.   Hely-Hutchinson. 

Fort  Dearborn  National  Bank Chicago,  •  111 Edward  N.  Heinz. 

Foster  &  Reynolds  Co.,  The New  York  City Ward   G.  Foster. 

Four  Wheel  Drive  Auto  Co.,  The Washington,  D.  C....R.  M.  Newbold. 

Fox  Bros.  &  Company New  York  City Adriano  Cobo. 

Frank   and   Pinera New  York  City Stuart  H.  Frank. 

F.  W.  D.  Auto  Company Washington,  D.  C....H.  H.  Dargin. 

Galcavecchia,  Aballi  &  Co New  York  City Charles  S.  Streva. 

Garfinkle   &   Company,   Julius. Washington,  D.  C.. .  Julius  Garfinkle. 

"Gary"  Motor  Truck  Co.,  The Gary,  Ind R.  A.   O'Donnell. 

Gaston,  Williams  &  Wigmore New  York  City Rea  Hanna. 

General   Drafting   Company New  York  City Ernest  Alpero. 

John  Edward  McGee. 

General  Motors  Acceptance  Corp New  York  City A.  Fredericks. 

General  Motors  Export  Company New  York  City H.  W.  Hunsberger. 

General  Products  Snipping  &  Peter  S.   Steenstrup. 

Trading  Corp Washington,  D.  C.. .  .  A.  A.  Glaze. 

New    Orleans,    La..  .  J.  Karl  Glessner. 
Washington,  D.  C....H.   P.  Merrill. 

General  Railway  Signal  Company New  York  City J.  W.  White. 

Georgetown   University    Washington,  D.  C....John   B.  Creeden. 

Georgetown  University  School 

of   Foreign   Service Washington,  D.  C.... Edmund  A.  Walsh. 

George  Washington  University Washington,  D.  C.. .  .Miss  Mary  Magruder. 

Gidding,  J.  M.  &  Company New  York  City Stuart  H.  Frank. 

J.  M.   Gidding. 

Glushanck  &  Hill New  York  City S.   A.   Glushanck. 

Gomez  &  Bros.,  C.   A.   Carlos,   Nicara- 
gua, C.  A New  York  City Pedro  G.  Rouhaud. 

Goodrich  Rubber  Company,  B.  F Akron,  Ohio  F.   E.   Titus. 

Goodyear  Tire  &  Rubber  Co.,  The Akron,  Ohio  Henry  E.  Coronado. 

Grace  &  Company,  W.  R New  York  City John  F.  Fowler. 

J.  Louis  Schaefer. 


410  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Graham  Paper  Company St.    Louis,    Mo A.  L.  Hawkins. 

Graham,  Rowe  &  Company New  York  City Inis  A.  Rey. 

Great  Lakes  Trust  Co Chicago,   111.   ........ W.  W.  Knees.si. 

Greeff  &  Company,  R.  W New  York  City G.  M.  Loly. 

Gceene,  Tweed  &  Co New  York  City. . H.  S.  Demarest. 

Griffin,  Chas.  E New  York  City Chas.    E.   Griffin. 

Guaranty  Trust  Co.  of  New  York New  York  City A.  H.  Baldwin. 

Willis  H.  Booth. 

Challen  R.  Parker. 
Guggenheim  Bros  New  York  City George  W.  Tower,  Jr. 

#aas,  John  L, 

(Hop  Merchant-Export-Import)    ...Washington,  D.  C....John  I.  Haas. 

Hackenberger  Co.,  B.  L Washington,  D.  C. .  .B.    L.    Hackenberger. 

Hansell  &  Sons,  Win.  S Philadelphia,  Pa George  W.  Hansell. 

Hard  &  Rand New  York  City John  W.  Edmonds. 

Hardware  Age    New  York  City Edward  H.  Darville. 

Harris,  Forbes  &  Co New  York  City Burnett  Walker. 

Harriss,  Magill  &  Co New  York  City 

Harvard  University  Cambridge,  Mass.  . .  .Wallace   W.   Atwood. 

Hazleton  Chamber  of  Commerce Hazleton,    Pa Walter   W.   Shultz. 

Heegstra,  Inc.,  H.  Walton, 

Merchandising — Advertising  Chicago,  111 Walton  W.  Heegstra. 

Henderson,  Wickham  &  Maiden Youngstown,  Ohio  ..John   P.   Barrett. 

Hercules  Engineering  Corp New  York  City Arturo  R.  Calvo. 

Hernandez,  Robinson  &  Co New  York  City J.  Howard  Eager. 

Hewlett  &  Rice Washington,  D.  C.. .  .Archie  Rice. 

Highway  Industrial  Assn Washington,  D.  C.. .  .Mrs.  C.  Montenyohl. 

H.  G.  Shirley, 

Towson,  Md. 

Hill  &  Co.,  Edmund  C Trenton,  N.  J Edmund  C.  Hill. 

Hispanic  American  Historical  Review.  .Washington,  D.  C — James  A.  Robertson. 

Holmes  &  Son,  Inc Washington,  D.  C.. .  .Leon  S.  Ulman. 

Holstein  Export  Assn.,  Shipper 

of  Dairy  Cattle  Herndon,   Va Geo.  R.  Bready. 

Holt  &  Co New  York  City J.  J.  Slechta. 

Hopkins  Syndicate   (Press) Washington,  D.  C.. .  .Randolph  D.  Hopkins 

Idaho,  State  of Boise,  Idaho  Gov.  D.  W.  Davis. 

Illinois   Manufacturers  Association Chicago,  111 D.  E.  Felt. 

John  M.  Glenn. 

Imbrie  &  Company New  York  City John  S.  Hammond. 

Indiana,  State  of Indianapolis,  Ind.  . .  .Fred  C.  Gardner. 

Henry  D.  Pierce. 
Insurance  Co.  of  North  America Richmond,  Va P.  C.  Cothron. 

U.  O.  Michaels. 

Interchurch  World  Movement New  York  City H.  F.   Laflamme. 

International  Boundary  Commissions. .  .Washington,  D.  C....J.  H.  Van  Wagener. 
International   Correspondence  Schools.  .Scranton,  Pa Dan  E.  Carpenter. 

N.  H.  Prouty. 

Santiago  B.  Reachy. 
International  General  Elec.  Co Schenectady,   N.  Y..  .E.  A.  Baldwin. 

Arnold  S.  Durrant, 

New  York  City. 
International  Mountain  Press  Service.  .Washington,  D.  C....  James  F.  Kelly. 

International  Planters  Corp.  of  N.  Y..  ..New  York  City R.  I.  Janer. 

International  Trade  Mark  Bureau Havana,  Cuba    Mario  Diaz  Irizar. 

International  Western  Elec.  Co New  York  City E.  M.  Garcia. 

J.  J.  Gilbert. 

J.  M.  Jewett. 

Iron  Age  Publishing  Co.,  The New  York  City Edward    H.    Darville. 

Iron  Trade  Review,   The Cleveland,   Ohio    ....M.  L.  Feiser. 


APPENDIX 


411 


Irving  National  Bank New  York  City Daniel  V.  Casey. 

C.  O.  Corwin. 

Wm.   Robert   Wilson. 

Irwin  Auger  Bit  Company,  The Wilmington,   Ohio    .  .S.  A.  Mitchell. 

Iselin  &  Company,  William New  York  City. . . 

Isherwood,  J.  W.,  Isherwood 

System  of  Ship  Construction New  York  City. . . 

Island  Petroleum  Company,  The Baltimore,  Md.    .. 


James   W.   Cromwell. 

J.  W.  Stewart. 
.Wm.  Werckenthien. 


Jaenecke-Ault  Co Newark,    N.    J Chas.  H.  Ault. 

Jeffrey  Mfg.  Co.,  The Columbus,  Ohio Malcolm  D.  Jeffrey. 

Jelleff,   Inc.,  Frank  R Washington,  D.  C.. . . Frank  R.   Jelleff. 

Johns   Hopkins   University Baltimore,  Md M.  Badillo. 

Johns-Manville  Co.,  H.  W New  York  City J.  A.  Myler. 

C.  W.  Nagel, 

Chicago,  111. 
Johnson  &  Johnson New  Br'nswick,  N.  J.  Gonzalo  O'Neill. 


Karminski  &  Co.,  Inc.,  Victor  E New  York  City. . . 

Kellogg  Switchboard  &  Supply  Co Chicago,  111 

Kerr  Steamship  Co.,  Inc New  York  City. . . 

Kilbourne  &  Jacobs  Mfg.  Co Columbus,  Ohio  . . 

Kirstein   Sons  Company,  E Rochester,  N.  Y..  . 

K — P  Corporation   New  York  City. . . 


.Victor  E.  Karminski. 
.David  J.  Gillespie. 
.Victor  M.  Smith. 
J.  R.  Kilbourne. 
.Miss  Emma  J.  Baird. 
.Luis  F.  Corea. 


La  Compagnie  Sirene Washington,  D.  C. 

La   Hacienda Buffalo,  N.  Y 

Lakewood  Engineering  Company Cleveland,  Ohio  .  . 


"La  Nacion"  of  Buenos  Aires, 

Argentina    New  York  City 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 

"La  Nacion"  of  Santiago,  Chile New  York  City. . . 

"La  Prensa"  de  Nueva  York New  York  City 

La  Suisse  Import  &  Export  Co New  York  City. . . 

Latin  American  Press  Association Washington,  D.  C. 

Leach  &  Co.,  Inc.,  A.  B New  York  City. . . 

Lester   Piano   Company New  York  City. . . 

Philadelphia,  Pa.  . 

Lewery  &  Co.,  Inc.,  L.  J New  York  City. . . 

Liberty  Export  &  Import  Corp New  York  City. . . 


Lille,  Chamber  of  Commerce  of Lille,  France 

Lincoln  Memorial  University New  York  City. . . 

Lindemann  &  Hoverson  Co.,  A.  J Milwaukee,  Wis.    . 

Lloyd  Brasileiro   New  York  City. . . 

Los  Angeles  Chamber  of  Commerce.  ..  .Los  Angeles,  Cal.. 


Louisiana  State  Board  of  Health New  Orleans,  La.. 

Louisiana,  State  of   Baton  Rouge,  La.. 

Lucey  Manufacturing  Co New  York  City. . . 

Luthi  &  Company,  F.  C New  York  City. . . 


.D.  Paniagua-B. 

.Dr.  J.  H.  T.  Stempel. 

.Lloyd  Brown. 

Charles  A.  Cleaver, 
(Washington,  D.  C.) 

Charles  F.  Lang. 

Roy  G.  Owens. 

.W.  W.  Davies. 
Tomas  E.  Stephens. 
.  Severo  Salcedo. 
.Alfredo  vdH.  Collao. 
.Ludwig  Kissel. 
.Jose    Tible    Machado. 
.Alfred  O.  Corbin. 
.D.  R.  Martinez. 

!C.  W.  Sutton. 
.F.  N.  Grifford. 
Theodore  May. 
.C.  O.  P.  Langlais. 
John  Wesley  Hifl. 
.A.   J.   Lindemann. 
J.  Marcal. 
.Reese  Llewellyn. 
Watt  L.  Moreland. 
Sylvester  L.  Weaver. 
.Oscar  Dowling. 
.R.  G.  Pleasant. 
.Dwight  W.  Fisher. 

Washington,  D.  C. 
.C.  Grand  Pierre. 


McGlellan  &  Campion   Philadelphia,  Pa Wm.  McClellan. 

McClintic-Marshall  Corp New  York  City H.  C.  Walton. 


412 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


McGraw-Hill  Company 


Maine,   State  of 

Maldonado  &  Co.,  Inc. 
Manning,  Maxwell  & 
Manufacturers  Record 
Manufacturing  Agency 
Marbleloid  Company  . 
Marine  Iron  Works.  . 


New  York  City .... 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Philadelphia,  Pa 

Washington,  D.  C.. 

New  York  City. 

New  York  City. .. . 

New  York  City. ..  . 

New  York  City. .. . 

Washington,  D.  C.. 

New  York  City. .. . 

New  York  City. .. . 

Baltimore,  Md.  .  . . 

Augusta,  Maine  . . . 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Moore New  York  City. . . . 

Baltimore,  Md.  .  . . 

Washington,  D.  C. . 

Washington,  D.  C.. 

Chicago,  111 


Marquette  University    Milwaukee,  Wis.  . 

Maryland,   State  of Baltimore,   Md.    .. 

Massachusetts  Agricultural  College Amherst,  Mass.  .. 

Matlock  Coal  &  Iron  Corp New  York  City. . . 

Maxwell  &  Chalmers  Motor  Co Detroit,   Mich.    .  . . 

May  Manton  Fashions New  York  City.  . . 

Mediterranean  Trading  Co.,  Inc New  York  City. . . 

Mengel  &  Bro.  Co.,  C.  C Louisville,  Ky.  . . . 


Mengel  Box  Company Louisville,  Ky.  .  . . 

Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas New  York  City.  . . 


Mercantile  Trust  Co 

Merchants  Assn.  of  New  York,  The. 

Merchants  and  Manufacturers  Assn.. . 
Merchants  and  Manufacturers  Assn.. 

Messer  Company,  Wm 

Methodist  Episcopal   Church 


St.  Louis,  Mo 

New  York  City. . . 


Baltimore.   Md. 
Washington,  D. 
New  York  City. 
•New  York  City. 


Metio  or  French-Indian  Council 

Metio  Fur-hunters  Co-operative  Assn. 

Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Co 

Mexico,  American  Chamber 

of  Commerce  of 

Mexican  Fibre  Producers  Assn.,  The. 
Mexican  Herald   


•Chicago,  111.   .  . 
Chicago,  111.   .  .. 
•New  York  City, 


Mexican  Telegraph  Co. 
Michigan,  State  of 


New  York  City. 
New  York  City. 
Mexico  City  .  .. 

•  New  York  City. 
•Lansing,  Mich.  . 


Miller  Rubber  Company,  The. 
Minneapolis  Civic  and 

Commercial  Association. 
Minneapolis  Steel  Co.,  The.  . 
Minnesota,    State   of 


Akron,   Ohio 


.Wingrove  Bathon. 
.W.   L.   Campbell. 
.Morris  H.  Glazer. 
.Lewis  F.  Gordon. 
.Verne  Leroy  Havens. 
.Frederic  W.  Hume. 
.James  H.  McGraw. 
.Robert  H.  May. 
J.  Malcolm  Muir. 
.D.  MacGregor  Stern. 
.Allyn  G.  Whitehead. 
..Gov.   C.    E.    Milliken. 
.Ferd.    B.   Maldonado. 
John  N.  Derby. 
.Richard  H.  Edmonds. 
.A.  S.  Lindstrom. 
J.  M.  Baldwin. 
.W.  Stimson  Barnes. 

Mrs.  A.  L.  Barnes. 
.M.   W.    Thompson. 
.A.  S.  Goldsborough. 
.E.  M.  Lewis. 
.Cipriano  Andrade,  3d. 
.Walter  M.  Anthony. 
.Geo.    C.    Bladworth. 
.Charles  F.  Hauss. 
.R.  M.  Cunningham. 
(Washington,  D.  C.) 

D.  C.  Harris. 
.R.  M.  Cunningham, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
James   F.  Caslin. 

V.  Gonzales. 

Alfred  Meyer. 

Frank  J.  R.  Mitchell. 

Walter  S.  Penfield, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Walter  Seligman. 
Jack  Suckermann. 

Festus  J.  Wade. 

•  .Wm.  L.  Fish. 

Wm.  H.  Mahoney. 

•  -A.   S.  Goldsborough. 

•  -M.  A.  Leese. 

•  -Peter  Messer. 

•  -Harry  Farmer. 

Bishop  W.  F.  Oldham 
William  H.  Teeter. 

•  -Major  H.  .T.  .Taxon. 

•  -Major  H.  J.  Taxon. 

•  -Louis  I.  Dublin. 

•  •  tames   Carson. 

•  J.    N.    Zermeno. 

•  -Paul  Hudson, 

Washington.  D.  C. 

•  -B.  H.  Reynolds. 

•  -Louis  J.  Rosenbere. 

Detroit,  Mich. 
•  •C.  E.  Wagner. 


Minneapolis,  Minn. 
New  York  Citv.  . .  . 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 


,C.  S.  Langdon. 
.C.  W.  Haddon. 
•C.  G.  Langdon. 


APPENDIX  413 

Mississippi,  State  of Jackson,  Miss F.  G.  Wisner, 

Mississippi   Industrial   Institute  and  Laurel,   Miss. 

State  College  for  Women Columbus,   Miss Lina  B.  Ellington, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Mississippi   Valley   Association Paris,   Texas    R.  D.  Bowen. 

New  Orleans,  La A.  E.  Pradillo. 

Mississippi  Valley  Trust  Co St.  Louis,  Mo Thos.  J.  Kavanaugh. 

Mississippi  Valley  Waterways  Assn St.  Louis,  Mo James  E.  Smith. 

Mobile,  City  of Mobile,  Ala John  M.  McDuffie. 

Monongah  Glass  Co Fairmont,   W.  Va.. .  .Tobe  Blumenthal. 

Montgomery  Ward  &  Co Chicago,  111 F.  Plaza. 

Monument   Paint   Co Indianapolis,  Ind.   ...H.W.Adams. 

Moore  &  McCormack  Co.,  Inc New  York  City A.  V.  Moore. 

Morgan's  Sons  Co.,  Enoch New  York  City Lewis  H.  Lipman. 

Morris,  A.  J New  York  City Louis  C.  Carpenter. 

Morris  &  Company Chicago,  III G.  A.  Carlsen. 

Douglas  F.  O'Brien. 

Morrison  &  Co.  (of  Chile,  S.  A.) New  York  City Charles  Henry  Lee. 

Mosaic  Tile  Co.  of  Zanesville,  Ohio New  York  City Herbert  A.  Ritchings. 

Motor  &  Accessory  Mfgrs.  Assn New  York  City M.  L.  Heminway. 

Muller  Mfg.  Co.,  H Decatur,  111 C.  T.  Ford, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Munson   Steamship   Line. New  York  City Frank  C.  Munson. 

Musher  &  Company Washington,  D.  C....N.  Musher. 


Nagle   Steel   Co Pottstown,  Pa Victor  E.   Karrainski. 

Nartzik,  J.  J.,  Veneer  Manufacturers. .  .Chicago,  111 Harry  L.  Doty. 

Nash  Motors  Co.,  The Kenosha,  Wis John  A.  Rose. 

National  Aniline  &  Chemical  Co.,  Inc..  .New  York  City F.  W.  Northridge,  Jr. 

National  Assn.  of  Credit  Men .  .New  York  City B.  B.  Tregoe. 

National  Assn.  of  Manufacturers New  York  City George  S.  Boudinot. 

James  A.  Emery, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Nathan  B.  Williams, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
National  Assn.  for  Protection 

of  American  Rights  in  Mexico New  York  City C.  H.  Boynton. 

National  Bank  of  Commerce New  York  City J.  B.  Putnam. 

National    City    Bank New  York  City John  H.  Allen. 

Charles  F.  McHale. 

Jose  Romero. 

Arthur  H.  Titus. 

Frederick  Todd. 

F.  A.  Vanderlip. 

National  City  Company New  York  City Frederic  M.  Halsey. 

National   Council   of   American 

Cotton   Manufacturers    Washington,  D.  C.... Louis  H.  Warner. 

National   Credit  Office New  York  City James  Allen  Sweet. 

National  Emergency  Bureau  of 

the  Wooden  Box  Industry Washington,  D.  C..  . .  J.  C.  Nellis. 

National  Foreign  Trade  Council New  York  City O.  K.  Davis. 

National  Implement  and  Vehicle  Assn.  .Chicago,   111 E.  W.  McCullough. 

National  Machine  Tool  Builders'  Assn.. Worcester,  Mass.    ...Chas.  E.  Hildreth. 

National    Magazine    Boston,   Mass Joe  Mitchell  Chappie. 

National  Paper  &  Type  Co New  York  City James  Carson. 

C.  C.  Martin. 

H.  H.  Meyer. 

R.  W.  Orcutt. 

National  Park  Bank 4 New  York  City George  H.  Kretz. 

National  Petroleum  Assn Washington,  D.  C..  .  -Fayette  B.  Dow. 

National  Railways  of  Mexico New  York  City .F.  P.  deHoyos. 

National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress. Washington,  D.  C...'.S.  A.  Thompson. 


414  SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 

Nevada,   State  of Carson  City,   Nev. . . .  C.  B.  Henderson, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Newark    Public    Library Newark,  N.  J John  Cotton  Dana. 

New  England  Coal  &  Coke  Co Boston,  Mass Henry    S.  Lyons. 

New  England  Fuel  &  Trans.  Co Boston,   Mass Henry   S.  Lyons. 

New  Hampshire,    State  of Concord,    N.    H George  L.  Whitford, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

New  Jersey  Zinc  Co New  York  City W.  P.  Harden- 

bergh,  Jr. 

New  Mexico,  State  of Sante  Fe,  N.  Mex.. .  .Dr.  S.  M.  Johnson, 

Glencoe,   N.   Mex. 

New  Orleans  Assn.  of  Commerce New  Orleans,  La F.  Brenegley. 

Col.  Wm.  C.  Dufour. 

E.  B.  Harrington. 
W.  W.  Ingalls,  Jr. 

F.  B.  Pearce. 
A.  E.  Pradillo. 
F.  G.  Prat. 

New  Orleans  Board  of  Trade New  Orleans,  La T.  F.  Cunningham. 

New  Orleans,  City  of New  Orleans,  La William  Allen, 

(Washington,  D.  C.) 

M.  Behrman. 

Carl  Giesson. 

C.  A.  Tessier,  Jr. 
New  Orleans  Steamship  Assn New  Orleans,  La Chas.  Harrington. 

E.  E.  Lamberton. 
N.  O.  Pedrick. 

F.  G.  Prat. 

New  Orleans   Stock  Exchange New  Orleans,  La! E.  M.  Huger. 

New  Orleans  Sugar  and  Rice  Exchange. New  Orleans,  La Bishop  Perkins. 

Newport  News  Ship.  &  Drydock  Co.. .  -Newport  News,  Va..  .H.   L.    Ferguson. 

New  York  &  Cuba  Mail  S.  S.  Co New  York  City W.  F.  Paton. 

New  York,  Chamber  of 

Commerce  of  the  State  of New  York  City J.  Barstow  Sniull. 

New  York  Commercial,  The New  York  City W.    E.   Aughinbaugh. 

Arthur  W.  Crawford, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

New  York  Herald Washington,  D.  C..  .  .Thomas  G.  Alvord. 

New  York,  State  of Albany,  N.  Y William  H.  Todd, 

New  York  City. 
New  York  Sun New  York  City Theo  Lowe. 

H.  Randolf  Schmitt. 

New  York,  University  of  the  State  of.. Albany,  N.  Y Dr.  A.   S.  Downing. 

New  York  World New  York  City Robert  H.  Murray, 

Mexico  City,  Mex. 

Niagara  Fire  Insurance  Company New  York  City James  C.  Maconachy. 

Nickerson  &  Collins  Co Chicago,.  Ill J.  F.  Nickerson. 

Niles-Bement-Pond  Co Hartford.    Conn M.  B.  Moore. 

Noel  News  Service New  York  City John  V.  Noel. 

Nordman  &  Co.,  J.  J Pittsburgh,   Pa J.  J.  Nordman. 

Norfolk  &  Washington  Steamboat  Co.. -Washington,  D.  C....D.  J.  Callahan. 
Norfolk  Chamber  of  Commerce 

— Board  of  Trade Norfolk,   Va .Barton  Myers. 

Fergus  Reid. 

I.  Walke  Truxton. 

Noriega  del  Valle  &  Co.,  Inc New  York  City Leo  Weinberg. 

North  American  Wood  Products  Corp.  .New  York  City A.  Proctor  Smith. 

Northeast  Savings  Bank Washington,  D.  C..  . .  W.    Reginald   Lewis. 

Northern  Trust  Company— Bank,  The. -Chicago.   Ill Albert  W.   Billiard. 

Northwestern  Malleable  Iron  Co Milwaukee,  Wis Fred  L.  Sivyer. 


APPENDIX 


415 


Oakland  Chamber  of  Commerce Oakfield,  Cal. 


Ohio  Brass  Company,  The. 

Ohio  Falls  Iron  Co 

Ohio,    State   of 


Oklahoma,  State  of 


Oklahoma,  The  University  of. 


Orange  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
Orange,  Va.,  Observer 


Packard  Motor  Car  Co 

Panama  Railroad  Co 

Pan  American  Consular 

Association  of  Chicago. . 
Pan  American  Magazine.  . . . 
Pan  American  Petroleum 

&  Transport  Co 

Pan  American  Round  Table.  . 


Pan  American  Society  of  the  U.  S. 
Pan  American  Union. . 


Pan  American  Wireless  Tele- 
graph &  Telephone  Co.. . 


, . .  .George  A.  Ames. 
T.  R.  Christy. 
J.A.Elston,  M.C, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

D.  J.  Hanlon. 
W.  W.  Johnson. 
H.   S.  Robinson. 

.Mansfield,  Ohio Alfred  B.  Edes. 

New  Albany,  Ind Geo.  M.  Clark. 

Columbus,   Ohio    ...  .W.  S.  Rowe, 

Cincinnati,    Ohio. 

Oklahoma  City,  Okla.  C.   B.  Ames. 
J.  W.  Ballard, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Major  R.  A.  Billups, 
Tulsa,  Okla. 

C.  D.  Carter,  M.  C, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Scott  Ferris,  M.  C., 
Washington,  D.  C. 

T.  P.  Gore,  U.  S.  S., 
Washington,  D.  C. 

W.  W.  Hastings, 

M.C, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

E.  B.  Howard,  M.  C., 
Washington,  D.  C. 

B.  B.  Jones, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

J.  McClintic,  M.  C, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

T.  D.  McKeown, 

M.  C, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

D.  P.  Marum, 

Woodward,  Okla. 
D.  T.  Morgan,  M.  C., 
Washington,  D.  C. 
R.  L.  Owen,  U.  S.  S.. 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Houston  B.  Teehee, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
J.  B.  Thompson 

M.  C. 

Washington,  D.  C. 
.Oklahoma  City,  Okla.  Dr.  A.  B.  Adams, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

•  Orange,  Texas  H.    S.   L'Hommedieu. 

Orange,  Va Miss  B.  G.  Robinson. 

.New  York  City Fred  Cardway. 

.New  York  City E.    A.    Drake. 

.  Chicago,  111 B.  Singer. 

•  New  York  City Miss  G.  Mandujano. 

.New  York  City Norman  Bridge. 

.Tarrytown,  N.  Y Miss    J.    H.    Faverell. 

Miss  C.  E.  Mason. 

•  New  York  City John   S.   Prince. 

•  Washington,  D.  C. ...John  Barrett. 

Francisco    J.    Yanes. 
William  A.  Reid. 
William  C.  Wells. 
.New  York  City Edward  J.  Nally. 


416  SECOND  PAN   AMERICAN   COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

Pan   Union   Company New  York  City.  . .  . .  .C.  C.  Broan. 

Patton    Paint   Company New  York  City Harold  B.  Gregory. 

Peck  &  Co.,  William  E New  York  City JVlorris  B.  Bogart. 

Pellerin  Furniture  Co Jacksonville,   Fla.    ...M.   P.    Capen. 

Pelton  Water  Wheel  Co.,  The New  York  City Frederick  W.  Gay. 

Pennsylvania  A,  S.  League Philadelphia,  Pa J.  H.  Brandt. 

B.  L.  Scott, 

Pittsburgh,   Pa. 

Pennsylvania  Railroad  Co Philadelphia,  Pa George  D.  Dixon. 

Pennsylvania  Steel  Export  Co Philadelphia,  Pa Warren  W.  Baker. 

Peruvian  Copper  &  Smelting  Co New  York  City Jos.  A.  Vandergrift. 

Peruvian    Steamship   Co Ne,w  York  City Antonio  Fea. 

Petersburg,  Va.,  Chamber  of  Commerce. Petersburg,  Va William  M.  Martin. 

Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade Philadelphia,  Pa William  R.  Tucker. 

Philadelphia   Chamber  of   Commerce.  .  .Philadelphia,  Pa James  B.  Bonner. 

N.  B.  Kelly. 
Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum Philadelphia,  Pa Dudley  Bartlett. 

Horace  S.  Morrison. 

Wilfred  H.  Scott. 

W.  P.  Wilson. 

Philadelphia   Quartz    Co Philadelphia,  Pa J.  P.  Elkinton. 

Pictorial  Review  Company New  York  City Romulo  M.  De  Mora. 

Pillsbury  Flour  Mills  Co Minneapolis,  Minn.  .  .Walter  C.  Smith. 

Pittsburgh   Chamber  of  Commerce Pittsburgh,   Pa R.  J.  Seaman. 

Planographic  Equipment  Co.  of  N.  Y... Dover,    IM.    J Walter  B.  Pitkin. 

Portalis  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  of  Buenos  Aires.  .  .New  York  City Daniel  W.  Howland. 

Portland,  Ore.,  Chamber  of  Commerce. Portland,  Ore F.  A.  Douty. 

Pratt  &  Company,  Inc.,  E.  E New  York  City E.  E.  Pratt. 

Pratt  Engineering  &  Machine  Co New  York  City C.  A.  Murphey. 

Prudential   Insurance  Co Newark,  N.  J Fred.  L.  Hoffman. 

Public  Service  Traffic  Bureau  Co.,  The. Dayton,  Ohio  F.  W.  Aiken. 

Publishers  Association   New  York  City A.  C.  Pearson. 

Railway  Age    New  York  City Charles  W.  Foss. 

Ralston  Steel  Car  Co.,  The Columbus,   Ohio    . . .  .Creuzet  Vance. 

Read  Machinery  Co York,    Pa H.  Read. 

Recording  &  Computing 

Machine   Co.,   The Day-ton,  Ohio  Will  I.  Ohmer. 

Redfield-Kendrick-Odell   Co New  York  City E.  A.  Kendrick. 

Regal  Shoe  Co Boston,   Mass Henry  H.  Morse. 

Reiser,  Curioni  &  Carozzi New  York  City Albert  J.   Archibald. 

Rhoads  &  Sons,  J.  E Philadelphia,  Pa J.  E.  Rhoads  &  Sons. 

Rice   Institute,   The Houston,  Texas Edgar  Odell  Lovett. 

Robertson  Company,  H.  H Baltimore,   Md O.  O.  Robinson. 

Roebling's  Sons  Co.,  John  A New  York  City Walter  C.  Kretz. 

John  W.  Whelan, 

Washington,    D.    C. 
Rolled  Plate  Metal  Co New  York  City John  S.  Pendleton. 

Salmen  Lumber  Company New   Orleans,   La.. .  .Frederick  W.  Salmen. 

Salvage   Syndicates,   Inc Chicago,  111 C.  A.  Mann. 

Sanderson  &   Porter New  York  City Chas.  L.  Parmelee. 

San  Diego  Chamber  of  Commerce San   Diego,   Cal Dr.  H.  P.  Newman. 

Santa  Cecilia  Sugar  Corp New  York  City M.  H.  Lewis. 

Sauer  Company,  C.  F Richmond,   Va W.  H.  Leek. 

Savannah  Board  of  Trade Savannah,  Ga Charles   G.  Edwards. 

Schell  Chemical  Company,  Inc New  York  City H.  H.  Schell. 

Schiffmann  Company,  R St.  Paul,  Minn R.  J.  Schiffmann. 

Schneider  &  Cie  (Le  Creusot  Works)..  New  York  Branch.  .  .Edgard  Cassan, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

School  of  American  Research Santa  Fe,  N.  Mex.. .  .Edgar  L.   Hewett. 

Schwartz  &  Company,  Guatemala New  York  City Adolfo  Stahl. 

Scovil,   Inc.,   Medley New  York  City Medley   Scovil. 


APPENDIX:  4lf 

Seaman,  Inc.,  Frank New  York  City Lewis  G.  Muniz. 

Seattle   Chamber  of   Commerce Seattle,  Wash R.  A.  Ballinger. 

H.  C.  Cantetow. 

Second  Ward  Savings  Bank Milwaukee,    Wis.    ...Robert  M.  Lobanoff. 

Sharpies  Separator  Co.,  The West  Chester,   Pa....C.  M.  Burdette. 

Ralph  B.  Johnson. 

Silvex  Company,  The South  Bethlehem,  Pa.E.  T.  H.  Hutchinson. 

Smith  &  Co.,  Inc.,  Claude  M New  York  City O.  H.  Cushwa. 

F.   D.   Gearhart. 

V.  B.  Lund. 

Smith  Brokerage  Co.,  Herbert  W Chicago,  111 ...Herbert  S.  Smith. 

Smyth  Corporation,  The  R.  J New  York  City Robert  J.  Smyth. 

Solomon  Co.,  Inc.,  T.  M New  York  City T.  M.  Solomon. 

South  American  Land 

&  Development  Co Louisville,    Ky A.  L.  Davis. 

South  American  Publishing  Co New  York  City Wing  B.  Allen. 

South  Atlantic  Maritime  Corp Washington,  D.  C.... Frank  C.  Joubert. 

South  Carolina,  State  of Columbia,  S.  C N.  B.  Dial, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Robert  E.  Nickles, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Southern  Railway Washington,  D.  C. . .  .Emerson  Lucas. 

H.  Q.  McLean. 

T.  C.  Williams. 

Southern  Railroad  Lines.... New   Orleans,   La.. .  .Landon  B.  Smith. 

Southgate  &  Co.,  T.  S., 

Wholesale  Merchants   Norfolk,  Va 

Spang,   Chalfant  &  Co.,  Inc Pittsburgh,   Pa J.  S.  Thomas. 

Spanish  American  Bureau  of  Infor New  York  City...... 

Spanish  American  School  of  Languages. Philadelphia,  Pa B.  de  Quintero. 

Spanish  American  Trade  Journal,  The.. New  York  City Antonio  M.  Opisso. 

Spice  Mill  Publishing  Co.,  Inc New  York  City B.  F.  Simmons. 

Spokane  Chamber  of  Commerce Spokane,  Wash Jas.  A.  Ford. 

Standard  Daily  Trade  Service New  York  City Henry  Utley  Milne. 

Standard  Oil  Co.  of  New  York New  York  City F.  Taylor  Cause. 

Standard  Shipbuilding  Corp Schooler's  Island, 

Staten  Isl.,  N.  Y..  .Antonio  Caragol. 

Emilio  S.  Godoy. 
Standard  Statistics  Co.,  Inc New  York  City Luther  L.  Blake. 

William  Barrett  Cass. 

St.  Louis  Chamber  of  Commerce St.    Louis Sebastiao  Sampaio. 

St.  Louis  Commercial  News 

and    Labor   Gazette St.    Louis George  W.  Briggs. 

Stockton  &  Stockton New  York  City Chas.  W.  Stockton. 

Strange   Paper  Co.,  John Minasha,  Wis John  Strange. 

Swift  &  Company Chicago,  111 R.  D.  Rynder. 

A.  S.  Brant, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Synod  of  East  Pennsylvania Philadelphia,  Pa Silas  D.  Daugherty. 

Tabulating  Machine  Co.,  The New  York  City O.  E.  Braitmeyer. 

Henry  C.  Cole, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Tennessee  Manufacturers  Assn Chattanooga,   Tenn..  .John  L.  Newkirk,  Jr. 

Tennessee,   State  of, Nashville,  Tenn John  L.  Newkirk,  Jr., 

Chattanooga,   Tenn. 
Paul  J.  Krueso, 

Chattanooga,  Tenn. 

Texas  Chamber  of  Commerce Houston,  Texas   J.  S.  Cullinan. 

Texas  Company,  Mexico 

and  South  America Washington,  D.  C.. .  .Sherman  Ford. 

Texas   Company .New  York  City P.  Luna  y  Parra. 


418  SECOND  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

Texas,    State   of ; Austin,  Texas    Clay  Stone  Briggs, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Zach  Lamar  Cobb, 

El   Paso,  Texas. 

Thomas  &  Co.,  C.  K New  York  City Arthur  H.  Diamant. 

Thome  &  Co.,  Inc.,  John  W New  York  City E.  T.  Simondetti. 

Tiffany  &   Co New  York  City Dr.  George  F.  Kunz. 

Trading   Engineers,   Inc Chicago,  111 E.  J.  Stunning. 

D.  L.   Derrom. 

L.   Romero-Sanson. 

Trans  Ocean  Finance  Co.. . . New  York  City F.  N.  Grifford. 

Travel    Club   of   America New  York  City Henry  Collins  Walsh. 

Trinity  Press  Washington,  D.  C.. .  .G.  W.  Ayers. 

Tuck  &  Co.,  G.  O New  York  City R.  I.  Janer. 

Underwood  Typewriter  Co New  York  City C.  B.  Williams. 

Union  Bag  &  Paper  Corp New  York  City Albert  E.  Osborn. 

Union  Construction  Co Oakland,  Calif W.  W.  Johnson. 

Union  Trading  Co Buenos  Aires, 

Argentina Pablo  Roth. 

United   Fruit  Co Boston,   Mass Eugene  W.  Ong. 

United  Press   New  York  City Nobe  Taylor. 

United  States  Bulletin Washington,  D.  C M.  Fernandez 

dela  Regata. 
United  States  of  America,   Chamber 

of  Commerce  of Washington,  D.  C. . .  .Elliot  H.  Goodwin. 

Homer  L.  Ferguson, 
Newport  News,  Va. 
United  States  of  America,  Chamber 
of    Commerce   in   the   Argentine 

Republic  of  the Buenos  Aires, 

Argentina    A.  B.  Howard. 

M.  D.  Carrel, 

New  York  City. 

U.  S.  Cuban  Allied  Works  Eng.  Corp..  .New  York  City William  L.  D'Ober. 

United  States  Forwarding  Co New  York  City Dr.  Leopold   Perutz. 

U.  S.  Maritime  &  Development  Co Detroit,  Mich Sidney   Story. 

United  States  Rubber  Export  Co.,  Ltd.. Rio  de  Janeiro, 

Brazil    John   C.  Watson. 

United  States  Steel  Products  Co New  York  City T.  J.  Digan. 

H.  F.  Knapp, 

(Washington,  D.  C.) 
Pemberton   Smith. 
Eugene  P.  Thomas. 

Universal-Chemical  Sprinkler  Corp New  York  City James   S.  Dodge. 

Utah,    State   of Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. Reed  Smoot,  U.  S.  S. 

Vcro  Trading  Co.,  Inc New  York  City L.   S.   Moos. 

Virginia  Ship.  Corp.,  and  Wash- 
ington and  Old  Dominion  Railway. Washington,  D.  C... Colin  H.  Livingstone. 

Washington  Board  of  Trade Washington,  D.  C.... Milton  E.  Ailes. 

Charles  J.  Bell. 
Charles  S.  Douglas. 
Harry  V.  Haynes. 
D.  W.  Thayer. 

Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce. ..  .Washington,  D.  C....  Milton  E.  Ailes. 

J.  A.  Finigan. 
Robert  N.  Harper, 
H.  L.  Offutt,  Jr. 
Julius   I.   Peyser. 
Chas.  W.   Semmes. 
•Washington,  The  Public  Library Washington,  D.  C...Geo.  F.  Bowerman. 


APPENDIX  419 

Washington   Star    Washington,  D.  C. .  .A.  D.  Fairbairn. 

Wathen   Milling   Co Louisville,   Ky Geo.  A.  McCrann. 

Welsbach  Street  Lighting  Co.  of  A..  .  .Philadelphia,  Pa Frank  L.  Rumble. 

Wendt  Pub.  Co.,  W.  F Buffalo,  N.  Y W.  F.  Wendt. 

Wessel,  Duval  &  Co New  York  City G.  L.  Duval. 

Western  Pipe  &  Steel  Co.  of  Calif San  Francisco,  Calif.. J.  W.  Mason. 

Frederick    Thompson. 
West  Virginia  Coal  Operators'  Assn.. .  .Charleston,  W.  Va.. . J.  G.  Bradley. 

West  Virginia,  State  of Charleston,  W.  Va. . .  C.   C.   Dickinson, 

Maiden,  W.  Va. 

Wetten  &  Matthews Chicago,  111 Emil  C.  Wetten. 

Whaley-Eaton  Service Washington,  D.  C.t..A.  D.  Fairbairn. 

Wheeler,  Mechlin  &  Rhea New  York  City Frank  Rhea. 

Whitney-Central  National  Bank New  Orleans,  La Eugene   H.   Roberts. 

Wholesale   Grocery    Tampa,  Fla Col.  C.  H.  Spencer. 

Wilson   &   Co....; Chicago,  111. H.   M.  Howard. 

Winter  Co.,  The  M.  A Washington,  D.  C. .  .M.  A.  Winter. 

Winthrop  College  Rock  Hill,  S.  C D.  B.  Johnson. 

Wisconsin,    State    of Madison,    Wis.  ' Fred  L.  Sivyer. 

Milwaukee,   Wis. 

Theo.  O.  Vilter, 
Woman's  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 

National  and  International Washington,  D.  C.. . .  Mrs.  K.  C.  Gould, 

New  York  City. 

Wood  &  Co.,  Inc.,  Harry  C New  York  City  A.  H.  Beisel. 

World  Outlook   : New  York  City Willard  Price. 

Worthington  Pump  &  Machinery  Corp.  -New  York  City F.  T.  Fishwick. 

F.  H.  Jones. 

J.  E.  Sague. 

Charles  E.  Wilson. 

W.  B.  Jennings, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  International  Committee.  .New  York  City John  R.  Mott. 

York  Chamber  of  Commerce ..York,    Pa Arthur  B.  Farquhar. 

Youroveta  Home  &  Foreign 

Trade  Co.,  Inc -New  York  City L.  M.  Waurgaft. 

Y.  W.  C.  A.  National  Board New  York  City Miss  E.  Anderson. 

Miss   Persis  Breed. 

Miss  Katherine  Eddy. 

Miss  Edith  Keeley. 

Mrs.  J.  F.  Shepard. 

Zionist  Bureau Washington,  D.  C. . . .  A.  A.  Lustig. 


420 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  OVER  ONE  THOUSAND  INDIVIDUALS 

WHO  ACCEPTED  INVITATIONS  OR  REGISTERED 

AS  IN  ATTENDANCE. 


Acevedo,  Justo, 

Mexican  Commercial  Agent, 
71-73  Murray  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Ac  una,  Alberto, 

of  Chile, 

61  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Adams,  Dr.  A.  B., 

The  University  of  Oklahoma, 

Norman,  Oklahoma. 

Adams,  Howard  W.,  (Major,  U.  S.  A.), 
Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Add i ton,    Forrest, 

Chattahoochee  Furniture  Co., 

Flowery  Branch,  Georgia. 
Aiken,  F.  W., 

Public  Service  Traffic  Bureau  Co., 

Dayton,  Ohio. 
Ailes,  Mliton  E., 

Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Riggs  Bank,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Ajax   Rubber  Company,   Inc., 

222  West  57th  St.,  New  York  City. 
Albertson,  E.  J., 

War  Trade  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Albes,  C.  E., 

Acting  Editor,  English  Bulletin, 
Pan  American  Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Albrecht,  Charles, 

Asst.  to  Foreign  Trade  Adviser, 

Dept.  of  State,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Allen,  John  H., 

Vice  Pres.,  National  City  Bank, 

55  Wall  St..  New  York  City. 
Allen,  J.  H.  Dulles, 

President,  Enfield  Pottery  and  Tile 
Works, 

Enfield,  Pa. 
Allen,  William, 

Representing  New  Orleans, 

1111  Munsey  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Allen,  Wing  B., 

Publisher,  South  American  Publish- 
ing Co., 

310  Lexington  Avenue, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Alpers,  Ernest, 

General   Drafting   Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

•Alvarez    Calderon,   Carlos, 

New  Rochelle,  N.  Y. 


Alves  de  Lima,  J.  C., 

Consul  General  Inspector  of  Brazil 
Consulates, 

528  W.  136th  Street, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Alvord,  T.  G. 

Correspondent,  New  York  Herald, 
1834  Columbia  Road, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Amador,  J., 

Aguascalientes,    Mexico. 
American   Society  of   Mechanical    En- 
gineers, 

29  W.  39th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Ames,  Hon.  C.  B., 

Oklahoma  City]  Oklahoma. 
Ames,  C.  B., 

Foreign  Freight  Forwarders,  Davies, 
Turner  &  Co., 

39  Pearl  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Ames,  Edward  W.,  Exporter, 
American  Steel  Export  Co., 

233  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Ames,  George  A., 

President,  Moore  Shipbuilding  Co., 
Oakland  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Oakland,  Cal. 
Anchorena,  Ingeniero  Jacinto, 

Care  Argentine  Consul  General, 
17  Battery  Place, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Anderson,  Miss  Esther, 

National  Board  of  Y.  W.  C.  A., 
600  Lexington  Ave., 

New  York  City. 
Anderson,  Bobbins  B., 

Acting  Manager,   Insular  and  For- 
eign Division,  A.  R.  C., 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 
Andrade,  Cipriano,  3rd., 

Foreign    Dept.,    Matlock    Coal    and 
Iron  Corporation, 

52  Vanderbilt  Ave., 

New  York  City,  N.  Y. 
Andrews,  Kenneth, 

Managing   Editor,   "La   Revista   del 
Mundo," 

Doubleday,  Page  &  Co., 
120  West  32nd  St., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Anthony,  Walter  M., 

Treasurer,  Maxwell  Motor  Co.,  Inc., 
1808  Broadway,  New  York. 
Archibald,  Albert  J., 

American  Representative  and  Buyer, 
Reiser,   Curioni  &  Carozzi, 

52  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


APPENDIX 


421 


Arellano,  Carlos, 

of  Mexico,  McAlpin  Hotel, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Arellano,  Guillermo, 
Mexico,  D.  R, 

Mexico. 
Arenales,  Alfonso, 

Student,  1533  Eye  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Arias,  Abdiel, 

Vice  Consul,  Republic  of  Panama, 

Baltimore,  Md. 
Arnold,  Eugene  F. 

Attorney  and  Counsellor  at  Law, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Arnold,  John  J., 

Vice  Pres.,  First  National  Bank  of 
Chicago, 

Chicago,    111. 
Aughinbaugh,  William   E., 

Editor,  The  New  York  Commercial, 
611  West  27th  St., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Ault,  Chas.  H., 

Jaenecke-Ault  Co., 

Newark,  N.  J. 
Ayers,  G.  W., 

Publisher,  Trinity   Press, 

55  Home  Life  Bldg., 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Babcock,  Charles  'E. 

Acting  Lib.,  Columbus  Memorial 
Library, 

Pan  American  Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Badillo,  M., 

Johns  Hopkins  University, 

Baltimore,  Md. 

Baer,  Carlyle  S., 

Consul  of  Haiti,  Chicago, 

305  N.  Bloomington  St.,  Streator,  111. 

Bailey,  Linus  M., 

Business  Representative  Bureau, 
429  Munsey  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Baird,  Emma  J., 

Export  Mgr.,  E.  Kirstein  Sons  Co., 
Cor.  Franklin  and  Andrews, 

Rochester,  N.  Y. 
Baker,  Warren  W., 

President,    Pennsylvania    Steel    Ex- 
port Co., 
640  Widener  Bldg.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Baker,   Charles   Whiting, 

Consulting  Engineer, 

31  Nassau  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Baker,  Sherman, 

Commander,  U.  S.  Navy,  Navy  De- 
partment  (Operations), 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Baldwin,  A.  H., 

Foreign    Trade    Bureau,    Guaranty 
Trust  Co., 

40  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Baldwin,  E.  A., 

Dept.  Manager,  Int.  Gen.  Elect.  Co., 
Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
Baldwin,  J.    M., 

Marbleoid  Company, 

711  13th  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Ballard,  Hon.  J.  W., 

Representing  State  of  Oklahoma, 
Care  Senator  R.  L.  Owen, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Ballinger,   R.  A., 

Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Seattle,  Washington. 
Bankell,  George  W., 

Foreign  Freight  Contractors,  D.  C. 
Andrews  &  Co.,  Inc. 

27  Water  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Bard,  Dr.  H.  E., 

Secretary,  Argentine   American 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Baringer,  Daniel   Moreau, 

Consulting    Mining    Engineer    and 
Geologist, 
1242  Real  Estate  Trust  Bldg., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Barnard,  Chas.  B.. 

153  N.  Carolina  Ave.,  S.  E., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Barnes,  Mrs.  A.  L., 

Marine  Iron  Works, 

Chicago,  111. 
Barnes,  W.  Stimson, 

Secretary,  Marine  Iron  Works, 

2036  Dominick  St.,  Chicago,  111. 
Barr,  R.  F.f 

U.  S.  Shipping  Board, 

909  13th  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Barranco,  Augustine  P., 
Lawyer, 

31  Nassau  St.,  New  York  City. 

Barrera  Guerra,  Servando, 


Third  Sec.  of  the  Mexican  Embassy, 
Barrett,  John, 


Washingto 


Ltnoassy, 
n,  D.  C. 


Direc.  Genl.  Pan  American  Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Barrett,  John  P., 

Attorney,    Henderson,    Wickham    & 
Maiden, 

232  Lincoln  Ave., 

Youngstown,   Ohio. 
Barrett,    Nelson    N., 

Care  of  M.  M.  Upson, 

Englewood,  N.  J. 


422 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Barrett,    Robert   S., 

Portalis  &  Co.,  Ltd., 

Buenos   Aires,   Argentina. 
Bartlett,   Dudley, 

Chief,  Foreign  Trade  Bureau,  The 
Commercial  Museum, 
34th  St.,  below  Spruce  St., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Bassett,   Herbert, 

Research  Asst.,  War  Trade  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Bathon,  Wingrove, 

Correspondent,   McGraw-Hill   Engi- 
neering Publications, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Batista,  'Eugene, 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Beecroft,  David, 

Directing   Editor,   The   Class   Jour- 
nal Co., 

239  West  39th  St.,  New  York  City. 
Beem,  J.  S., 

West  Indies  and  Caribbean  Trades, 
U.  S.  Shipping  Board, 
1726  Willard  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Behrman,  Martin 

Mayor,  City  of  New  Orleans, 
228  Pelican  Ave.,  New  Orleans,  La. 
Belden,  L.  H., 

Latin      American      Division,      War 
Trade  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Bell,  Charles  J., 

American  Security  &  Trust  Co., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Bengoechea,  Ramon, 

Consul  General  of  Guatemala, 

12  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Bennett,  Claude  S., 

Congressional  Information  Bureau, 

Southern  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Bennett,  Fred  S., 

William  L.  Barrell  Co., 

8  Thomas  St.,  New  York  City. 
Bensabat,  Leon  N., 

Mfrs.  Agent  and  Importer, 
Care  H.  W.  St.  John  &  Co., 

37  Pearl  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Betts,  H.  S., 

Mechanical   Engineer,   Forest   Serv- 
ice, Department  of  Agriculture, 

930  F  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Billups,  Major  Richard  A., 

Tulsa,   Oklahoma. 
Bladworth  Geo.  C., 

May    Manton   Fashions, 
530  West  113th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Blake,  Luther  L., 

Pres.,  Standard  Statistics  Co.,  Inc., 
47  West  St.,  New  York  City. 


Blanchet,  Albert, 

Secretary  of  Legation  of  Haiti, 

1440  R  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Blumenthal.  Tobe, 

Monongah  Glass  Co., 

Fairmont,  W.  Va. 
Bogart,  Morris  B., 

Manager  of  the  River  Plate  Dept., 
William  E.  Peck  &  Co., 

104  Pearl  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Bolles,  A.  Eugene, 

Manager,  "La  Revista  del  Mundo/' 
Doubleday,  Page  &  Co., 
120  W.  32nd  St.,  New  York  City. 

Bond,  T.  T., 

Manager,  Traffic  Department,  Fair- 
banks, Morse  &  Co., 

30  Church  St.,  New  York  City. 
Bonet,  P.  A., 

Commercial    Attache,    Cuban    Lega- 
tion, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Bonner,   James   B., 

Director,    Philadelphia    Chamber    of 
Commerce, 

1734  Widener  Bldg., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Boomer,  R.  De  F. 

Boomer  &  Co.,  Inc., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Booth,  W.   H., 

Vice  President,  Guaranty  Trust  Co., 
140  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Boselli,   Louis, 

Importer   of   Panama   Hats,    Boselli 
Jeramaz  Co., 

15  N.  4th  St.,  Paterson,  N.  J. 
Boudinot,  George  S., 

National  Assn.  of  Manufacturers, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Bowdry,  J.  S., 

Employee  Panama  Canal, 
Mrs.  T.  S.  Bowdry, 

Ancon,  Canal  Zone,  Box  155. 
Bowen,  R.  D., 

Director,  Mississippi  Valley  Assn., 

Paris,  Texas. 
Bowen  W.  A., 

Farmers'  Fireside  Bulletin, 

Arlington,  Texas. 
Bowerrnan,  George  F., 

Librarian,  The  Public  Library, 

Washington,  D.  C, 
Boynton,  C.  H., 

Executive    Director    for    Protection 
of  American  Rights  in  Mexico, 

347  5th  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Bradley,  J.  G., 

Pres.,    West    Virginia    Coal    Opera- 
tors' Association, 

Charleston,  W.  Va. 


APPENDIX 


423 


Bradner,   James    P., 

Major,  U.  S.  A., 

4th  and  Missouri  Ave., 

Washington,  D.  C 
Braitmeyer,  O.   E., 

Assistant     General     Manager,     The 
Tabulating  Machine   Co., 

50  Broad  St.,  New  York  City. 

Brande,   Frank  A., 

The    Coastwise    Ship    Building    Co., 
Wooden  Ship  Building, 
Foot  of  Andre  St.,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Brandt,   J.    H., 

Pennsylvania  A.  S.  League, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Brant,  A.  S., 

Office  Manager,  Swift  &  Co., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Braunecker,   Miss   Elizabeth, 

Bureau    of    Research,    War    Trade 
Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Bready.    Geo.    R., 

Breeder   and    Dealer    in    pure    bred 
Holsteins,  Holstein  Export  Assn., 
Shipper  of  Dairy  Cattle, 

Herndon,  Va. 
Breed,   Miss  Persis, 

National  Board  of  Y.  W.  C.  A., 
600  Lexington  Ave., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Brenegley,    F., 

Assistant   Cashier,   Commercial   Na- 
tional  Bank, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Bridge,  Norman, 

Pan      American      Petroleum      and 
Transport  Co., 

120  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Briggs,  Hon.  Clay  Stone, 
M.  C.  from  Texas, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Briggs,  George  W., 

Publisher,     St.     Louis     Commercial 
News  and  Labor  Gazette, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Broan,  C.  C., 

President,  Pan  Union  Company, 

150  Nassau  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Brodex,  C.  R., 
New  Willard, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Brogstodt,   Harry, 

Montgomery  City,  Mo. 
Brower,  Jule  F., 

Consul    General   of   Guatemala   and 
Honduras, 

Chicago,   111. 
Brown,  Charles   Paul, 

Lawyer,  Brown  &  Cooksey, 

10  Wall  St.,  New  York  City. 


Brown,    Henry   G., 

Blair,  Parke  Coal  &  Coke  Co., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Brown,  Jr.,  J.  R., 
Publisher, 

Cobleskill,  N.  Y. 
Brown,   Lloyd, 

Vice  President,  Lakewood  Engineer- 
ing Co., 

Berea  Road,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Brownlow,   Hon.   Louis, 

President    Board   of    District   Com- 
missioners, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Brownson,    H.   L. 

Verdon,  Nebraska. 
Bruere,   Henry, 

The  American  Metal  Co.,  Limited, 

61  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Brunning,  E.  J., 

Trading   Engineers,   Inc., 

1641  Edison  Bldg.,  Chicago,  111. 
Bryan,  J.   Wallace, 

Consular  Agent  of  Peru, 

1306  Continental  Bldg., 

Baltimore,  Md. 
Bryson,   F.   H., 

Washington  Mgr.,  Eugene  Dietzgen 
Company, 

407  10th  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Bryson,   W.   A., 

1002  M  St.,  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Bullard,  Albert  W., 

Vice  President,  The  Northern  Trust 
Company  Bank, 

50  South  La  Salle  St., 

Chicago,  111. 
Bunster,   Enrique  L., 

Chilean  Embassy,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Burdette,  C.   M., 

Vice  President  and  General  Mana- 
ger, The  Sharpless  Separator  Co., 
West  Chester,  Pa. 
Burke,  'Edmund   J., 

Fordham    University, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Burlingham,  Wm., 

Vice  President,  Adams,  Lovell,  Bur- 
lingham, Inc.,  Marine  Engineers, 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Busel,  A.   H., 

Harry  C.  Wood  &  Co.,  Inc., 

2  Rector    St.,   New   York. 
Bustos,    Enrique, 

Consul  of  Chile,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Butler,   Paul, 

Paper,  J.  W.  Butler  Paper  Co., 
223  West  Monroe  St.,  Chicago,  111. 

Butler,   Sheldon    L., 
War  Trade  Board,  Washington,  D.  C. 


424 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Calderon,  Sr.  Don   Ignacio, 

E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Bolivia, 
1633  Sixteenth  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Callahan,    D.    J., 

Second  Vice  Pres.  and  Genl.  Mgr., 
Norfolk  and  Washington   Steam- 
boat Co., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Galley,  Mrs.  Joan, 

Washington    Representative,    Films 
of  Business, 
Candler  Bldg.,  220  W.  42nd  St., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Calvo,  Arturo  R., 

Vice  Pres.,  Hercules  Engr.  Corp., 

501  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York  City. 
Calvo  y  Arias,  Rafael, 
Consul  of  Mexico, 
1207  Munsey  Bldg.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Camacho,  Manuel  de  J. 

Consul  Genl.  of  the  Dominican  Rep., 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Cambouri,  Manuel, 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cameron,  Harry  Frank, 

Lieut.-Col.  Engineers,  U.  S.  A., 
Room  2750  Munition  Bldg., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Campbell,  W.  L., 

McGraw-Hill  Co., 
935  Real  Estate  Trust  Bldg., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Cantelow,  H.  C., 

Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Seattle,   Wash. 
Capen,    M.    P., 

Pellerin  Furniture  Co., 

930  West  Union  St., 

Jacksonville,  Fla. 
Caperton,  William   Banks, 

Rear  Admiral,  United  States  Navy, 
Army  and  Navy  Club, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Caragol,  Antonio  B., 

Treasurer      Standard     Shipbuilding 
Corporation, 

Schooler's  Island, 

Staten  Island,  N.  Y. 
Cardway,  Fred, 

Mgr.,  Foreign  Distribution  Offices, 
Packard  Motor  Car  Co., 
1861  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Carlsen,    G.    A., 

Asst.  Foreign  Mgr.,  Morris  &  Co., 
Chicago,  111. 
Carpenter,   Dan    E., 

Intrl.  Correspondence  Schools, 

Scranton,  Pa. 
Carpenter,    Louis   C., 

Ocean    Freight    Contractor,    Traffic 
Manager,  A.  J.  Morris, 
44  Whitehall  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


Carr,    Herbert   J., 

Carr   Brothers, 

65  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Carr,  Wilbur  J., 

Director    of   the    Consular    Service, 
Department  of   State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Carrel,  M.  D., 

American   International   Corp., 
Room  3714,   120  Broadway, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Carrington,  J.  B., 

Representing  State  of  Alabama, 

Anniston,   Ala. 
Carrizosa,  Camilo, 

Mgr.,  G.  Amsinck  &  Co.,  Inc., 

90  Wall  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Carroll,  Mitchell, 

Art  and  Archaeology — The  Octagon, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Carson,  James, 

Representing  American  Chamber  of 
Commerce    of    Mexico    and    Na- 
tional  Paper  and  Type  Co., 
32  Burling   Slip, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Carter,   Hon.  Chas   D., 

Representative,  State  of  Oklahoma, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Casey,  Daniel  V., 

Dept.  of  Publicity,  Adv.  and  Busi- 
ness Research, 

Irving  National  Bank, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Caslin,  James  F., 

Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Cass,  William  Baret, 

Editor,  Standard  Statistics  Co.,  Inc., 
47  West  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Cassan,  Edgard, 

Schneider     &     Cie      (Le      Creusot 
Works),  New  York  Branch, 
901  20th  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Catchings,  Benjamin, 
Counselor  at  Law, 

43  Exchange  Place, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Cespedes,   Dr.  Carlos   Manuel   de, 
E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Cuba, 

2630  Sixteenth  St., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Chamorro,  Sr.  Don  Diego   Manuel, 
E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Nicaragua, 

2853  29th  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Chandler,  Charles  Lyon, 

Foreign     Trade     Dept.,     Corn     Ex- 
change  National  Bank, 

Philadelphia,   Pa. 
Chaplin,    L.   G., 

Director  of   Sales,   War  Dept.. 

Washington,  D.  C. 


APPENDIX 


425 


Chappie,  Joe  Mitchell, 

National  Magazine, 
944  Dorchester  Ave.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Cheek,  F.  J., 

Clerk,   War  Department, 
54  V  St.,  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Christy,   J.   R., 

Gen.   Mgr.  Alameda   Plant,   Bethle- 
hem Shipbuilding  Corp., 
Oakland  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Rep., 

Oakland,  Cal. 
Clark,  Geo.   M., 

President,  Ohio  Falls  Iron  Co., 
4th  and  River  Sts.,  New  Albany,  Ind. 
Claudet,  Joseph, 

Vice     President,     American     Bank 
Note  C©., 

70  Broad  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Clausen,  John, 

Vice    President,    Chemical    National 
Bank  of  New  York, 

270  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Cleaver,  Charles  A., 

Lakewood   Engineering   Co., 
Somerset  House,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Cleven,  N.  Andrew  N., 
Teacher, 

1420  Irving  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Cobb,  Zach   Lamar,   Hon., 

Representing  State  of  Texas, 

El   Paso,  Texas. 
Cobo,  Adriano, 

Export  Mgr.,  Fox  Bros.  &  Co., 
126  Lafayette  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Cole,  Miss  Emilie  M., 
The  Brighton, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cole,  Brig.  Gen.  E.  K., 

U.  S.  Marine  Corps,  Navy  Dept., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cole,    Henry  C., 

Salesman,  Tabulating  Machine  Co., 
622  Munsey  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Collao,  Alfredo  vdH., 

Publisher,     La     Prensa    de     Nueva 
York, 

245  Canal  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Collier,  Frank  W., 

Director     of     Research,     American 
University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Collins,   James    H., 

Investigator  in  Market  Survey,  De- 
partment of  Agriculture, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Collins,  Rev.  M.  D., 

Priest,  Lecturer,  Traveler,  Affiliated 
Bureaus, 

Jackson,  Mo. 
Collins,   William    F., 

Secy.,  Committee  on  Commerce  and 

Marine,  American  Bankers  Assn., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


Colver,  W.  B., 

Chairman,   Federal   Trade  Com., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Connett,   Burton  &  Co.,   Inc., 
Importers  and  Exporters, 
17  Battery  Place,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Constantinople,  P.  V., 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Conway,  Wm.   H., 

Georgetown    University    School    of 
Foreign  Service, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cooke,  Charles  Lee, 

Social  Sec.,  Department  of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cope,  Jesse  D., 

Council  of  National  Defense  Bldg., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Corbacho,  J.   M., 

Peruvian  Congressman  and  Archae- 
ologist, 

Lima,  Peru. 
Corbett,  'Edward  L., 

Physician  and  Lawyer, 

336  Alexander  Ave., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Corbin,   Alfred  XX, 

Manager  Foreign  Dept.,  A.  B.  Leach 
&  Co.,  Inc., 

62  Cedar  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Corby,  W.  S., 

Manufacturer,   The   Corby   Co., 
Langdon  Station,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Corcoran,  John  A., 

Georgetown    University    School    of 
Foreign  Service, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cordero,  C.  de, 

Ad.-Manager,     E.     I.     DuPont     de 
Nemours  Export  Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Corea,  Louis  F., 

Vice  President  and  Treasurer,  K-P. 
Corporation, 
347  Madison  Ave.,  Suite  1809, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Coronado,  Henry  E., 

Member    Export    Department,    The 
Goodyear  Tire  and  Rubber  Co., 

Akron,    Ohio. 
Coronado,  Jose  M., 

Spanish   Translator,   Pan   American 
Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cortadelias,  Alberto, 

Secretary  of  the  Bolivian  Legation, 

1908  Q  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Corwin,  C.  O., 

Irving  National  Bank  of  New  York, 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Costigan,   Ignatius  J., 

Lawyer,  Union  Trust  Bldg., 

Washington,  D.  C. 


426 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Cothron,   P.  C., 

Insurance  Co.  of  North  America, 

Richmond,   Va. 
Coutinho,  Joachim  De  S., 

Portuguese  Translator,  Pan  Ameri- 
can Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Coxe,  Macgrane, 
Lawyer, 

233  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Craig,   V.   H., 

U.  S.  Shipping  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Crawford,  Arthur  W., 

New  York  Commercial, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Craemer,  Henry, 

President,   Craemer  Trading   Corp., 
and  Craemer  Nail  and  Supply  Co., 
2  Rector  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Creeden,  John  B., 

President,   Georgetown   University, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Crinkshaney,   Hannison, 

Wilmington,   Del. 
Crofutt,  M.  «E., 

Secretary  to  the  Director,  Bureau  of 
Research    and    Statistics, 

War  Trade  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cromwell,  James  W., 

Mercantile    Banker,    William    Iselin 

&  Co., 

357  Fourth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Crossman  &  Co.,  L.  D., 
Forwarders, 

140  Maiden  Lane,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Cruikshank,  Harrison, 

2023  Delaware  Ave.,  Wilmington,  Del. 
Cruse,  L.  C., 

U.  S.  Shipping  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Culbertson,    W.   S., 

Commissioner,  U.  S.  Tariff  Commission, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Cullinan,  J.  S., 

1409  Carter  Bldg.,  Houston,  Texas. 
Culver,   W.   B., 

Federal  Trade  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cunha,  Leopoldino, 

Special  Mission  from  State  of  Sao 
Paulo, 

Brazilian    Embassy, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cunningham,   Thomas    F., 

Vice  President,  New  Orleans  Board 
of  Trade, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Curry,  William  E., 
Vanderbilt  Hotel, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


Curtiss,  Frederic   H., 

Chairman   Federal  Reserve   Bank, 

53  State  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Cushwa,  O.  H., 

Claude  M.  Smith  &  Co.,  Inc., 

149  Broadway,  New  York,   N.   Y. 
Cutler,  Dr.  Burwell  S., 

Chief,     Bureau     of     Foreign     and 
Domestic  Commerce, 
Department  of  Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dalmas,  Miss  Sophie, 
1126  12th  St.,  N.  W,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Dalrymple,   Alfred   V.,  Capt.   U.  S.  A., 
Military    Information    Division 
"A"  Bldg.,  Wing  F,  7th  &  B  Sts., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Dana,  John   Cotton, 

Librarian,  Public  Library, 

Newark,  N.  J. 
Daniels,    Lorenzo, 
Busk  &  Daniels, 

8  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Dargin,  H.  H., 

F.   W.   D.   Auto   Co., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Darville,  Edward   H., 

Editor  "Hardware  Age," 
231-243  W.  39th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Daugherty,   Silas    D., 

Lecturer  on  Latin  America, 

1511  Arch  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
David,  Evan  J., 

Business  Manager,  "Flying," 
280  Madison  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Davidson,    I.    Newton, 

Office  of  Alien  Property  Custodian, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Davies,  W.  W., 

Representative   of   "La    Nacion"    of 

Buenos  Aires, 

51  Chambers  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Davis,    A.    L., 

South  American  Land  and  Develop- 
ment Co., 

Louisville,  Ky. 
Davis,  Governor,   D.  W., 
Governor  of  Idaho, 

Boise,  Idaho. 
Davis,  Major  Harry, 

Room    135,    State,    War    and    Navy 
Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Davis,  O.  K., 

National  Foreign  Trade  Council, 
India  House, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Dawley,  Jr.,  Thomas  R., 
Writer  and   Publicist, 

1320  New  York  Ave.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 


APPENDIX 


427 


Dean,   Chas.    Ray, 

Lawyer. 

806  Colorado  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Gearing,    Fred    Morris, 

American   International   Corp., 

120  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
De   La   Garza,  Jr.,   Emeterio, 
Lawyer, 

42  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Deichman,  C.  F., 

Consular  Bureau,  State  Department, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Delgado,  D.   E., 

Manager  Foreign  Department,  East- 
man Kodak  Co., 

Rochester,  N.  Y. 
Del  Gallego,  R., 

Factory  Products  Corp., 

2  Rector  St.,  New  York  City. 
Delmarle,  O.  J., 

Dried  Fruit  Export,  Rep.  O.  J.  Del- 
marle &  Co., 

Granite  Bldg.,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 
Demarest,  H.  S., 

Steam  Packings,   Greene,  Tweed  & 
Company, 

109  Duane  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
de  Marval,  J.  A., 

Obligado  &  Co.,  B.  Mitre,  343, 

Buenos   Aires,    Argentina. 
Derby,  John  W., 

Manning,  Maxwell  &  Moore, 

119  W.  40th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Derrom,    D.    L., 

Engineer,  Trading  Engineers,  Inc., 
1641  Edison  Bldg.,  Chicago,  111. 
Desvernine,    Eduardo    L., 
Cuban  Consul, 

Baltimore,   Md. 
DeTurk,  J.  A., 

600  Schuylkill  Ave.,  Reading,  Pa. 
DeWolf,  Richard  C., 

Lawyer, 

1419  G  St.,  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
de  Ycaza,   Gustavo    R., 

Consul  General  of  Ecuador, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Dezendorf,  Jr.,  Frederick  C., 

1430  Meridian  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Diamant,  Arthur  H., 

Chief    Engineer,    C.    K.   Thomas   & 
Co.,  Consulting  Engineers, 
10  Bridge  Street,  New  York  City. 
Diaz,  R.  Camilo, 

Charge  d'Affaires  of  Honduras, 
The  Northumberland, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Diaz,   Irizar,   Dr.   Mario, 

International  Trade  Mark  Bureau, 
Trocadero  55,  Havana,  Cuba. 


Dickinson,  Charles, 

Representing   West   Virginia, 

Charleston,  W.  Va. 
Dickinson,   W.    N., 

38  De  Koven  Court,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Dickson,  George   R., 

Expert,    Council    of    National    De- 
fense, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Digan,  T.  J., 

Assistant    Credit    Manager,    United 
States  Steel  Products  Co., 

30  Church  St.,  New  York  City. 
Dial,  Hon.  N.  B., 

Senator  from  South  Carolina,  Rep- 
resenting the  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Disston,  S.  Horace, 

Manufacturers     Saws     and     Tools, 
Henry   Disston   &   Sons, 

Philadelphia,   Pa. 
Dixon,  George  Dallas, 

Vice  President,  Penna.  R.  R.  Co., 
Broad  St.  Station,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
D'Ober,   William   L., 

General  New  York  Manager,  U.  S. 
Cuban  Allied  Works  Eng.  Corp., 
50  Broad  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Dodge,  James  S., 

Automatic  Fire  Prevention, 

123  William  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Dodge,  Martin, 

Commissioner  Public  Roads, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Domeratzky,    L., 

Chief,   Division  of  Foreign  Tariffs, 
Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce. 
Department  of  Commerce, 

'  Washington,  D.  C. 
DomTnici,   Dr.  Santos  A., 

E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Venezuela, 
1406  Mass.  Ave.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Donaldson,  John  L., 
War  Trade  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Doonan,  Geo.  W., 

Foreign     Trade     Adviser,     Central 
Trust  Co.  of  111., 

125  W.  Monroe  St.,  Chicago,  111. 
Doran,   Mrs.  M.  A. 

Ringold  Apts.,  Muncie,  Ind. 
Doran,    Miss    L.    M., 

American  Red  Cross,  Motor  Corps, 
Muncie,  Ind. 
Doty,    Harry    L., 

Veneer  Manufacturers,  J.  J.  Nartzik, 
1966  Maud  Ave.,  Chicago,  111. 
Douglas,  Charles  S., 

Southern  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Douty,  F.  A., 

Portland  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Portland,  Oregon. 


428 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Dow,  Fayctte  B., 

Natl.   Petroleum  Assn., 

Munsey  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Downing,  Dr.  Augustus, 

Asst.  Comm.  for  Professional  Edu- 
cation, The  Univ.  of  the  State  of  N.  Y., 

Albany,  N.  Y. 
Doyle,  Michael  Francis, 

Lawyer,  General  Counsel  Delaware 
River  Atlantic  Coast,  Great  Lakes 
and  Gulf  Shipbuilders  Counsel, 
1325  Land  Title  Bldg., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Drake,  'E.  A., 

Vice  President,  Panama  R.  R.  Co., 
24  State  St.,  New  York  City. 
Dublin,  Louis  I., 

Statistician,  Metropolitan  Life  In- 
surance Co., 

1  Madison  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Dudley,  Mrs.  C.  F., 

3580  13th  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Dufour,  Col.  Wm.  C., 
Whitney   Building, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
D'ugue   Adolfo, 

Export  Representative,  E.  C.  Atkins 
&  Co.,  Inc., 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Dundas,  J.    Marron, 
Dundas  Bros.  Co., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Dunn,  James  C., 

Latin  American  Division,  State  De- 
partment, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Dunn,   W.    E., 

Asst.  Chief,  Latin  American  Diy., 
Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce, 

Department  of  Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Dunne,  W.  L., 

Engineer,  The  Deselektro  Co., 

Evans  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Duplan,   O.   E., 

Second  Sec.  of  Mexican  Embassy, 
2523  14th  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Duras,  Victor  Hugo, 
Union  Trust  Bldg., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Durfee,    Gordon    A., 

U.  S.  Shipping  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Durrant,  Arnold   Stuart, 

Manager  Latin  American  Sales,  In- 
ternational Genl.  Elec^.Co.,  Inc., 

120  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Duval,  G.   L., 

Import  and  Export  Merchant,  Wes- 
sel,  Duval  &  Co., 

25  Broad  St.,  New  York  City. 


Eager,  J.  Howard, 

Vice  Pres.,  Hernandez,  Robinson  & 
Co.,  Importers  and  Exporters, 

29  Broadway,   New  York. 
Earle,  Ralph  (Rear  Admiral,  U.  S.  N.), 
Navy   Department, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Eberhardt,  C.  C.f 

Consul  General  at  Large,  Depart- 
ment of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Eberhardt,  Walter  F., 

Automobile  Topics  Pub.  in  New 
York, 

411   Metropolitan   Bldg., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Eddy,  Miss  Katherine, 

National  Board  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A., 
600  Lexington  Ave.,  New  York  City. 
Edes,  Alfred  B., 

Sales  Agent,  Export  Department, 
The  Ohio  Brass  Co., 

Mansfield,  Ohio. 
Edmonds,  John  W., 

Coffee  Importing,  Hark  &  Rand, 

107  Wall  St.,  New  York  City. 
Edmonds,   Richard   H., 

Editor,   Manufacturers   Record, 

Baltimore,  Md. 
Edson,  John  Joy, 

Representing  District  of  Columbia, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Edwards,   Charles  G., 

President   Board  of  Trade, 

Savannah,    Ga. 
Eells,  Henry  W., 

War    Department, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Ege,    Henning, 

Asst.  Sec.,  Bech,  Van  Siclen  &  Co., 
Inc., 

45  R  17th  St.,  New  York  City. 
Eggert,   Frank, 

Ensign,  U.  S.  Navy, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Eldridge,  M.  O., 

Bureau   of    Roads   and    Road    Con- 
struction,  Department  of  Agr., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
'Elizalde,  Sr.,  Dr.  Don   Rafael   H.f 
E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Ecuador, 
1006  Sixteenth  St., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Elkinton,  J.  P., 

Sales  Manager,  Philadelphia  Quartz 
Company, 
121  S.  Third  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

'Ellington,  Miss  Lina   Boyd, 

Professor  of  History,  Mississippi 
Industrial  Institute  and  College 
for  Women, 

Columbus,   Miss. 


APPENDIX 


429 


Elston,   Hon.  J.  A., 

M.   C.    from   California,   Represent- 
ing the  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Emery,  Frederick  A., 

Acting  Chief,  Division  of  Foreign 
Intelligence, 

Department  of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Emery,  James  A., 

National  Assn.  of  Manufacturers, 
(Pittsburgh), 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Escobar,    Francisco, 

Consul  General  of  Colombia, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Evans,  Harry  S., 

Manager,  Computing  -  Tabulating- 
Recording  Co., 

620  Munsey  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Evans,  .'Lawrence  B., 

Counsel  to  the  Brazilian  Embassy, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Everly,  Harold  E., 

Trade     Commissioner,     Bureau     of 
Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce, 
Department  of  Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
'Ewing,  William  Wallace, 

Trade  Commissioner,  Department  of 
Commerce, 
426  Lenox  Ave.,  Westfield,  N.  J. 

Fairbairn,  A.  D., 

Representing  Washington  Star, 
Buffalo  Commercial  and  Whaley- 
Eaton  Service, 

1450  Girard  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Falkner,  Roland  P., 

Business  Statistics  —  Alexander 
Hamilton  Institute, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Farmer,   Harry, 

Mission  Secretary,  Board  Foreign 
Missions,  M.  E.  Church, 

150  5th  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Farquhar,  Arthur  B., 
A.  B.   Farquhar  Co., 

York,    Pa. 
Farquhar,  Percival, 

Railways,  Ports,  Industrial  Enter- 
prises, 

120  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Farrington,  Frederic   Ernest, 

Headmaster,  Chevy  Chase  School, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Faubert,  Andre, 

Consul  General  of  Haiti, 

31  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


Faverell,  Miss  J.  H., 

Pan  American  Round  Table, 

Tarrytown,  N.  Y. 
Fay,  James  M.  G., 

Fay's  Aliens  Bureau, 

34  Merchants  Row,  Room  36, 

Boston,   Mass. 
Fay,  Robert  C., 

Advertising  Director,  Chicago  Paper 
Company, 
801  S.  Wells  St.,  Cor.  Polk  St. 

Chicago,  111. 
Fea,  Antonio, 

Freight  and  Passenger  Agent,  Peru- 
vian Steamship  Co., 

29  Broadway,  New  York. 
Feiser,  M.  L., 

The  Iron  Trade  Review  of  Cleve- 
land. 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Ferguson,  Homer  L., 

President  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
the  U.  S.  and  of  the  Newport 
News  Shipbuilding  and  Drydock 
Company, 

Newport  News,  Va. 
Fernald,  Hon.  Bert  M., 
Senator  from  Maine, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Fernandez  de  la  Regata,  M., 
U.  S.  Bulletin, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Ferrari,  Crestes, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Ferris,  Jr.,  Cornelius, 

American  Consul,  San  Luis  Potosi, 
Mexico — Department  of  State. 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Ferris,  Hon.  Scott, 

State  of  Oklahoma, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Finigan,  J.  A., 

Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
1411  G  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Fish,  Wm.   L., 

Merchants  Assn.  of  New  York, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Fisher,  D.  Havelock, 

Editor,  All  Americas  Pub.  Co., 
208  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Fisher,    Dwight    W., 

Washington  representative,  Lucey 
Manufacturing  Corporation  of 
New  York, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Fisher,  Miss  'Eva  Kirk, 

Secretary,  Auto  Accessories  Co., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Fishwick,  E.  T., 

Worthington   Pump  and  Machinery 
Corp., 
115  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


430 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Flaherty,  Joseph, 

Wholesale  Dealer  in  Fruits,  Joseph 
Flaherty  Co., 

21st   St.,   Pittsburgh,   Pa. 
Planner/,  M.  Markham, 

Federal  Trade  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Flemer,  Lewis  F., 
Drugs, 
7th  St.  and  Md.  Ave.,  N.  E., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Fletcher,  Hon.  Henry  P., 

U.  S.  Ambassador  to  Mexico, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Flint,  Charles  R., 

Organizer  and  Merchant,  Flint  & 
Co.,  Inc., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Flint,  Miss  M.  Lenore, 

2626  Garfield  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Foley,  Percy  J., 

Bank  Manager,  Banco  Mercantil 
Americano  de  Caracas,  Caracas, 
Yen. 

Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas, 
Inc., 

44  Pine  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Fontes,  Ernest  G., 
Hotel  Astor, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Ford,  C.  T., 

H.  Muller  Mfg.  Co.,  Decatur,  111., 
711-13  Builders  Exchange, 

Washington,    D.    C. 
Ford,  James  A., 

Spokane  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Spokane,  Wash. 
Ford,  Sherman, 

The  Texas  Company, 

Munsey  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Foss,  Charles  W., 

Associate  Editor,  Railway  Age, 
2201  Woolworth  Building, 

New  York  City. 

Foster,   Reginald   L.   (Col.  U.  S.  A.), 
War   Department, 

Washington,   D.   C. 
Foster,  Ward  G., 

The  Foster  &  Reynolds  Co., 

220  W.  42d  St.,  New  York  City. 
Fowler,  William  Eric, 

Major,  U.  S.  A.,  Banking  and  Ex- 
porting, 

Willard  Hotel,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Fox,  Homer  S. 

Central  Lake,    Mich. 
Frank,  Stuart  H., 

Frank  &  Pinera,  and  J.  M.  Gidding 
&  Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Franklin,  Lynn  W., 

Consular  Bureau,  State  Department, 
Washington,  D.  C. 


Fredericks,  Z.   A., 

General  Motors  Acceptance  Corpor- 
ation, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Freedman,    Leopold, 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
French,  F.  O., 

Special  Traffic  Agent,  South  Ameri- 
can Div.,  American  Express  Co., 
65  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Froelick,  Louis  D., 

American  Asiatic  Association, 
627  Lexington  Ave.,  New  York  City. 
Fuller,    Ernest    M., 
Lawyer, 

60  Fairview  Ave., 

South  Orange,  N.  J. 
Galvan,  Sr.,  Dr.  Luis, 

E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  the  Dominican 
Republic, 

The  Champlain,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Gandolfo   Herrera,  Angel, 

Attache  Argentine  Embassy, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Garcia,  'E.   M., 

International  Western  Elec.  Co., 

195  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Garcinava,  A., 

Export  Manager,  Crex  Carpet  Co., 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Gardner,  C.  H., 

American  International  Corporation, 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Gardner,  Fred  C., 

Representing  State  of  Indiana, 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Gardner,  H.  E., 

Council   of   National   Defense, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Gardner,  L.  D., 

Aviation  and  Aircraft  Journal, 

22  E.  17th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Garfinkle,   Julius, 

Julius  Garfinkle  &  Co., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Garthe,  Louis, 

Balto.  American,  715  Riggs  Bldg., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Cause,  F.  Taylor, 

Foreign  Marketing  Dept,  Standard 
Oil  Co.  of  New  York, 

26  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Gay,  Frederick  W., 

Manager,  Atlantic  Department  The 
Pelton  Water  Wheel  Co., 

90  West  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Gearhart,    F.    D., 

Claude  M.  Smith  &  Co.,  Inc., 

149  Broadway,   New  York. 


APPENDIX 


431 


Geenzier,  Sr.  Don  Enrique, 

Former  Chief  of  the  Consular  Sec- 
tion, Secretaria  de  Relaciones  Ex- 
teriores, 

Panama,   Panama. 
Getting,  I.  W., 

Mexico  City,  Mexico. 
Ghegan,  John  J., 

Mfg.  of  Electrical  Apparatus,  J.  H. 
Bunnell  &  Co., 

31  Park  Place,  New  York  City. 
Gibson,  Carlos, 

First  Secretary  of  the  Peruvian  Em- 
bassy, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Gidding,  J.  M., 

J.  M.  Giding  &  Co.,  Importers,  Ex- 
porters and  Retailers, 

562-68  5th  Ave.,  New  York  City. 
Giessow,  Carl, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Gifford,  F.  N. 

Representing  Liberty  Export  and 
Importing  Corporation, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Gil,    Enrique, 

Argentine  Attorney,  Aldao  Campos 
&  Gil, 

1  Wall  St.,  New  York  City. 
Gilbert,  J.  J., 

Sales  Manager,  International  West- 
ern Electric  Co., 
195  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Gillespie,  David  J., 

Manager  Export  Dept.  Kellogg 
Switchboard  and  Supply  Co., 

1066  W.  Adams  St.,  Chicago,  111. 
Gillett,  Hon.  F.  H., 

Speaker,  House  of  Representatives, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Gittler,  Henry  N. 

902  Butternut  St., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Glaushanck,  S.  A., 

Exporter-Importer,  Glushanck  & 
Hill, 

25  Broad  St.,  New  York  City. 
Glaze,    A.    A., 

General  Products  Shipping  &  Trad- 
ing Co., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Glazer,  Morris  H., 

McGraw-Hill   Co.,   Inc., 

611  Colorado  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
GHenn,  John  M. 

Illinois    Manufacturers'    Assn., 

Chicago,  111. 
Glessner,  J.  Karl, 

.  General  Products  Shipping  &  Trad- 
ing Co., 

New  Orleans,  La. 


Glidden,  Chas.  J. 

Captain,  Air  Service,  U.  S.  Army, 

Washington  Hotel,  Wash.,  D.  C. 
Goddard,   Horace  M., 

Special     Expert,     Central     Bureau 
Planning  and   Statistics, 

56  W.  45th  St.,  New  York  City. 
Godfrey,  Hollis, 

Drexel  Institute, 

Philadelphia,   Pa. 
Godoy,  Emilio  S., 

Vice  President  Standard  Shipbuild- 
ing Corp., 

Schooler's   Island, 

Staten  Island,  N.  Y. 
Goldsborough,  Hon.  A.  S., 
Representing  Maryland, 

Baltimore,  Md. 
Goldsmith,  Peter  H., 

Inter-American   Division,   American 
Assn.  for  Internl.  Conciliation, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Gomez  Rouhaud,  Pedro, 
Carlos   Gomez  &  Bros., 

201  West  85th  St.,  New  York  City. 
Gondra,  Mr.  Manuel, 

E,  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Paraguay, 
2172  Wyoming  Ave., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Gonzales,  V., 

Foreign  Trade  Adviser,   Mercantile 
Bank  of  the  Americas, 

44  Pine  St.,  New  York  City. 
Goodman,  Maurice, 

235  E.  57th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Goodwin,  'Elliot    H., 

Secretary,    Chamber    of    Commerce 
of  the  United  States, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Gordon,  Lewis  F., 

Manager  of  Ingenieria  International, 
McGraw-Hill   Co.,   Inc., 

10th  Ave.  and  36th  St., 

New  York,  N,  Y. 
Gore,  Senator  T.  P., 

Representative    of    State    of    Okla- 
homa, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Gormully,  A.  R., 

Export  Manager,  Ajax  Rubber  Co., 
Inc., 

220   West   57th    St., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Gould,  Katherine  Clemens, 

President,     Woman's     Chamber     of 
Commerce, 

500  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Graham,  Capt.  Walter, 

Graham,  Va. 
Graham,  Walter  B., 

Temporary     Secretary,     Paraguayan 
Minister, 

1329  H  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 


432 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Green,  Philip  L. 

1640  Third  Avenue, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Greene,  'Eldridge  Gerry, 

Latin    American    Division,    Depart- 
ment of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Grening,  Alfred  C., 

Merchant  and  Exporter,  R.  K.  Car- 
ter &  Co., 

66  Reade  St.,  New  York  City. 

Griffin,  Chas.  E., 

Export     and     Import     Commission 
Merchant, 

24-26  Stone  St.,  New  York  City. 
Guardia,  Tomas, 

Georgetown    University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Gude,  Wm.  E., 

Florist,  1214  F  St., 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Guerra,  Arturo  L.  (1st,  Lt.  M.  C.  U.  S. 
Army), 

1700  T  St.,  N.  W.,  The  Albemarle, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Guerra,  Jose  A., 

San  Luis  Potosi^  Mexico. 

Gullett,  F.  W., 

American  Banknote  Co.,  Asst.  Mgr. 
Foreign  Department, 

70  Broad  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Gutierrez,  Jose  Manuel, 

Consul  General  of  Bolivia, 
Wool  worth  Bldg.,  233  Broadway, 

New  York.  N.  Y. 

Haas,  John  I., 

Hop   Merchant    (Export— Import), 
National  Metropolitan  Bank  Bldg., 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Hackenberger,  B.  L., 

B.  L.  Hackenberger  Co., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Madden,  C.  W., 

Export  Mgr.  Minneapolis  Steel  Co., 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Haines,  I.  Snowden, 
Banker, 

Burlington,  N.  J. 

Haldeman,  W.  B. 

Retired  Journalist, 

517  W.  Granby  Ave., 
(P.  O.  Box  922)  Louisville,  Ky. 
Hall,  Howard  B., 

Vice   President,   Bethlehem    Motors 
Corporation, 

30  Church  St.,  New  York  City. 
Halsey,  F.  A., 

Commissioner,     American     Institute 
of   Weights   and   Measures, 
115  Broadway,  New  York  City. 


Halsey,  Frederic  M., 

Assistant  in  Charge  of  Foreign 
Department,  National  City  Co., 

55  Wall  St.,  New  York  City. 
Hammond,  John  Hays, 
Engineer, 

2301   Kalorama   Road, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Hamimond,  John  S., 

Foreign  Dept,  Imbrie  &  Co., 

61  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Hanger,   H.   B., 

Manufacturer  Artificial  Limbs. 
221  G  St.,  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Hanlon,  D.  J., 

President  Hanlon  Drydock  and  Ship 
Bldg.  Co.,  Rep.  Oakland  Chamber 
of  Commerce, 

Oakland,  Cal. 
Hanlon,  J.   L., 

Manager,  The  Deselektro  Co., 

Evans  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Hansard,  S.  J., 

School  Foreign  Science, 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Hanna,  Rea, 

Export  Manager,  Gaston  Williams 
&  Wigmore, 

63  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Hansell,  George     W,. 

Manufacturer    of    Sadlery, 

131  Market  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Hardenbergh,   W.  P.,  Jr., 

Manager  of  Export  Sales  The  New 
Jersey  Zinc  Co., 

160  Front  St.,  New  York  City. 
Harding,  Frederick  C., 

Sub-Agent,  Anglo  South  American 
Bank,  Ltd., 

49  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Harding,  H.  McL., 

Consulting  Engineer, 

New   York   City. 
Harper,   R.   N., 

President  Washington  Chamber  of 
Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Harrington,  Chas., 

New  Orleans  Steamship  Association, 
New  Orleans,  La. 
Harrington,  E.  B., 

Asst.  Mgr.,  Transit  Dept.,  Hibernia 
Bank  and  Trust  Co., 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Harris,  D.  C., 

Manager  Import  Dept.  C.  C.  Mengel 
&  Bro.  Co., 

5th  and  G  Sts.,  Louisville,  Ky. 
Harriss,   Magill  &  Co., 

Steamship  Agents,  Export,  Import, 
Room  437,  50  Broad  St., 

New  York  City. 


APPENDIX 


433 


Hastings,   Hon.   W.  W., 

Representative  State  of  Oklahoma, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Hatch,  H.  Q.  C., 

N.  Y.  Mgr.,  Caldwell-Burnet  Corp., 
101  Park  Ave.,  New  York  City. 
Hauss,  Charles  F., 

Vice-President,    Mediterranean 
Trading  Co.,  Inc., 

29  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Havens,  Verne  Leroy, 

Editor,  International  Engineering, 
McGraw-Hill  Co., 

10th  Ave.  and  36th  St., 

New   York   City. 
Hawkins,  A.  S., 

Manager    of    Export    Department, 
Graham  Paper  Co., 
1014-30  Spruce  St.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Hawkinson,  Lloyd  Francis, 
Georgetown  College, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Haynes,  Harry  V., 

Washington  Board  of   Trade, 
Farmers  and  Mechanics  National 
Bank, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Hederich,  Frartk, 

Professor    of    Modern    Languages, 
Teachers'  College,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, 
448  Central  Park,  West, 

New  York  City. 
Hedges,  Will   T., 

Pyrex  Division,  Corning  Glass 
Works, 

Corning,   N.  Y. 
Heegstra,    H.    Walton, 

H.  Walton  Heegstra  Inc.,  Merchan- 
dising-Advertising, 

19  S.  La  Salle  St.,  Chicago,  111. 
Heinz,  Edward  N., 

Asst.  Cashier  and  Manager  Foreign 
Dept,  Fort  Dearborn  National 
Bank, 

76  W.  Monroe  St.,  Chicago,  111. 
Hely-Hutchinson,  Maurice, 

Vice-President  and  General  Mana- 
ger, Foreign  Bond  and  Share  Cor- 
poration, 

54  Wall  Street,  New  York  City. 
Heminway,  M.  L., 

Motor  and  Accessory  Manufacturers 
Association, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Henderson,   Hon.  Charles  B., 

U.  S.  Senator,  Representing  State  of 
Nevada, 

Washington,   D.   C. 
Henry,  Frank  Anderson, 

Department   of   State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Henry,  Louis, 

Allied  Export  Association, 

Aeolian  Hall,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Henry,  Philip  W., 

American  International  Corporation, 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Henry,  S.  T., 

Vice-President,     Allied     Machinery 
Co.  of  America, 
51  Chambers  St.,  New  York  City. 

Hepburn,  George   H., 

Tungsten  Ores,  Representing  George 
Wilson,   Oruro,    Bolivia, 

1020  Drexel  Bldg.,   Phila.,   Pa. 

Hepburn,  Robert  Hopewell, 

921  S.  48th  St.,  Phila,  Pa. 
Hernandez,  Nicolas, 

Havana,  Cuba. 
Hewett,  Edgar  L., 

Director,   School   of   American  Re- 
search, 

Santa  Fe,  N.  Mex. 
Hewitt,  R.  J., 

All  America  Cables, 

1222  Conn.  Ave,  Wash,  D.  C. 

Hickernell,  Warren   Fayette, 

Alexander  Hamilton  Institute, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Hildreth,  Chas.  E., 

National    Machine    Tool     Builders' 
Association, 

Worcester,  Mass. 
Hill,   Edmund  C., 

Real  Estate,  Edmund  C.  Hill~&  Co, 
7  W.  State  St.,  Trenton,  N.  J. 
Hill,  John  Wesley, 

Chancellor,    Lincoln  Memorial  Uni- 
versity, 

30  E.  42nd  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Hilles,  Raymond  W., 

Manager  of  Sales  and  Credits,  Dex- 
ter Portland  Cement  Co, 

103  Park  Ave,  New  York  City. 
Hirtler,  Henry, 

Representative  in  U.   S,  G.  Artadi 

&   Co,    Paita-Piura-Callao,    Peru, 

120  Liberty  St.,  New  York  City. 

Hochschild,   Harold   K, 

American  Metal  Co,  Ltd, 

61   Broadway,  New  -York  City. 

Hodge,  Miss   Katherine  P. 

Bureau    of    Research,    War    Trade 
Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Hoffman,   Frederick  L., 

Prudential  Insurance  Company, 

Newark,  N.  J. 
Hoit,    Richard    B., 

Miami,  Fla. 


434 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Holdsworth,    Dr.   J.   T., 

Vice  President,  The  Bank  of  Pitts- 
burgh N.  A., 

Pittsburgh,    Pa. 
Holdt,   A.    E., 

Atlas    Commerce    Corporation, 

542  Fifth  Ave.,   New  York  City. 
Hollick,  Claud, 

Cristobal,  Canal  Zone. 
Holloway,  'Edwin  L., 

Office  of  Asst.  to  Secretary  of  War, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Holman,  Frederick  V., 
Lawyer, 

Portland,  Oregon. 

Holt,  Clarence  J.,  __, 

533  Market  St.,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 
Hopkins,    Randolph    D., 
Hopkins  Syndicate, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Hopkins,  Mrs.  Randolph  D., 

Buffalo   (N.  Y.)   Courier, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Houston,   Herbert  S., 

Doubleday,    Page   &   Co., 

120  W.  32nd  St.,  New  York  City. 
Howard,  A.  B., 

Rep.  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  U. 
S.  in  Argentina, 

562  Bartolome  Mitre, 

Buenos  Aires,  Argentina. 
Howard,   Hon.  1E.  B., 

Representative  State  of  Oklahoma, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Howard,    H.   M., 
Wilson  &  Co., 

4100  Ashland  Ave.,   Chicago,   111. 
Howell,    C.    F., 

U.  S.   Shipping  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Howland,  Daniel  W., 

Portalis  Co.,  Buenos  Aires, 

25  Broad  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Hoyos,  Sr.  Alberto  De, 

Constitutional  Railways  of  Mexico, 
Woolworth  Bldg.,  New  York  City. 
Hoyos,   F.   P.  de, 

General    Agent,    National    Railways 
of  Mexico, 
233  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Hudson,  Paul, 

Editor     and     Publisher,     "Mexican 
Herald," 
The  Shoreham,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Huger,  E.  M., 

New  Orleans  Stock  Exchange, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Hume,  Frederic  W., 

McGraw-Hill   Co.,   Inc., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


Hunsberger,  H.  W., 

General  Motors  Export  Co., 

1764  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Hunter,  W.  E., 

Economy   Tumbler   Co., 

Morgantown,   W.   Va. 
Hurley,  Hon.  Edw.  N., 

Chairman,  U.  S.  Shipping  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Hurrey,  Charles  DuBois, 

General  Secretary,  Committee  on 
Friendly  Relations  Among  For- 
eign Students, 

347  Madison  Ave.,  New  York  City. 
Hutchinson,   Edwin  T.  H., 

Export  Rep.,  Automotive  Accesso- 
ries, The  Silvex  Company, 

South  Bethlehem,  Pa. 

Ibanez,  Arsacic, 

Export  and  Import,  Bruna,  Sarnpaio 
&  Co.,  of  Valparaiso,  Chile, 

170  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Ingalls,  W.  W., 

Association  of  Commerce  of  New 
Orleans, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Ipanema  Moreira,  Alberto  de, 
Charge  d'Affaires  of  Brazil, 
Wardman  Park  Inn, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Jackson,  A.  T., 

Vice-President,  Emerson  Branting- 
ham  Co., 

Rockford,  111. 
James,  E.  W., 

General  Inspector,  Bureau  of  Public 
Roads,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Janer,  R.  I., 

International    Planters    Corporation 
of  New  York  and  G.  O.  Truck  Co., 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Jasper,  D.  W., 

The  Bonnot  Co., 

Canton,  Ohio. 
Jaxon,  Major  Honore  J., 

Publicist  and  Writer ;  Secy.  Metio  or 
French-Indian  Council,  Commis- 
sioner Metio  Fur  Hunters  Cooper- 
ative Association, 

1751  W.  Lake  St.,  Chicago,  111. 
Jeffrey,  Macolm  D., 

Manager  Export  Department,  The 
Jeffrey  Mfg.  Co., 

Columbus,  Ohio. 
Jelleff,   Frank   R., 

Frank  R.  Jelleff,  Inc., 

Washington,  D.  C. 


APPENDIX 


435 


Jenks,  Jeremiah   W., 

Publicist,  Alexander  Hamilton  Insti- 
tute, 

13  Astor  Place,  New  York  City. 
Jennings,  W.  B., 

Worthington   Pump  and  Machinery 
Corporation, 

25  Deerfield  Ave.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Jewett,  J.  M., 

International  Western  Electric  Co., 
195  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Johnson,  D.  B., 

President  Winthrop  Electric  College, 
Oakland  Ave.,  Rock  Hill,  S.  C. 
Johnson,  Hallet, 

Acting  Chief,  Latin  American  Divi- 
sion, Department  of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Johnson,  Howard  W., 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Johnson,  Ralph   B., 

Export     Manager,     The     Sharpless 
Separator  Co., 

West  Chester,  Pa. 
Johnson,   Reeves  K., 

Foreign   Sales  Manager,  The  Bald- 
win Locomotive  Works, 

500  North  Broad  St., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Johnson,  S.  M.. 

Representative  of  the  State  of  New 
Mexico, 

Glencoe,  New  Mexico. 
Johnson,  Walter  A., 

Managing  Director,  The  Advanced 
Agricultural  Publishing  Co., 

2  W.  45th  St.,  New  York  City. 
Johnson,   W.   W., 

President,  Union  Construction   Co., 
Shipbuilders, 

Oakland,  Cal. 
Johnston,  Franklin, 

Publisher,  American  Exporter, 

17  Battery  Place,  New  York  City. 
Jones,  Hon.  B.  B., 

Representing  State  of  Oklahoma, 
2145    Wyoming    Ave, 

Washington,  D.^C. 
Jones,  Calvin  A., 

Foreign      Sales,      American      La 
France   Fire   Engine   Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Jones,   Frank   H.f 

Vice-Pres.  Worthington  Pump  & 
Machinery   Corp., ' 
115  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Jones,   M.   Grosvenor, 

Asst.     Director,     Bureau     of     For- 
eign  and    Domestic    Commerce, 
Department  of  Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Joubert,  Frank  C., 

South  Atlantic  Maritime  Corpor- 
ation, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Judd,  Ernest  N., 

Export    Division,    Federal    Trade 
Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Karminski,  Victor  E., 

Victor  E.   Karminski  &  Co.,  Inc., 
(Nagle  Steel  Co.  of  Pottstown, 
Pennsylvania), 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Kavanaugh,  Thomas  J., 

Mississippi  Valley  Trust  Co., 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Keeley,  Miss 'Edith, 

National  Board  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A., 
600  Lexington  Ave., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Keith,  John  M., 

Costa  Rica  Chamber  of  Com. 

San  Jose,  Costa  Rica. 
Kelly,  James  F., 

Inter.  Mountain  Press  Service, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Kelly,    N.   B., 

Gen.  Secy.,  Phila.  Cham,  of  Com., 
1236  Widener  Building, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Kendall,  Nathan, 

Mining  and  Agriculture, 

341  E.  First  St.,  Tucson,  Ariz. 

Kendrick,   E.  A., 

Printer,     Redfield-Kendrick-Odell 
Co.,  311  West  43d  St., 

New  York.  N.  Y. 
Kent,  Fred  I., 

Vice-Pres.     Bankers     Trust     Co., 
16  Wall  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Kettner,  Hon.  William, 

Representing  Eleventh   California 
District, 

San  Diego,  Cal. 
Kilbourne,  J.   R., 

The  Kilbourne  &  Jacobs  Mfg.  Co., 
Columbus,  Ohio. 
Kissel,   Ludwig, 

Manager  of  La  Sui'sse  Import  and 
Export  Company, 
156  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York  N.  Y. 

Kizer,    E.    D., 

Special    Assistant,    Department    of 
State,  Y.  M.  C.  A., 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Klein,    Edward   C.,  Jr., 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  .C. 
Kleinfelder,  Henry  C., 

Sales  Engineer,  F.  M.  Ferrin, 

3  Park  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


434 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Holdsworth,    Dr.   J.   T., 

Vice  President,  The  Bank  of  Pitts- 
burgh N.  A., 

Pittsburgh,    Pa. 
Holdt,   A.    E., 

Atlas    Commerce    Corporation, 

542  Fifth  Ave.,   New  York  City. 
Hollick.  Claud, 

Cristobal,  Canal  Zone. 
Holloway,  'Edwin  L., 

Office  of  Asst.  to  Secretary  of  War, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Holman,  Frederick  V., 
Lawyer, 

Portland,  Oregon. 

Holt,  Clarence  J.,  __, 

533  Market  St.,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 
Hopkins,    Randolph    D., 
Hopkins  Syndicate, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Hopkins,  Mrs.  Randolph  D., 
Buffalo   (N.  Y.)   Courier, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Houston,   Herbert  S., 

Doubleday,   Page   &  Co., 
120  W.  32nd  St.,  New  York  City. 

Howard,  A.  B., 

Rep.  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  U. 
S.  in  Argentina, 

562  Bartolome  Mitre, 

Buenos  Aires,  Argentina. 
Howard,   Hon.  1E.  B., 

Representative  State  of  Oklahoma, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Howard,    H.   M., 
Wilson  &  Co., 

4100  Ashland  Ave.,   Chicago,   111. 
Howell,    C.    F., 

U.  S.   Shipping  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Howland,  Daniel  W., 

Portalis  Co.,  Buenos  Aires, 

25  Broad  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Hoyos,  Sr.  Alberto  De, 

Constitutional  Railways  of  Mexico, 
Woolworth  Bldg.,  New  York  City. 
Hoyos,   F.   P.  de, 

General    Agent,    National    Railways 
of  Mexico, 
233  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Hudson,  Paul, 

Editor     and     Publisher,     "Mexican 
Herald," 
The  Shoreham,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Huger,  E.  M., 

New  Orleans  Stock  Exchange, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Hume,  Frederic  W., 

McGraw-Hill   Co.,   Inc., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


Hunsberger,  H.  W., 

General  Motors  Export  Co., 

1764  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Hunter,  W.  E., 

Economy  Tumbler   Co., 

Morgantown,   W.   Va. 

Hurley,  Hon.  Edw.  N., 

Chairman,  U.  S.  Shipping  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Hurrey,  Charles  DuBois, 

General  Secretary,  Committee  on 
Friendly  Relations  Among  For- 
eign Students, 

347  Madison  Ave.,  New  York  City. 
Hutchinson,  Edwin  T.  H., 

Export  Rep.,  Automotive  Accesso- 
ries, The  Silvex  Company, 

South  Bethlehem,  Pa. 

Ibanez,  Arsacic, 

Export  and  Import,  Bruna,  Sarnpaio 
&  Co.,  of  Valparaiso,  Chile, 

170  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Ingalls,  W.  W., 

Association  of  Commerce  of  New 
Orleans, 

New  Orleans,  La. 

Ipanema  Moreira,  Alberto  de, 

Charge  d'Affaires  of  Brazil, 
Wardman  Park  Inn, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Jackson,  A.  T., 

Vice-President,  Emerson  Branting- 
ham  Co., 

Rockford,  111. 
James,  E.  W., 

General  Inspector,  Bureau  of  Public 
Roads,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Janer,   R.  I., 

International    Planters    Corporation 
of  New  York  and  G.  O.  Truck  Co., 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Jasper,  D.  W., 

The  Bonnot  Co., 

Canton,  Ohio. 
Jaxon,  Major  Honore  J., 

Publicist  and  Writer ;  Secy.  Metio  or 
French-Indian  Council,  Commis- 
sioner Metio  Fur  Hunters  Cooper- 
ative Association, 

1751  W.  Lake  St.,  Chicago,  111. 
Jeffrey,  Macolm  D., 

Manager  Export  Department,  The 
Jeffrey  Mfg.  Co., 

Columbus,  Ohio. 
Jelleff,   Frank   R., 

Frank  R.  Jelleff,  Inc., 

Washington,  D.  C. 


APPENDIX 


435 


Jenks,  Jeremiah   W., 

Publicist,  Alexander  Hamilton  Insti- 
tute, 

13  Astor  Place,  New  York  City. 
Jennings,  W.  B., 

Worthington   Pump  and  Machinery 
Corporation, 

25  Deerfield  Ave.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Jewett,  J.  M., 

International  Western  Electric  Co., 
195  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Johnson,   D.  B., 

President  Winthrop  Electric  College, 
Oakland  Ave.,  Rock  Hill,  S.  C. 
Johnson,  Hallet, 

Acting  Chief,  Latin  American  Divi- 
sion, Department  of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Johnson,  Howard  W., 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Johnson,  Ralph  B., 

Export     Manager,     The     Sharpless 
Separator  Co., 

West  Chester,  Pa. 
Johnson,   Reeves  K., 

Foreign  Sales  Manager,  The  Bald- 
win Locomotive  Works, 

500  North  Broad  St., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Johnson,  S.  M., 

Representative  of  the  State  of  New 
Mexico, 

Glencoe,  New  Mexico. 
Johnson,  Walter  A., 

Managing  Director,  The  Advanced 
Agricultural  Publishing  Co., 

2  W.  45th  St.,  New  York  City. 
Johnson,   W.   W., 

President,  Union  Construction   Co., 
Shipbuilders, 

Oakland,  Cal. 
Johnston,  Franklin, 

Publisher,  American  Exporter, 

17  Battery  Place,  New  York  City. 
Jones,  Hon.  B.  B., 

Representing  State  of  Oklahoma, 
2145    Wyoming    Ave, 

Washington,  D.^C. 
Jones,  Calvin  A., 

Foreign      Sales,      American      La 
France   Fire   Engine   Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Jones,   Frank   H., 

Vice-Pres.  Worthington  Pump  & 
Machinery   Corp., ' 
115  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Jones,   M.  Grosvenor, 

Asst.     Director,     Bureau     of     For- 
eign  and   Domestic   Commerce, 
Department  of  Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Joubert,  Frank  C., 

South  Atlantic  Maritime  Corpor- 
ation, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Judd,  Ernest  N., 

Export    Division,    Federal    Trade 
Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Karminski,  Victor  E., 

Victor  E.   Karminski  &  Co.,  Inc., 
(Nagle  Steel  Co.  of  Pottstown, 
Pennsylvania), 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Kavanaugh,  Thomas  J., 

Mississippi  Valley  Trust  Co., 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Keeley,  Miss  'Edith, 

National  Board  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A., 
600  Lexington  Ave., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Keith,  John  M., 

Costa  Rica  Chamber  of  Com. 

San  Jose,  Costa  Rica. 
Kelly,  James  F., 

Inter.  Mountain  Press  Service, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Kelly,    N.    B., 

Gen.  Secy.,  Phila.  Cham,  of  Com., 
1236  Widener  Building, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Kendall,  Nathan, 

Mining  and  Agriculture, 

341  E.  First  St.,  Tucson,  Ariz. 

Kendrick,   E.  A., 

Printer,     Redfield-Kendrick-Odell 
Co.,  311  West  43d  St., 

New  York.  N.  Y. 
Kent,  Fred   I., 

Vice-Pres.     Bankers     Trust     Co., 
16  Wall  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Kettner,  Hon.  William, 

Representing  Eleventh   California 
District, 

San  Diego,  Cal. 
Kilbourne,  J.  R., 

The  Kilbourne  &  Jacobs  Mfg.  Co., 
Columbus,  Ohio. 
Kissel,   Ludwig, 

Manager  of  La  Sui'sse  Import  and 
Export  Company, 
156  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York  N.  Y. 
Kizer,    E.    D., 

Special    Assistant,    Department    of 
State,  Y.  M.  C.  A., 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Klein,    Edward   C.,  Jr., 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  .C. 

Kleinfelder,  H'enry  C., 

Sales  Engineer,  F.  M.  Ferrin, 

3  Park  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


438 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


McClintock,  Samuel 

Fed.  Agent  for  For.  Trade  Edu., 
200  New  Jersey  Aye.,  N.  W., 
Washington,  D.  C. 

McCollough,  M.  L.   (Capt)., 

U.  S.  A.,  Air  Service, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
McCrann,  Geo.  A., 

Wathen  Milling  Company, 
104  W.  Main  Street, 

Louisville,  Ky. 
McCullough,   E.  W., 

Business    Asso.,    National    Imple- 
ment and  Vehicle  Association, 
72  W.  Adams  St.,     Chicago  111. 

McDonnell,   J.    B., 

Daily  News  Record, 
507    Union   Trust    Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
McDuffie,  John, 

Mobile,  Ala. 
McGee,  John  Edward, 

Manager   Map   Department,   Gen- 
eral Drafting  Co.,  Inc., 
9  Church  St.  New  York,  N.  Y. 

McGibbons,  John  H., 

134  S.  La  Salle  St.,  Chicago,  111. 

McGoodwin,    Hon.   Preston, 

American   Minister  to  Venezuela, 
Caracas,  Venezuela. 

Me  Go  wan,   Miss   Marguerite, 

Council  of  National  Defense, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
McGraw,  James  H., 

Publisher,  McGraw-Hill  Co.,  Inc., 
New  York,  N.  Y. 

McGuire,  Constantine  E., 

Assistant  Secretary  General,  U.  S. 
Sec.,    Inter.    High    Commission, 
Treasury  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
McHale,  C.  F., 

Education  Department, 
National  City  Bank, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

McKeown,  M.  C.,  Hon.  Tom  D,. 

State  of  Oklahoma, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
McLanahan,    Austin, 

Alex.  Brown  &  Sons — President 
of  Export  and  Import  Board  of 
Trade  of  Baltimore, 

Baltimore,  Md. 
McLean,  H.  G., 

Foreign  Commerce  Service, 
Southern  Railroad, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
McLeod,  George  E., 
Captain,  U.   S.   A., 

Washington,  D.  C. 


McQueen,   Charles  A., 

Chief,    Latin    American    Division, 
Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domes- 
tic Commerce, 
Department  of  Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
McReynolds,  C.    I., 

Assistant  Manager  Foreign  De- 
partment, 

General  Motors  Accept.  Corp., 
1764  Broadway, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Macedo  Sodre,  Renato  de, 

Attache,  Brazilian  Embassy, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
MacElwee,  R.  S., 

Assistant     Director,     Bureau     of 
Foreign  and  Domestic  Com., 
Department  of  Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
MacKenzie,  H.  Bentley, 

Georgetown  University,  School  of 
Foreign  Service, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
MacKinlay,    Miss  Jessie, 
600  Lexington  Avenue, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Mackie,  A.  W., 

Manager  Mississippi  River  Section, 
Mississippi  Warrior  Waterways, 
U.  S.  Railroad  Administration, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Maconachy,  James  G., 

Insurance,  Niagara  Fire  Ins.  Co., 

123  William  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Magid,  Louis  B., 

Pres.,  Warehousemen,  Appalachian 
Corporation,  Inc.,  of  Louisiana, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Magruder.  Miss  Mary, 

George  Washington  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Mahoney,  Wm.  H., 

The  Merchants  Assn.  of  New  York, 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Maldonado,  Fernando  B., 

Import  and  Export  with  Spanish 
Republics, 

37  California   St., 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Mandujano,  Graciela   (Miss), 

Acting  Editor,  Pan  American  Maga- 
zine, 

70  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Mann,    C.    A., 

Salvage  Syndicates,  Inc.,  Room  1218, 
Lytton  Building, 

14  E.  Jackson  Blvd.,  Chicago,  111. 
Manning,  Wm.  R., 

Foreign  Trade  Adviser's  Office, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


APPENDIX 


435 


Manning,   W.    R. 

Economist   for    Latin    America, 

State  Dept.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Marcal,  J., 

Steamship,  Lloyd  Brasileiro, 
44  Whitehall  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Marchant,  Langworthy, 

Portuguese  Translator,  Pan  Ameri- 
can Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Marshall,  Stuart  B., 

Consulting  Engr.  and  Metallurgist, 
Chevy  Chase,  D.  C. 

Marshall,  Hon.  Thomas   R., 

The  Vice   President  of  the   United 
States, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Martin,  C.  C., 

National  Paper  and  Type  Co., 
32  Burling  Slip,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Martin,  Jr.,    Mahlon  C., 

Production  Crude  Petroleum, 

Glen  Ridge,  N.  J. 
Martin,  John  F.,  Jr., 

Diplomatic  Secretary,  Dept.  of  State, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Martin,  Walter  F.,  Col. 

•     General  Staff,  U.  S.  Army, 

7th  and  B  Sts.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Martin,  William   M., 

Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Petersburg,  Va. 
Martinez,  D.  R., 

Exporter  and  Trade  Adviser,  Lester 
Piano  Co.,  Bennett  White,  Inc.,  and 
others, 
617  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Marum,  Hon.  D.  P., 

Representing  Oklahoma, 

Woodward,    Okla. 
Marval,   J.  A.,  de, 

Obligado  &  Co.,  B.  Mitre  343, 

Buenos  Aires,  Argentina. 

Mason,  Miss  C.  E., 

Pan  American  Round  Table, 

Tarrytown-on-Hudson,  N.  Y. 

Mason,  J.  W., 

Pres.,  Western  Pipe  &  Steel  Co., 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Mason,  Jarvis  W., 

Vice  Pres.,  Am.  Surety  Co.  of  N.  Y., 
100  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Mate,   Luis  A., 

Consul  of  Ecuador, 
5804  Florence  Ave.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Mathieu,  Sr.,  Don  Beltran, 

Ambassador  E.  and  P.  of  Chile, 
1020  Sixteenth  St., 

Washington,  D.  C. 


May,  Robert  H., 

McGraw-Hill  Book  Co., 

611  Colorado  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
May,   Theodore, 

Representing  Liberty  Export  and 
Import  Corp.,  Trans-Ocean  Fi- 
nance Corporation, 

63  Wall  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y 
Meeks,   B.  S., 

122  W.  Evans  St.,  Florence,  S.  C 
Menoher,  Maj.  Gen.  Chas  T., 

Director  of  Military  Aeronautics 
U.  S.  A.  War  Dept., 

Washington,  D.  C 
Merrick,  Harry  H., 

President,  The  Chicago  Associatior 
of  Commerce, 

10  S.  La  Salle  St.,  Chicago,  111 
Merrill,  Henry  P., 

General  Products,  Shipping  am 
Trading  Corporation, 

Washington,  D.  C 
Merrill,  John   L., 

Pres.,  Central  and  South  America] 
Telegraph  Company  (All  Ameri 
ca  Cables), 

66  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y 
Messer,  Peter, 

Secretary  Wm.  Messer  Co.,  Expor 
ter  Metals  and  Metal  Products, 
27  Suffolk  St.,  New  York,  N.  \ 
Meyer,  Alfred, 

Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas, 
New  York,  N.  \ 
Meyer,  H.  H., 

Manager     Paper     Dept.,     Nations 
Paper  and  Type  Co., 
32  Burling  Slip,  New  York,  N.  ^ 
Michaels,  U.  O., 

Insurance  Co.  of  North  America, 
Richmond,  V; 

Care  Shoreham,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Michler,    Margaret   W., 
Davis  Hosiery  Mills, 

Fort   Payne,   Al; 
Middleton,  Arthur, 
Patent  Lawyer, 

217  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  } 
Milliken,  Governor  Carl  E., 
Governor  of  Maine, 

Augusta,  Main 
Milne,   Henry  Utley, 

Standard  Daily  Trade  Service, 

New  York,  N.  ^ 
Miranda,     A. 

In    care   of    The   J.   L.    Mott    Ire 
Works. 

New  York,  N.  ' 
Mitchell,  Frank  J.  R., 

Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas, 
New  York,  N.  ^ 


440 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Mitchell,   S.   A., 

Sec:,  The  Irwin  Auger  Bit  Co., 

Wilmington,  Ohio. 
Moffit,  Lieut.  J.  P., 

Quartermaster  Corps,  U.  S.  A., 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Moffit,  James  P.  (Lieut.  U.  S.  A.), 

140  Nassau  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Moll,  Aristides  A., 

Spanish    Editor     (Spanish    Edition 
"Journal  A.  M.  A."), 
American   Medical  Association, 

Chicago,  111. 
Montenegro,  Ernesto, 

Representative  of  "El  Mercuric," 

Santiago,  Chile. 
Montenyohl,  Mrs.  C., 

Highway  Industrial  Assn., 

410  McKim  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Montgomery,  W.  P., 

Spanish-English   Translator, 
Pan   American    Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Moody,  H.  R.  (Capt.  U.  S.  A.), 

Packing  Division — War  Department, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Moore,  A.  V., 

President,  Moore  &  McCormick  Co., 
Inc.,  Steamship  Agents, 
5  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Moore,  Paul, 

Director,  Division  of  Information — 
War  Trade  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Moos,  L.  S., 

Pres.,    American   Machinery   Syndi- 
cate,  Inc., 

16-18  West  39th  St., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Moravia,  Mons.  Charles, 

E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Haiti, 

1429  Rhode  Island  Ave., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Moreland,  Watt  L., 

President,  Los  Angeles  Chamber  of 
Commerce, 

Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

Morgan,  Hon.  Dick  T., 

Representative,  State  of  Oklahoma, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Morgan,  Frank  P., 

Factory   Products    Corporation, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Morgan,  Gilbert  E., 
Attorney  at  Law, 
802  Engrs.  Bldg.,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Morris,  Geo.  P. 
612  Colorado  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Morrison,  Horace  S., 

Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
34th,  below  Spruce  St., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Morrow,  James  Barney, 

Manager  of  Foreign  Trade  Depart- 
ment, Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Morse,    Henry   H., 

Regal   Shoe  Company, 

Boston,  Mass. 
Motley,  James   M., 
Exporter, 

71  Beaver  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Muchnic,  Charles  M., 

Vice  President,  American  Locomo- 
tive Sales  Corp., 
30  Church  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Muir,  J.   Malcolm, 

Vice  Pres.,  McGraw-Hill  Co.,  Inc., 
10th  Ave.  at  36th  St., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Muniz,  Luis  G., 

Foreign  Dept.,  Frank  Seaman,  Inc., 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Munro,  Dana  G., 

Economist  for  Mexico  and  Central 
America, 

State  Dept.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Munson,  Charles  S., 

Treasurer,  Cuban  American  Reduc- 
tion Corp., 
165  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Munson,  Frank  C., 

Munson  Steamship  Co., 

82  Beaver  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Murphey,  C.  A., 

New    York    Sales    Manager,    Pratt 

Engineering  and  Machine  Co., 
25  West  44th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Murphey,  Miss  Elizabeth, 
War  Trade  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Murray,  Robert  Hammond, 

Mexico,  D.  F., 

(New    York    Address,    The    City 
Club,    W.   44th    St., 

New  York,  N.  Y.). 
Musher,  N., 

President,  Musher  &  Co.,  Importers 
Olive  Oil, 

Continental  Trust  Bldg., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Myers,  William  S., 
Chilean  Legation, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Myler,  J.  A., 

Asst.   Mgr.,   Foreign   Dept.,   H.   W. 
Johns-Manville   Co., 
41st  St.  and  Madison  Ave., 

New  York.  N.  Y. 


APPENDIX 


441 


Nagel,  C.  W., 

H.  W.  Johns-Manville  Co., 
1737  S.  Michigan  Ave.,  Chicago,  111. 
Nally,  Edward  J., 

President,    Pan   American   Wireless 
Telegraph  and  Telephone  Co., 
233  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Nellis,  J.  C., 

Secretary,  Manager  National  Emer- 

fency  Bureau  of  the  Wooden  Box 
ndustry, 

1553  Conway  Bldg.,  Chicago,  111. 
New,  Hon.  Harry  S., 

Senator  from   Indiana, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Newbold,  Mrs.  R.  M., 
Burlington   Hotel, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Newbold,  R.  M., 

Washington  Rep.,  The  Four  Wheel 
Drive  Auto  Co., 

601-A  Southern  Bldg., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
NewkirK,  Jr.,  John  L., 

Rep.  State  of  Tennessee,  Genl.  Mgr., 
Tennessee  Manufacturers  Assn., 
U.  S.  A.  Corporation, 

Chattanooga,  Tenn. 
Newman,   Dr.   H.  P., 

San  Diego  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
•  San  Diego,  Calif. 
Newton,  Hon.  James  T., 

U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Patents, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Newton,  Robert  M., 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Nickerson,  J.  F., 

Publisher,  Nickerson  Collins  Co., 
and  American  Association  of  Re- 
frigeration, 

431  S.  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago,  111. 
Nickles,  Robert 'E., 

Representing  South  Carolina, 
1116  Vermont  Ave., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Nieto  del  Rio,  Felix, 

Chilean  Consulate  General, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Nobbe,  Paul, 

Vice  Pres.  and  Sales  Mgr.,  Ameri- 
can Aniline  Products,  Inc., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Noel,  John  Vavasour, 

(First  Assistant  and  Secretary  for 
the  Conference)  President,  Noel 
News  Service, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Norckauer,  Maurice  J.  (C.  S.  C.) 

Student,  Notre  Dame  University, 
Holy  Cross  College, 

Brookland,    D.    C. 


Nordman,  J.  J., 

J.   J.    Nordman   &   Co.,    Purchasers 
for  Foreign   Account, 

Farmers  Bank  Bldg., 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Northridge,  F.  Wesley,  Jr., 

Assistant  Export  Manager,  National 
Aniline  and  Chemical  Co.,  Inc., 
21-27  Burling  Slip, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Notz,  William, 

Export     Trade     Division,     Federal 
Trade   Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Noyes,  F.  B., 

President  Associated  Press, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Nye,   L.   Bert 

Mgr.,    Washington    Branch,   Ameri- 
•can  Surety  Co.  of  New  York, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


O'Brien,   Douglas  F., 
Morris  &   Co., 

Chicago,    111. 
O'Brien,  William  J., 

Manager,  All  America  Cables, 
1126  Connecticut  Ave.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
O'Donnell,  J.   Hugh, 

Student,    Notre    Dame    University, 
Holy    Cross    Qollege, 

Brookland,  D.  C. 
O'Donnell,  John  ^., 
All  America  Cables, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
O'Donnell,   L.  A., 

Manufacturer,   "Gary"  Trucks,  The 
Gary  Motor  Truck  Co., 
9th  Ave.  and  Taft  St.,  Gary,  Ind. 

O'Neill,  Gonzalo, 

Manager,  Johnson  &  Johnson, 

New   Brunswick,    N.   J. 
O'Neill,    O.    D., 

Export    Business,    Atlas    Commerce 
Corporation, 
542  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

O'Neill,   Stephen, 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
O'Shanahan,  A.   Reg, 

Uruguayan  Consul  General  in  Bel- 
gium, 

Uruguayan  Legation, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Offutt,  H.  L.,  Jr., 

Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
District  National  Bank, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Ohsol,   J.   G., 

Federal  Trade  Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


442 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Oldham,   William   F., 

Bishop,  Meth.   Episcopal   Church 
150  Fifth  Are.,  New  York,  N.  Y., 
and  718  Corrientas,  Buenos 

Aires,  Argentina. 
Olding,  Miss  Henrietta  E., 

1822  H  St.,  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Ong,   Eugene  W., 

Vice  President,  United  Fruit  Co., 

131  State  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Opisso,  Antonio  M., 

69  Wall  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Oppenheim,  Edward  D., 
Raw   Silk, 

135  E.  34th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Orcutt,   R.   W., 

Advertising   Dept,    National    Paper 
and  Type  Co., 

32  Burling  Slip,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Ortuzar,  Raimundo, 

Chilean   Financial   Commission, 
Waldorf  Astoria, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Osborne,  Albert  E., 

Manager,  Foreign  Dept.,  Union  Bag 
and  Paper  Corp., 

Woolworth  Building, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Ovalle-Quintero,  Juan, 

Attache  of  the  Colombian  Legation, 
1311  K  St.,  N.  W.,  Wash.,  D.  C. 
Owen,  Senator  R.  L.. 

Representative,  State  of  Oklahoma, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Owens,  Roy  G., 

General   Sales   Manager,   Lakewood 
Engineering  Co., 

Station  "G,"  Cleveland,  O. 

Packard,   J.   C., 

Chief,    Development    Division,    Du 
Pont   Chemical   Co., 
Du  Pont  Building, 

Wilmington,  Del. 
Palacios,  Alberto, 

Consul  General  of  Bolivia, 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Panigua,  B.  D., 

Mgr.  Export  Dept.,  La  Compagnie 
Sirene, 

1504   H    St.,   N.   W., 

Washington,  D.   C. 
Parker,  A.  W., 

Casper,    Wyoming. 
Parker,  Challen  R., 

Banker,  Guaranty  Trust  Company  of 
New  York, 

140  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Parker,  J.   Brooks, 

Insurance,  Manhattan  Building, 
4th  and  Walnut  Sts., 

Philadelphia,    Pa. 


.  Parmelee,  Chas.  L., 

Sanderson  &  Porter, 

52  William  St.,  New  York  City. 
Parmelee,   Howard   C., 

Editor,  Chemical  and  Metallurgical 
Engineering, 

10th  Ave.  and  36th  St., 

New  York  City. 
Patino,  Alberto, 

Consul   de   Colombia   en   Cincinnati, 
Ohio, 

19  W.  91st  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Paton,  W.  F., 

New  York  and  Cuba  Mail  S.  S.  Co., 
Pier  13,  East  River, 

New  York  City. 
Patterson,  Robt.  W., 
First  National  Bank, 

La  Junta,  Colo. 
Peairs,  Will  A., 

Vice-Pres.,     Chamberlain     Medicine 
Co., 

702  Sixth  Avenue, 

Des  Moines,  Iowa. 
Pearce,  F.  B., 

N.  O.  S.  S.  Assn.,  Vice-Pres.,  So. 
Pacific  S.  S.  Lines, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Pearce,   H.  A., 

Canal  Zone,  Panama. 
Pearson,   A.   C., 

Pres.  Business  Publishers'  Assn., 
New  York  City, 
Home,  176  Bellevue  Ave., 

Upper  Montclair,  N.  J. 
Peccorini,  Dr.  Atilio, 

Sec.   of  the   Legation   of    Salvador, 
Legation  of  Salvador, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Peck,  F.  R.  G.  S.,  Miss  Annie  S., 

22  W.  72nd  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Pedrick,  N.  O., 

Mgr.,   Texas   Transportation   and 
Terminal  Co., 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Pena,   Hugo  V.  de., 

Charge  d'Affaires  of  Uruguay, 

Washington,   D.   C. 

Penaherrera,   Don    L.   A., 

Attache  to  the  Legation  of  Ecuador, 
Rauscher's, 

1006  16th  St.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Pendleton,   H.  M., 

Major,  U.  S.  Cavalry, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Pendleton,  John  S., 

Genl.   Mgr.,   Compania   Nacional   de 
Metales,    Buenos    Aires,    Havana, 
Cuba,   and   Santiafo,   Chile, 
52  Vanderbilt  Ave., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


APPENDIX 


443 


Penfield,  Walter  S., 
Lawyer, 

806  Colorado  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Pennybacker,  J.  E., 

Director  of  Roads,  American  Auto- 
mobile Association, 

Riggs  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Pepper,  Charles  M., 

Journalist,  Chile  and  Northern 
News  Association, 

3750  McKinley  St., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Perez,  Ernesto  C., 

Consul    General    of    the    Argentine 
Republic, 
17  Battery  Place,  Room  227, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Perkins,  Bishop, 

New  Orleans   Sugar  and  Rice  Ex- 
change, 

New  Orleans,  la. 
Perry,  'Edward, 

194  N.  16th  St.,  East  Orange  (P.  O. 
Ampere), 

New  Jersey. 
Peyser,  Julius  L., 

Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Wilkins  Bldg.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Phelps,  Earl  B., 

Hygiene  Laboratory, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Phillips,  J.  D., 

A.  H.  Bull  &  Co.,  Agents, 

17  Battery  Place, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Phillips,   Miss  Matilda, 

Asst  Statistician,  Pan  American 
Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Phillips,  Hon.  William  C., 

The  Asst.  Secretary  of  State,  Dept. 
of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Pierce,  Henry  D., 

Representing  State  of  Indiana. 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Pierre,  C.  Grand, 

Imports  and  Exports,  F.  C.  Luthi  & 
Co., 

227  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Pinzon  Castilla,  Jorge  (Colombia), 

Yale  School  of  Forestry, 

New  Haven,  Conn. 
Pitkin,  Walter  B., 

Planographic  Equipment  Co.  of  New 
York, 

Dover,  N.  J.,  R.  F.  D.  No.  1. 

Plaza,  Frutos, 

Montgomery  Ward  and  Co., 

Chicago,  111. 


Pleasant,    R.   G., 

Representing  Louisiana, 

Baton  Rouge,  La. 

Polk,  Hon.  Frank  Lyon, 

Acting  Secretary  of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Pollock,  Granville  A., 

Pres.  The  Aircraft  Advertising 
Agency,  Inc. 

280   Madison   Avenue, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Porras,  Camilo, 

Acting  Consul  General  of  Panama, 
11  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Post,  Augustus, 

Sec.  Aero  Club  of  America, 

New  York  City. 
Powell,   Elias, 

Export    Trade    Division,  m  Federal 
Trade  Commission, 

Federal    Trade    Commission, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Pradillo,  A.  E., 

Mgr.    Foreign   Trade    Bureau,   N. 
O.  Assn.  of  Commerce, 
635  Common  Street, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Praeger,   Otto, 

2nd  Asst.  Postmaster  General, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Prat,  F.  G., 

N.   O.   S.   S.   Assn.,  Traffic   Mgr., 
Vaccaro  Brothers, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Pratt,  Edmund  A., 

Asst.    Mgr.    Foreign    Sales,    The 
Barber    Asphalt    Paving    Co., 
Land  Title  Building, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Pratt,  E.  E., 

Pres.  E.  E.  Pratt  &  Co.,  Inc., 
280  Broadway, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Prem,  Marcial, 

Counselor   of   Special   Mission   of 
Guatemala, 
1533  Eye  Street,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Pressinger,  W.  P. 

Vice-Pres.      Chicago      Pneumatic 
Tool      Co.,     Manufacturers     of 
Pneumatic  Tools, 
1016  Fisher  Bldg.,  Chicago,  111. 

Price,  Willard, 

Editor,  "World  Outlook," 
150  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Prichard,  Bernardo, 

Sales    Mgr.,  Latin  American  Ter- 
ritory,  Allied   Machinery   Com- 
pany of  America, 
51  Chambers  Street, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


444 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Prigge,  J.  A.,  Jr., 

Chocolates      and      Confectionery, 
The  E.  W.  Dunstan  Co., 
112  Hudson  St., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Prince,  John  S., 

Pan    American     Society     of    the 
Unites  States, 

15  Broad  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Protsman,  W.  R., 

Vevay,  Indiana. 
Prouty,  N.  H., 

Director,  International  Commerce 
Service,      International      Corre- 
spondence School, 
Cor.  Wyoming  Ave.  and  Ash  St. 
Scranton,  Pa. 
Purdie,  Francis  B., 

In  care  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co., 
Commercial  Agency, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 
Putnam)  J.  B., 

Representative,  National  Bank  of 
Commerce   in   New  York, 
31    Nassau  Street, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Quintana,  Mr.  Federico  M., 

Minister  and  Charge  d'Affaires  of 
Argentina, 

1806  Corcoran  St., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Quintero,  B.  de, 

Pres.,     Spanish-American     School 
of  Language, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Randall,  C.  B.f 

Publisher, 

254  W.  Grant  Ave., 

New  Castle,  Pa. 
Raymond,  Miss  'Elizabeth  J., 
1822  H  Street,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Rea,  Allan  R., 

Manager,     Foreign     Dept.,     Fair- 
banks, Morse  &  Co., 
30  Church  Street, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Peachy,  Santiago  B., 

Foreign  Trade  Director,  Interna- 
tional   Correspondence    School, 
Scranton,  Pa. 
Read,  H., 

Manufacturer,  "Read  Mchy.  Co." 

York,  Pa. 

Redfield,  Hon.  William  C., 
Secretary  of  Commerce, 

Department  of  Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Reese,  Llewellyn, 

Chamber    of    Commerce    of    Los 
Angeles, 

Los  Angeles,  Cal. 


Reichard,  Carlos  B., 

School  of  Foreign  Service, 
Georgetown    University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Reid,  B.  Meredith, 

Georgetown  University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Reid,  William  A., 

Acting  Chief  Clerk  and  Chief 
Trade  Adviser  Pan  American 
Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Rey,   Luis  A., 

Graham,  Rowe  &  Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Reynolds,    B.    H., 

Mexican  Telegraph  Co.,  Commer- 
cial Supt., 
64  Broad  St.,  New  York,  N  Y. 

Reynolds,  Geo.  W., 

President,   Continental  and   Com- 
mercial Nat.   Bank  of  Chicago, 
Chicago,  111. 
Rhea,   Frank, 

Wheeler,  Mechlin  &  Rhea,  Advi- 
sory and  Purchasing  Engineers, 
2113  West  Street  Building, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Rhoads  &  Sons,  J.  E., 

Leather  Belting  Mfgs., 

12  N.  Third  St.,  Phila.,  Pa. 

Rhodes,  Fred  A., 

Foreign  Trade   Class, 

Georgetown    University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Rice,  Archie, 

Hewlett  &  Rice, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Richard,  Carlos   B., 

Georgetown  University,  School  of 
Foreign  Service, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Richard,  O.  L., 

46  E.  72nd  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Richards,  Jr.,  H., 

Secretary,  American  Metric  Asso- 
ciation, 
156  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Richling,  Jose, 

Consul    General    of    Uruguay    at 

Large, 
Consulate  General  of  Uruguay, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Rincones,  Pedro  Rafael, 

Consul  General  of  Venezuela, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Ritchings,  Herbert  A., 

Manager  Export  Dept.,  The  Mosaic 
Tile  Co.  of  Zanesville,  Ohio, 
35  W.  35th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


APPENDIX 


445 


Rivas,  Angel  Cesar, 

Acting   Editor   Spanish   Bulletin, 
Pan  American  Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Roberts,  Eugene  H., 

Vice  President,  Whitney  Central 
National  Bank, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Robertson,  Alfred, 

Representing  Columbian  Rope  Co., 
Auburn,  N.  Y., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Robertson,  James  A., 

Mgr.  Editor,  Hispanic  Amer.  Hist. 
Review, 

1422  Irving  St.,  N.  E., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Robinson,  Miss  Bertha  Gray, 

Editor,  Orange,  Va.,  Observer, 

Main  St.,  Orange,  Va. 
Robinson,  Harrison  S., 

Atty.  for  Bethlehem  Shipbldg.  Corp., 
Rep.  Oakland  Chamber  of  Com., 

Oakland,  Cal. 
Robinson,  Lee  Lamar, 

Director  Organization  and  Educa- 
tion, Highways  Transport  Com- 
mittee, U.  S.  Council  of  Nat.  De- 
fense, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Robinson,  Myron  W., 

President,   Crex  Carpet  Co., 

212  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Robinson,  O.  O., 

Dist.  Mgr.,  H.  H.  Robertson  Co., 
415  Equitable  Bldg.,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Rodriguez,  Dr.  Jose  Santiago, 

Special  Agent  of  Venezuela,  Sur  2, 
San  Francisco  a  Pajaritos,  Cara- 
cas, Venezuela, 

Caracas,  Venezuela. 
Rojo,  Dr.  Juan  B., 

Counselor  of  Embassy  of  Mexico, 
1413  I  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Romero,  Dr.  Jose, 

Assistant  for  Conference, 

National   City   Bank, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Romero  Sanson,  J.  L., 

Brazilian  Mgr.,  Trading  Engrs.,  Inc., 
1641  Edison  Bldg.,  Chicago,  111. 

Rose,  John  A., 

Nash  Motors  Co., 

Kenosha,  Wis. 
Rosenberg,  Louis  James, 

Representing  State  of  Michigan, 

Detroit,  Mich. 
Rosenberg,   M., 

Shipping  Agent,  Atlantic  Forward- 
ing Co.,  Inc., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


Rosenthal,  S.  Welden, 

Trade  Com.,  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic   Commerce, 
Department  of  Commerce, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Roth,  J.  Allo, 

Bech,  van  Siclen  &  Co.,  Inc., 

45  E.  17th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Rothrock,  Howard  E. 

Lieut.,  U.  S.  Marine  Corps, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Roth,   Pablo, 

Manager,   Export  and   Consignment 
Dept.,  The  Union  Trading  Co., 
Chacabuco   166,   Buenos  Aires, 

Argentina. 
Rowe,    Dr.    L.  S., 

Asst.  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Rowe,   W.   S., 

Representing  State  of  Ohio, 

Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
Rumble,  Frank  L., 

Welsbach    Street    Lighting    Co.    of 
America, 
262  W.  Seymour  St., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Rutter,    Dr.    F.    R., 

Statistical  Advice,  Dept.  of  Com., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Rynder,    R.    D., 

Attorney,   Swift  &  Co., 

Union  Stock  Yards,  Chicago,  111. 

Sague,    J.  'E., 

Worthington  Pump  and  Machinery 
Corporation, 

115  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Salcedo,  Severe, 

N.  Y.  Correspondent,  "La  Nacion," 
of  Valparaiso,  Chile, 

34  Wall  St.,  New  York  N.  Y. 
Salmen,  Fred  W., 

Representing  City  of  New  Orleans, 
New  Orleans,  La. 
Sampaio,  Sabastiao, 
Consul   of   Brazil, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Sanborn,  George  A., 

Babson's  Statistical  Organization, 

Wellesley  Hills,  Mass. 
Sanchez  Latour,  Sr.  Don  Francisco, 
Charge  d'Affairs  of  Guatemala, 
1810  Connecticut  Ave., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Sanchez   Ella,   Dr.  Angel, 
Lawyer, 

Buenos   Aires,    Argentina. 
Sarbin,  Joseph   I., 

Asst.  Chief  Clerk,  Board  of  Rail- 
road Wages  and  Working  Con- 
ditions, 

Washington,   D.   C. 


446 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Satterthwaite,  Colonel  John  J, 

Representing  State  of  Delaware, 

Wilmington,  Del. 
Sauer,    Etnil, 

American  Consul,  Maracaibo, 

Hotel  Ansonia,  New  York  City. 

Schaefer,  J.   Louis, 

W.  R.  Grace  &  Co., 
Hanover  Square,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Schell,    H.   H., 

Sec.  and  Genl.  Mgr.,  Schell  Chemi- 
cal Co.,   Inc., 

56  Pine  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Schiffmann,  R.,  Co., 

Proprietary  Remedies,  "Asthmador," 

R.  J.  Schiffmann, 
208  W.  Sixth  St.,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

Schmitt,   H.    Rudolf, 

Latin  American  Dept.,  The  Sun, 

New  York. 
Schockel,    B.    H., 

U.   S.   Shipping  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Schoff,  Wilfred  H., 

Sec.  The  Commercial  Museum, 
34th  St.  below  Spruce, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Schwab,  Charles  M., 

President,  Bethlehem  Steel  Co., 

Ill  Broadway,  New  York  City. 

Scott,    B.    L., 

Pennsylvania  A.  S.  League, 

Philadelphia,   Pa. 
Scovil,  Medley, 

Medley  Scovil,  Inc.,  Advertising 
Agency, 

25  Pine  St.,  New  York  City. 
Scully,  Wm.  A., 

Department  of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Seal,  E.  H., 

Bird  &  Son,   Inc., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Seaman,  R.  J., 

Manager  Bureau  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Trade, 

Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Seligman,  Walter, 

Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Selke,    D.  C., 

Congressional  Information  Bureau, 
Southern  Bldg.,  Wash.,  D.  C. 
Semmes,  Chas.  W., 

Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
617  G  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Seoane,  C.  A., 

G.  Amsinck  &  Co., 

90  Wall  St.,  New  York  City. 


Shepard,  Mrs.  J.  Finlay, 

National  Board  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A., 
600    Lexington    Ave., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Shepard,  Simeon, 

Genl.   Manager   for   Foreign   Trade, 
Austin,  Baldwin  &  Co.,  Inc., 
44  Whitehall  St., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Sheridan,  James   M., 
Lawyer, 

1127  Woodward  Building, 

Washington,   D.  C. 

Sherwell,    Guillermo    A., 

Juristic   Expert,   International  High 
Commission,  Treasury  Dept, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Shirley,   H.  G., 

Highway  Industries  Association, 

Towson,  Md. 
Shultz,  Walter  W., 

Secretary,  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Hazleton,   Pa. 
Simmons,  B.  F., 

Spice  Mill  Publishing  Co.,  Inc., 
97  Water  Street, 

New  York  City. 
Simondetti,    E.  T., 

J.  W.  Thorne  &  Co., 

'  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Simpich,  Frederick, 

U.  S.  Consular  Service, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Sims,  Yelmer  V., 

School  of  Foreign  Service,  George- 
town University, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Singer,   B., 

President,    Pan   American   Consular 
Association  of  Chicago, 
616  Nat.  Life  Blgd.,  Chicago,  111. 

Sinsheimer,   Allen, 

Washington  Editor,  The  Class 
Journal  Co., 

408  Kenois  Bldg,  Wash,  D.  C. 

Sirvent,  Jose 

Chancellor  of     Argentine  Embassy, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Sivyer,  Fred   L., 

Representing  State  of  Wisconsin, 
Northwestern  Malleable  Iron  Co, 
Milwaukee,  Wis. 
Slechta,  J.  J., 
Holt  &  Co, 

95  Broad  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Smith,  A.  Proctor, 

Sec.  and  Gen.  Mgr.  North  American 
Wood  Products  Corp, 
50  Union  Square, 

New  York  City. 


APPENDIX 


447 


Smith,  Miss  A.  Viola, 

Chief,  Information  Section,  U.  S. 
Training   Service,   Department  of 
Labor, 

Washington,   D.    C. 
Smith,   D.   A., 

Vice-Presiclent  and  Gen.  Mgr.,  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  Paper  Manufac- 
turing Co., 
Potomac  and  K  Sts.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Smith,  Herbert  W., 

Importers    and    Exporters,    Herbert 
W.   Smith  Brokerage  Co., 
207  W.  Washington  St., 

Chicago,  111. 
Smith,  James  E., 

President,  Mississippi  Valley  Water- 
ways Association, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Smith,  Landon  B., 

Port  Agent,  Southern  Railroad 
Lines, 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Smith,    Lauren    M., 

Auto  Accessories   Co., 

401   Munsey  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Smith,  Pemberton, 

Mgr.   Latin  American  Dept,  U.   S. 
Steel  Products  Co., 

30  Church  St.,  New  York  City. 

Smith,  R.  Neale>, 

Surplus  Property  Division,  U.  S. 
War  Trade  Board,  - 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Smith,   Tunstall, 

Sec.,  Factory  Site  Commission, 
Room  26,  City  Hall, 

Baltimore,  Md. 
Smith,  Victor  M., 

General  Feight  Agent,  Kerr  Steam- 
ship Co., 

17  Battery  Place, 

New  York  City. 
Smith,  Walter  C., 

Pillsbury  Flour  Mills  Co., 
301  Metropolitan  Life  Ins.  Bldg, 

Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Smithers,   A.   F., 

3456  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Smoot,  Hon.  Reed, 

Senator  from  Utah, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Snrvull,  J-    Barstow, 

Chamber     of     Commerce    of    the 

State  of  New  York, 
65  Liberty  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y., 

Smyth,  Robert  J., 

The  R.  J.  Smyth  Corporation, 
104  Fulton  St., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


Sol   M.,  Dr.  Don  Salvador, 

E.   E.   and   M.   P.   of  Salvador, 
1722  Massachusetts  Avenue, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Solomon,  T.   M., 

Pres.,  T.  M.  Solomon  Co.,  Inc. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Soper,  Major  George  A., 

Surgeon  General, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Southgate  &  Co.,  T.  S., 

Wholesale  Merchants, 

Tagewell  St.,  Norfolk,  Va. 
Spanish  American  Bureau  of  Informa- 
tion, 

Mercantile  Agency, 

1265-1269  Broadway, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Spencer,  Col.  Chas.  Hardee, 

Wholesale    Grocery, 

Tampa,  Fla. 
Stahl,  Adolfo, 

Banker,    Proprietor    of    Schwartz 
&  Co.,  Guatemala, 

38  Pine  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Steenstrup,   P.  S., 

General  Motors  Export  Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Stempel,    Dr.   J.    H.    T., 

Manager,      Cooperation      Depart- 
ment, La  Hacienda, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Stephens,  Tomas  E., 

La  Nacion, 

Buenos  Aires,  Argentina. 

Stern,   Carl    W., 

M.  J.  Corbett  Co., 

24  State  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y., 
Stern,  Donald  MacGregor, 

Ingenieria Internacional.  McGraw- 

:°"         New  York,  N.  Y., 
Stevens,  Clarence  S., 

Managing     Director,     Am.     Milk 
Products  Corp., 
302  Broadway, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Stewart,    Glenn, 

Latin  American  Division, 
Department  of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Stewart,  James  B., 

American       Consul,       Chihuahua, 
Mexico, 
Room  109,  Department  of 

State,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Stewart   John    R., 

War  Trade  Board,  Bureau  of  For- 
eign Agents — Second  Ward  Sav- 
ings Bank, 

Second  Ward  Savings  Bank, 
Milwaukee,  Wis. 


448 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Stewart,  J.  W., 

Mgr.,  Naval  Architect,  J.  W.  Isher- 
wood,     "Isherwood     System    of 
Ship   Construction." 
17  Battery  Place, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Stockton,  Chas.  W., 

Lawyer,  Stockton  &  Stockton, 
51  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Story,  Sidney, 

Vice-President,  U.  S.  Maritime 
and  Development  Co., 

Majestic  Bldg.,  Detroit,   Mich.. 

Stowell,  'Edwin  H., 

Victor  R.  Browning  &  Co., 

Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Strange,  John, 

John  Strange  Paper  Co.,  Paper 
and  Pulp, 

Menasha,  Wis. 
Stralton,  S.  W., 

Chief,  Bureau  of  Standards, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Suckerman,  Jack, 

Banking,  Mercantile  Trust  Co., 

P.  O.  Box  1433,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Sullivan,    D.  J., 

Assistant  Trade  Head,  W.  I.  and 
Caribbean  Trades,  U.  S.  Ship- 
ping Board, 

87  New  York  Aye.,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Sullivan,    John, 

Assn.  Natl.  Advertisers, 

16  E.  26th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y., 

Sundberg,  Sr.,  Don  Axel, 

Care  Consul  General  of  Uruguay, 
New  York,  N.  Y. 
Sutton,  C.  W., 

Vice-President      and      Consulting 
Engr.,  L.  J.  Lewery  &  Co.,  Inc,. 
17  Battery  Place, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Sweet,  James  Allen, 

Mgr.  For.  Dept.,  Natl.  Credit  Off., 
45  E.  17th  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Sweinhart,  Henry  L., 

(Assistant    for    the    Conference    in 
Charge  of   Publicity)    Press   Cor- 
respondent, 
15th  and  L  Streets,  N.  W., 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Tackaberry,  Frederic  H., 

Vice-President,     American     Steel 
Export  Co., 

Woolworth  Building, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Tarler,   G.  Cornell, 

State  Department, 

Washington,   D.   G. 


Taylor,    Nobe, 

United   Press, 

World  Bldg.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Taylor,  W.  W., 

Mining    Engineer,    Benedict    Coal 
Corporation, 

Lynchburg,   Va. 
Teehee,  Houston   B., 

Register  of  the  Treasury, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Teeter,  William  H., 

Director  M.  E.  Centenary  in  Latin 
America,  M.  E.  Church, 
111  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Tessier,  Jr.,  C.  A., 

134  Carondelet  St., 

New  Orleans,  La. 
Thayer,  D.  W. 

Board  of  Trade, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Thiesing,  Theodore  H., 

International    High    Commission, 
Treasury  Department, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Thomas,   Eugene  P., 

Pres.,  U.  S.  Steel  Products  Co., 

30  Church  St.,  New  York  City. 
Thomas,  J.  S., 

Export  Mgr.,  Spang,  Chalfant  &  Co,, 
Inc., 
2007  Union  Bank  Bldg., 

Pittsburgh,   Pa. 
Thompson,  Frederick, 

Western  Pipe  &  Steel  Co.  of  Cal., 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 
Thompson,  Hon.  Joseph  B., 

Representative,  State  of  Oklahoma, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Thompson,  Milton  W., 

Prof.,  Economics  and  Finance,  Mar- 
quette  University, 

256  13th  St.,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 
Thompson,  S.  A., 

National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Con- 
gress, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Thorne,  John  W.  &  Co., 
Incorporation, 

165  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
Thorpe,  Col.  G.  C., 

U.  S.  Marine  Corps, 

Norfolk,  Va. 
Titus,  Arthur  H., 

Vice-Pres.  National  City  Bank, 

55  Wall  St.,  New  York  City. 
Titus,    F.    E., 

B.  F.  Goodrich  Rubber  Co., 

Akron,  Ohio. 

Tocornal,   Sr.   Don   Juan    Enrique, 
Chilean  Special  Mission, 

Waldorf-Astoria,  New  York  City. 


APPENDIX 


449 


Todd,  Frederick, 

Editor,  The  Americas, 

The  National  City  Bank, 

New  York  City. 
Todd,  William  H., 

Pres.  Todd  Shipbuilding  Co., 

Brooklyn,    N.    Y. 

Toledo  Herrarte,  Sefior  Dr.  Luis, 

Special  Mission  of  Guatemala, 
2006   Columbia   Road, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Tompkins,  James  G., 

Asst.  Trade  Head,  W.  I.  &  Carib- 
bean Trades,  U.  S.  Shipping 
Board, 

4916  Belt  Road,  Wash.,  D.  C. 

Tores,  Manuel  M., 

Mexican  Embassy, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Tower,  Geo.  Warren,  Jr., 

Guggenheim   Bros., 

120  Broadway,  New  York  City. 

Tower,  W.  S., 

Consolidated  Steel  Corporation, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Townsend,  Capt.  A.   R., 

Military  Intelligence  Division,  War 
Department, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Tregoe,  B.     B,. 

Mgr.  Foreign  Credits  Bureau, 
National  Association  of  Credit 
Men, 

41  Park  Row,  New  York  City, 

Tucker,  William   R., 

Sec.  and  Asst  Treas.    Philadelphia 
Board  of  Trade, 

Bourse  Bldg.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Tudela  y  Varela,  Sr.  Don  Francisco, 
Ambassador  E.  and  P.  of  Peru, 
2131  Mass.  Ave.,  Wash.,  D.  C. 

Tuska,    Major   G.    R., 

68  William  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Tyler,  Wm.  R., 

Hotel  Seville,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


Ulman,  Leon  S., 

Bakery  Owner,  Holmes  and  Son,  Inc., 
107  F  St.,  N.  W.,  Wash.,  D.  C. 

Urueta,  Senor  Dr.  Carlos  Adolfo, 
E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Colombia, 

1327  16th  St.,  Washington,  D.  C 
Uzzell,  Thomas  H., 

New  York  Ave.  Station,  R.     F.  D. 
No.   2, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Vance,  Creuzet, 

The  Ralston  Steel  Car  Co., 

Columbus,  Ohio. 
Van  Cleve,   N.  W., 

Trade    Statistician,    U.    S.    Shipping 
Board, 

1317  F.  St.,  N.  W.,  Wash.,  D.  C, 
Vandegrift,  Joseph  A., 

Vice-Pres.,  Peruvian  Copper  & 
Smelting  Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Vanderlip,  F.  A., 

Pres.,  National  City  Bank  of  New 
York, 

New  York  City. 
Van  Dyke,  Harry  W,. 

Latin  American  Law  Office, 
Woodward  Building, 

Washington,  D.   C, 

Van  Wagener,  Jas.,  H., 

International  Boundary  Commission, 
719  15th  St.,  N.  W.,  Wash.,  D.  C. 

Veloz,  Nicolas, 

Consul  of  Venezuela, 

New  Orleans,   La. 
Venable,  H.  G., 

Consolidated    Rolling   Mills   &   Co., 
25  Broad  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Villanueva,  Sr.  Don  Augusto, 

Chilean  Special  Mission, 

Waldorf-Astoria,  New  York  City. 
Santiago,  Chile. 
Vilter,  Theodore  O., 

Representing  State  of  Wisconsin, 

Milwaukee,  Wis. 
Vogel,  C., 

The  Atlantic  Refining  Co., 
3144  Passyunk  Avenue, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Wade,  Festus  J., 

President,    Mercantile   Trust    Co., 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
Wagner,  C.  '£., 

Export  Mgr.,  The  Miller  Rubber 
Co., 

Akron,  Ohio. 
Walker,  Burnett, 

Banker,  Harris,  Forbes  &  Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y.' 

Wallace,  Miss  Vyvian  H., 

Oxford,  Miss. 
Walsh,  Edmund  A., 

Regent,  Georgetown  University 
School  of  Foreign  Service, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Walsh,  Henry  Collins, 

President,  Travel    Club  of  America, 
192  Claremont  Ave., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


450 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Walsh,  John, 

Former  Chief  Counsel  of  the  Fed- 
eral Trade  Commission, 
404  Southern  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Walton,  H.  C., 

Contracting  Engineer,  McClintic- 
Marshall  Co., 
50  Church  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Wands,   Ernest   H., 

Vice-President,  Chandler  &  Co., 
35  Pine  St.,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Wardall,  R.  H., 

War  Trade  Board,  Room  239, 
Cor.  C  and  20th  Sts., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Wardle,  Robert, 

Gen.  Freight     Agent,  Clyde  Steam- 
ship Co., 
11  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Wardrop,  Douglas, 

Aerial  Age, 

280  Madison  Avenue, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Warner,  Louis  H., 

National  Council  of  Am.  Cotton 
Manufacturers, 

1514  H  St.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Watson,  John  G., 

Mgr.  U.  S.  Rubber  Export  Co.,  Ltd., 
Caixa  Postal  789,  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
Brazil, 
1790  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y 

Waurgaft,    L.   M., 

President,  Youroveta  Home  and 
Foreign  Trade  Co.,  Inc., 
165  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Weaver,  Sylvester  L., 

Second  Vice-Pres.,  Los  Angeles 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 
128  South   Broadway, 

Los  Angeles,  Cal. 
Webb,  Wm.  T., 

Construction  Engineer, 

Providence,  R.   I. 
Wehle,  Louis  B. 

General  Counsel,  War  Finance  Corp., 
Washington,   D.   C. 
Weir,  Clarence  E., 

Merchants  Bank  Building, 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 
Wells,  Carl  S., 

Banker,   Mgr.,   Commercial    Service 
Dept,  The  First  National  Bank, 
70  Federal  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

Wells,  William  C., 

Chief  Statistician,  Pan  American 
Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Wendt,  W.  F., 

Buffalo    Forge    Co.,    W.    F.    Wendt 
Pub.  Co, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Werckenthein,  William, 

Mgr.  Export   Dept,  The  Island 
Petroleum    Co, 

410  Keyser  Bldg,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Wetten,  Emil  C., 

Wetten  &  Matthews, 

108  S.  Lasalle  St.,  Chicago,  111. 
Whelan,  John  W., 

John  A.  Roebling's  Sons  Co, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Whedfer,  T.  M., 

The  Coastwise  Shipbuilding  Co., 
Foot  of  Andre  Street, 

Baltimore,  Md. 
Wheeler,  Earl, 

Wheeler,  Mechlin  &  Rhea, 
Engineers, 

2113  West  St.  Bldg, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Wheeler,  T.  W., 

Wooden  Shipbuilding,  The  Coast- 
wise  Shipbuilding  Co, 
Foot  of  Andre  Street, 

Baltimore.  Md. 
White,  J.  W., 

General  Railway  Signal  Co., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
.Whitehead,  Allyn  G., 
McGraw,  Hill  Co, 

3500  Fairview  Avenue, 

Baltimore,  Md. 
Whitford,  Geo.  L., 

Lawyer,   Representing  New   Hamp- 
shire, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Whitmarsh,  Henry  E., 

Havana,  Cuba. 
Whitney,  Fred  Brown, 

Chairman,  The  Deselektro  Co., 

Evans  Bldg,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Whitney,  R.  M., 

Associated  Press, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Wilbur,   Edward   C., 

Trades  Dept,  Div.  of  Operations, 
U.  S.  Shipping  Board, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Williams,  C.  B., 

Underwood  Typewriter  Co, 

New  York  City. 
Williams,   J.  C., 

Manager,     Development     Service, 
Southern  Railroad, 

1300  Pennsylvania  Avc, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Williams,  Nathan  B., 

National  Association  of   Mfs., 
Union  Trust  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


APPENDIX 


451 


Willoughby,  Dr.  W.  F.,. 

Regional  Economist  for  Latin 
America,  Office  of  For.  Trade 
Adviser, 

Department  of  State, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Wilson,  Charles  E., 

Assistant  General  Sales  Manager, 
Worthington  Pump  &  Mch.  Co., 
115   Broadway, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Wilson,  Kurtz, 

Special  Representative  Canton  Co. 
of  Baltimore, 

Keyser  Bldg.,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Wilson,  Otto, 

612  Munsey  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Wilson  (Sc.  D.),  W.  P., 

Director,  Philadelphia  Museum, 
34th  Street  below  Spruce, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Wilson,  Wm.  Robert, 

Vice-Pres.    Irving    Nat.    Bank, 
Woolworth  Building, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Winter,  M.  A., 

The   M.  A.  Winter  Co., 
Winter  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Wisner,  Hon.  Frank  G., 

Representing  State  of  Mississippi, 

Laurel,   Miss. 
Witkowski,    Louis  C., 

Jonathan  Bartley  Crucible  Co., 

Trenton,    N.   J. 
Wolfsohn,  Arthur, 

Vice  Pres.  and  Genl.  Mgr.,  Argen- 
tine Industrial  and  Financial  Cor- 
poration, 

223  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Woods,  Col.  Arthur, 

Assistant   Secretary  of  War, 

Washington,   D.    C. 


Wooton,  Paul, 

Engineering    and    Mining    Journal, 
Union  Trust   Bldg., 

Washington,  D.   C. 

Yanes,  Francisco  J., 

Assistant    Director,    Pan    American 
Union, 

Washington,  D.   C. 

Yanez,  Sr.  Don  Eliodoro, 

Chilean   Special   Mission, 
Waldorf  Astoria,  New  York,  N.  Y., 

Santiago,  Chile. 
Yanez,  Louis  Fidel, 

Chilean  Financial  Commission, 
Waldorf  Astoria,  New  York,  N.  Y., 

Santiago,  Chile. 
Ycaza,  Gustavo  R.  de, 

Consul  General  of  Ecuador, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Yost,  Howard  McC., 

Major  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A., 
2750  Munitions  Bldg., 

Washington,  D.   C. 

Youngman,  Elmer  H., 

Editor,  The  Bankers  Magazine, 
253  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Zamora,  Senor  Don  Julio, 

Financial    Agt,    Bolivian    Govern., 
Waldorf  Astoria,  New  York,  N.  Y., 

La  Paz,  Bolivia. 
Zavala,  Manuel, 

Secretary  of  Nicaraguan  Legation, 
Washington,  D.   C. 
Zermeno,  J.  N., 

Attorney    at    Law,    The^   Mexican 
Fibre   Producers  Association, 
3405  Woolworth  Bldg., 

New  York,  N.  Y. 
Zumeta,  Dr.  Cesar, 
Station  F.  Box  6,  New  York,  N.  Y., 
Caracas,  Venezuela. 


453 


INDEX 


Acuna,  Alberto,  paper,  234. 

Adams,  Franklin,  Chief  Clerk,  Pan 
American  Union,  telegram,  62. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  272. 

Adams-Williams,  Mrs.  L.,  remarks,  78. 

Addresses  and  papers,  89-387. 

Advertising:  care  in  preparation,  394; 
censorship,  348-350;  experts  for  pub- 
licity campaigns,  79;  dishonest,  74, 
75;  drugs,  75;  honest  and  dishonest, 
348,  349;  how  directed,  244,  246;  mo- 
tion pictures  for,  356-359;  rates  of 
Latin  American  papers,  368,  369; 
ways  of,  55,  56.  (See  also  Intelli- 
gence and  Publicity). 

Advertising  literature:  Brazil,  124, 
217;  Latin  America,  363-365;  trans- 
lations, 72,  73,  363-365. 

Aero  Club  of  America,  235,  238. 

Aeronautic  Convention,  Second  Pan 
American,  236. 

Aeronautics,   (see  Aviation). 

Aeroplanes,   (see  Aviation). 

Agriculture:  Bolivia,  113,  114;  Brazil, 
123;  Colombia,  141,  142;  Costa  Rica, 
145;  Dominican  Republic,  152,  153; 
Ecuador,  156;  Guatemala,  164;  Haiti, 
168;  Honduras,  173;  Nicaragua,  178; 
Panama,  37;  Paraguay,  38,  185;  Sal- 
vador, 204;  Venezuela,  217,  218. 

Agriculture,  Department  of,  272. 

Aircraft,  (see  Aviation). 

Aircraft  Association,  238. 

Air  mail  service,  (see  Aviation). 

Airey,  Sir  George,  272. 

Albes,  Edward,  paper,  360-363. 

Aldao,  Campos  &  Gil,  283. 

All   Americas  Cable  Co.,  79,  87,  353. 

All  America  Film  Service,  356. 

Allen,  Wing  B.,  remarks  by,  44,  54,  55. 

Allock,    Harry,    268. 

Alpers,  Ernest,  remarks  by,  55. 

Alves  de  Lima,  J.  C.,  (see  de  Lima). 

Amazon  River,  117. 

American  Association  for  International 
Conciliation,  76. 

American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  267. 

American  Association  of  Teachers  of 
Spanish,  56. 

American  Bankers'  Association,  349. 

American   Chemical   Society,  267. 

American  Cotton  Oil  Co.,  283. 

American  Drug  Manufacturers'  Asso- 
ciation, 267. 

American  Graphophone  Company,  283. 

American  Institute  of  Chemical  En- 
gineers, 267. 

American  Institute  of  Weights  and 
Measures,  54,  270,  272. 


American   Malaria  Committee,  344. 

American  Metric  Association,  54,  266- 
270. 

American  Manufacturers'  'Export  Asso- 
ciation, 246-273;  American,  Pan,  see 
Pan  American;  Americanism,  Pan, 
see  Pan  Americanism. 

American  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
267. 

American  Piano  Company,  283. 

American  Pneumatic  Service  Com- 
pany, 283. 

American  Screw  Company,  251. 

American  Society  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers, 271,  273. 

American  Surety  Company,  307. 

American  Tobacco  Company,  283. 

Anchorena,  Jacinto,  14. 

Andes   Exploration  Company,  199. 

Andes,  mineral   resources,  8. 

Appendix,  389-419. 

Arbitration    board's,    10. 

Arbitration,  (see  Commercial  Arbitra- 
tion). 

Arenales,  Alfonso:  mentioned,  161; 
paper,  164,  165. 

Arellano,  Carlos,  paper,  52,  176,  177. 

Argentina:  American  banks,  95;  Amer- 
ican firms  in,  95;  Americans  in,  best 
liked  foreigners,  58,  96;  American 
news,  95;  Associated  Press  service, 
95,  96;  balance  of  trade,  26,  91;  buy- 
ing limited,  96;  capital  of,  11;  coal 
for  railways,  16;  commerce,  92,  399- 
401;  characteristics,  91;  commerce 
with  U.  S.,  16,  17;  commerce  with 
U.  S.,  how  to  increase,  14,  15,  92-96; 
commercial  map,  29;  commiercial  ar- 
bitration treaty  with  U.  S.,  10;  com- 
plaints against  American  exporters 
investigated,  16,  17;  consular  char- 
ges, 288;  credits,  96,  105;  currency 
and  exchange,  266,  267;  diagram  of 
foreign  commerce,  40;  European 
competition,  95,  96;  exports,  91,  399- 
401;  foreign  capital  in,  93,  94; 
foreign  debt,  payment,  96;  future  of 
trade  with  U.  S.,  14;  how  to  deal 
with  people  of,  15;  imports,  15,  16, 
91,  399-401;  imports  from,1  U.  S.,  14, 
15;  investments,  92-94;  loans  to  al- 
lied nations,  96;  long  stay  necessary, 
17;  malaria  investigations,  344;  man- 
ufactured articles,  oversurplus,  96; 
moving  pictures  from  U.  S.,  cause 
of  better  idea  of  U.  S.;  papers  and 
addresses  on,  91-96;  paper  trade,  96; 
parcel  post,  277,  278,  280;  prosperity 
of,  to  whom  due,  91;  racial  elements, 
263,  railways,  311;  reasons  for  great- 
er trade  with  Europe,  15;  sales  of 
U.  S.  goods  more  widely  distributed 


454 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Argentina — Continued: 
than  European,  15,  18;  trade  balance 
in  favor  of,  26;  tramways,  319;  U.  S. 
Chamber    of    Commerce    in    Buenos 
Aires,  56-57. 

Army  Air  Service,  235-238. 

Associated  Business  Papers,  78,  351- 
353. 

Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the 
World,  348,  349. 

Associated  Press:  service  to  Argen- 
tina, 95,  96;  President  of,  (see 
Noyes,  F.  B.) ;  work  of  in  Pan  Amer- 
icanism, 345,  346. 

Association  of  Railway  Master  Me- 
chanics, 272. 

Atrato  River,  141. 

Aviation  as  aid  to  Pan  American  Com- 
merce: appropriation  by  Congress 
for  mail  service,  59;  development, 
237;  mail  service,  49,  59;  papers  and 
discussions  on,  48-51,  235-238;  parcel 
post  service  by  air,  59;  shipment  of 
soap  to  Cuba  by  aeroplane,  49-51; 
Standard  Oil  Company's  air  service 
to  Mexico,  51;  U,  S.  Army,  235-238. 

B 

Babcock,  Charles  E.,  paper,  284-385. 

Badillo,  M,,  remarks,  81. 

Bahamas,  parcel  post,  277. 

Bahia,  death  rate,  344. 

Baker,  Charles  W.,  paper,  69,  323-330. 

Bananas:  Costa  Rica,  145;  Honduras, 
173;  Nicaragua,  179;  Panama,  182. 

Bankhead  highway,  335,  336. 

Banks  and  banking:  American  trans- 
actions in  Latin  America,  how  con- 
ducted, 98;  Argentina,  95;  balances 
of  Latin  America  banks  in  U.  S.,  53; 
basic  factor  in  trade,  233;  branches 
in  Latin  America,  95,  98;  Chile,  131- 
133;  Colombia,  141;  cooperation 
with  merchants,  231;  Cuba,  146; 
European  methods  in  Latin  America, 
103;  facilities,  310;  financing  irriga- 
tion, 322;  financing  Latin  American 
governments,  304;  Honduras,  171; 
Latin  America,  217;  liability  of  ex- 
port firms,  reports  by  banks,  52; 
Mexico,  177;  Paraguay,  192-194; 
Peru,  198;  transactions  through  for- 
eign banks  before  the  war,  22;  Uru- 
guay, 206;  Venezuela,  213. 

Barbados,  parcel  post,  277. 

Bard,  Dr.  H.  E.,  paper,  85;  378-380; 
thanks  to,  87. 

Barra,  Jorge,  paper  read  by,  66. 

Barranco,  Dr.   Manuel,  381. 

Barrett,  John,  Director  General,  Pan 
American  Union;  foreword,  ix;  clos- 
ing address  and  review  of  work  of 
Conference,  85-88;  mentioned,  138, 
176,  227,  283,  301,  334,  353;  paper  on 


Practical  Pan  Americanism,  389-394 ; 
quoted,  138,  347;  remarks  at  open- 
ing session,  1;  report  descriptive  of 
work  and  activities  of  the  Pan 
American  Union,  394-397;  rules  of 
the  Conference  read  by,  12;  vote  of 
thanks  to,  83. 

Barrett,  Robert  S.:  remarks,  52;  paper, 
79,  95,  96. 

Bates,  C.  A.,  272. 

Behrman,  Martin,  Mayor  of  New  Or- 
leans: address  by,  46,  225-227. 

Belgium,  investments  in  Latin  Amer- 
ica, 303. 

Bello  Horizonte,  death  rate,  344. 

Bell,  Professor  Alexander  Graham, 
236. 

Bensabat,  Leon,  paper,  76,  122,  123. 

Berne   Trade    Mark   Convention,   59. 

Bethlehem  Steel  Company,  300;  presi- 
dent of,  (see  Schwab). 

Bills  of  lading,  287-291. 

Blaine,  James  G.,  346,  389. 

Board  of  Commissioners  of  District  of 
Columbia,  President  of,  (see  Brown- 
low,  Louis). 

Bogart,  Maurice  B.,  remarks,  45. 

Bolivar,  Simon,  203,  289. 

Bolivia:  address  by  Minister  Ignacio 
Calderon,  7,  8;  agricultural  imple- 
ments, market  for,  113,  114;  agricul- 
tural possibilities,  113,  114;  Ameri- 
can capital  preferred,  97;  antimony, 
111;  budget,  107,  building  materials, 
market  for,  113;  cement,  market  for, 
113;  commerce,  107,  399-401;  com- 
mercial conditions,  102-115;  commer- 
cial map,  29;  communication,  means 
of,  105;  construction  of  buildings, 
113,  consular  charges,  288;  copper, 
111;  credits,  105;  currency  and  ex- 
change, 104,  107,  108,  266;  debt,  pub- 
lic, outstanding  balance,  99,  101,  107; 
development  of  country,  114;  dia- 
gram of  foreign  commerce,  50;  eco- 
nomic situation,  104, 108, 109;  Europe 
predominant  in  trade  of,  103;  ex- 
ports, 103,  111,  112,  399-401;  exposi- 
tion of  agricultural  implements  pro- 
posed, 114;  financial  situation,  98- 
102,  108;  flour,  113,  foreigners,  pro- 
tected by  laws,  101;  freights  to  Eu- 
rope cheaper  than  to  U.  S.,  101,  102; 
German  methods  in,  103;  imports, 
104,  107,  112,  399-401;  Indians  of,  114, 
115;  industrial  problems,  108,  109; 
internal  debt,  101,  107;  investments, 
8,  114,  115;  irrigation,  113;  loans,  99- 
101, 107;  lumber,  112;  mines  and  min- 
erals, 104,  108,  111,  112,  114;  obli- 
gations met  punctually,  99,  101,  106, 
107;  parcel  post,  277;  per  capita 
debt,  101;  politics,  101,  potato  rais- 
ing, 115,  President's  greeting  to  Con- 


INDEX 


455 


Bolivia — Continued: 
ference,  6;  Quinua,  115;  racial  ele- 
ments, 263;  railroads,  8,  98,  102,  105, 
107,  113;  share  in  World's  War,  111; 
shipping  facilities,  115;  tin,  102,  104, 
105,  111,  112;  U.  S.  capital  needed, 
101,  106;  U.  S.  trade  with,  103-106; 
transportation  in,  105;  vegetable 
products,  115;  Wolf  ran,  104. 

Bonet,  P.  A.,  Secretary  of  Cuban  Le- 
gation: paper  by,  35,  147. 

Bon i lias,  Ygnacio,  Mexican  Ambassa- 
dor, member  sub-committee  on  ar- 
rangements, 1. 

Booth  Steamship  Line,  403. 

Borges,  Esteban  Gil,  Minister  Foreign 
Affairs,  Venezuela,  212. 

Boss!  Caceres,  Horacio,  Argentine  Con- 
sul General  in  San  Francisco:  paper, 
92-94. 

Boston   Globe,  236. 

Boston  University:  commercial 
courses,  373;  Portuguese  courses, 
381. 

Bowles,  Rear  Admiral,  272. 

Bramwell,  Sir   Frederick,   272. 

Branded  articles,  distribution  of,  243, 
244. 

Brazil:  advertising  literature  for,  124, 
127,  363-365;  agriculture,  117,  122, 
123;  American  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, 124;  automobiles,  127;  canned 
foods,  duties,  123;  capital,  need  of, 
117;  cocoanut  oil  industry,  58,  117- 
119;  coffee,  116,  117,  121,  122;  com- 
merce, 117,  399-401;  commercial  map, 
29;  communication,  means  of,  117; 
consular  charges,  288;  credits,  123, 
124;  customs  and  ways  of  people, 
127;  customs  laws,  changes  affecting 
American  trade,  119,  120;  customs 
tariff,  294;  currency  and  exchange, 
266;  death  rate,  343;  diagram  show- 
ing foreign  commerce  of,  60;  exports, 
399-401;  flour,  123;  German  exploita- 
tion ended,  117;  hides,  26;  hotels, 
127;  imports,  399-401;  industries, 
117,  122;  investments,  117,  125, 
126;  invoices,  127;  manganese,  31- 
34;  meat  industry,  117,123;  merchan- 
dise preferred  by,  127;  merchant 
marine  loaned  to  Allies,  121,  122; 
mining,  117,  123;  opportunities  in, 
125-128;  parcel  post,  276,  277;  racial 
elements,  263;  railroads,  117;  re- 
ciprocity with  U.  S.,  58;  Rio  de  Jane- 
iro, municipal  bonds,  27,  101,  347; 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  per  capita  debt,  101; 
rubber  industry,  30-32,  117,  122; 
salesmen  in,  127;  shipping,  117,  127; 
social  life,  128;  tariffs,  preferential, 
119-121;  tobacco,  117;  trade  laws, 
changes  affecting  U.  S.,  119,  121; 
trade  marks,  124;  trading  in,  122, 


123,  126,  127;  travelling  in,  127; 
United  States  trade  with,  121,  122, 
125;  United  States  traditional  friend- 
ship with,  123;  waterways,  117; 
World  War,  share  in,  121,  122. 

Brazilian-American  Trade  Review,  124. 

British  Board  of  Trade,  272. 

British  Guiana,  parcel  post,  277;  trade 
with  U.  S.,  26. 

British  Honduras:  currency  and  ex- 
change, 266;  parcel  post,  276;  trade 
with  U.  S.,  26. 

Brown  and  Sharpe  Manufacturing 
Company,  273. 

Brown,  Lloyd,  paper  read  by,  69. 

Brownlow,  Louis,  President  Board  of 
Commissioners,  District  of  Colum- 
bia, address,  12. 

Brum,  Baltasar,  President  of  Uruguay, 
message  read,  6;  mentioned,  39. 

Buenos  Aires:  finer  than  Chicago,  11; 
death  rate,  343;  see  Argentina. 

Bueso  Brothers,  172. 

Bulletin  of  Pan  American  Union,  (see 
Pan  American  Union). 

Bunster,  Enrique  L.,  paper,  134. 

Burbank,  Luther,  115. 

Business  ethics,  (see  Trading  Meth- 
ods). 

Business  houses  represented  in  Con- 
ference, 405-419. 

Business  press,  how  it  serves  indus- 
try, 351-353. 

Butterick  Company,  283. 


Cable  news  and  service,  58,  95,  353- 
355,  (see  also  Intelligence  and  Pub- 
licity). 

Cableways,  316-320. 

Cabrera,   (see  Estrada  Cabura). 

Cacao,  (see  Cocoa). 

Cajderon,  Ignacio,  Bolivian  Minister, 
address  by,  7,  8 ;  mentioned,  87. 

California,  exports  to  Bolivia,  113; 
University  of,  Latin  American  his- 
tory courses,  381. 

Calley,  Mrs.  Joan,  paper,  356-359;  re- 
marks by,  41,  55,  56. 

Camacho,  Manuel  de  J.,  Dominican 
Consul  General  in  New  York,  paper, 
152,  153. 

Canadian    Trade    Commission,   247. 

Capital  and  labor,  7. 

Capital,  (see  Investments). 

Caproni,  235. 

Carlos,  Alvarez  'Calderon,  remarks,  38. 

Carnegie   Endowment,  391. 

Catalogs,  (see  Advertising  Literature). 

Cattle,  (see  Live  Stock,  and  names  of 
respective  countries). 

Catchings,  Benjamin,  paper,  54,  220- 
252. 


456 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Cauca  River,  141. 

Cement,  Bolivia,  market  for,  113. 

Central  America,  (see  Latin  Amer- 
ica). 

Cesar  River,  141. 

Cerro  de  Pasco  Copper  Corporation, 
21,  197,  198. 

Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  U.  S., 
part  in  promoting  Pan  American 
Commerce,  10-12;  President  of,  ad- 
dress by,  10-12;  work  of,  391;  Buenos 
Aires  branch,  56,  57. 

Chambers  of  Commerce:  arbitration 
agreements,  51,  52,  64;  American,  of 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  76,  124;  Honduras, 
172;  Venezuela,  212;  Washington,  D. 
C.,  thanks  to,  88;  St.  Louis,  72. 

Chamorro,  Diego  Manuel,  Minister  of 
Nicaragua,  36. 

Chandler,  Charles   Lyon,  remarks,  37. 

Chandler   Motor  Car  Company,  283. 

Charts,  (see  Diagrams). 

Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  306. 

Chile:  banks  and  banking,  131-134; 
Caja  de  Emision,  132,  133;  circula- 
tion of  money,  131-133;  commerce, 
399-401;  commercial  and  industrial 
education,  135-137;  commercial  map, 
29;  communication,  means  of,  134; 

*  consular  charges,  288;  conversion  of 
paper  money,  131,  132;  customs 
tariff,  292,  294;  currency  and  ex- 
change, 131,  266;  diagrams  showing 
foreign  commerce  of,  70;  exports, 
399-401;  finances,  131-133;  foundry 
business,  34;  furniture  manufactur- 
ing, 34;  harbors,  134;  Honduras, 
Chilean  imports  in,  172;  imports, 
399-401;  industrial  development,  129, 
130;  investments,  129;  Japanese  in, 
129;  nitrate,  129;  paper  manufactur- 
ing, 34;  parcel  post,  59,  276-278; 
President's  message  to  Conference, 
5;  promotion  of  manufactures,  34; 
racial  elements,  263;  road  construc- 
tion and  repair,  34;  railroads,  134; 
shipping,  134;  tin  imports  from  Bo- 
livia, 104;  trade  balance  in  favor  of, 
26. 

Chilean  Steamship   Line,  402. 

Chiriqui,   (see  Panama). 

Cinematograph,  (see  Moving  Pictures). 

Claussen,  John  C.,  94. 

Clay,  Henry,  389. 

Clearance  Fund  Treaty,  64. 

Closing  Session,  81-89. 

Cluett,   Peabody  and  Company,  283. 

Coast  Survey,  272. 

Cocoa:  Dominican  Republic,  152,  153; 
Haiti,  169;  Nicaragua,  179;  Vene- 
zuela, 219. 

Coconut  oil:  Brazil,  58,  117,  118;  Do- 
minican Republic,  155;  Nicaragua, 
179;  Panama,  182. 


Coffee:  Brazil,  116,  117,  122;  Colom- 
bia, 141 ;  Dominican  Republic  152, 
153;  Guatemala,  158;  Haiti,  168,  169; 
Nicaragua,  178;  Panama,  37;  Para- 
guay, 187;  Salvador,  204;  Venezuela, 
219. 

Collao,  Alfredo  vdH.:  Motion  seconded, 
12;  paper,  79,  355-356. 

College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  com- 
mercial courses,  373. 

Colombia:  agriculture,  141,  142;  avia- 
tion, 35;  banks  and  banking,  141; 
capital  needed,  139;  communication 
with  interior,  34-35,  diagram  show- 
ing the  foreign  commerce  of,  70; 
commerce,  141,  399-401;  commerce 
with  the  United  States,  138,  139; 
commercial  map,  29;  commercial 
opportunities,  141;  consular  charges, 
288;  currency  and  exchange,  267; 
custom  tariff,  292;  emeralds,  141; 
exports,  141,  399-401;  imports,  138, 
139,  399-401;  industries,  141;  live- 
stock, 141;  meat  industry,  141,  142; 
mines  and  mining,  141,  142;  oppor- 
tunities for  trade  and  investment, 
139;  parcel  post,  275-279;  President's 
message  to  Conference,  5;  products 
of,  141;  racial  elements,  264,  rail- 
roads, 34,  35,  141;  roads  and  high- 
ways, 34,  35;  shipping,  45;  water- 
ways, 141. 

Columbia  University:  Latin  American 
history  courses,  381;  Portuguese 
courses,  381. 

Columbus  Memorial  Library:  (see  Li- 
brary of  The  Pan  American  Union). 

Colver,  W.  B.,  Chairman  Federal  Trade 
Commission,  54,  249. 

Combinations,  trade,  (see  Webb-Pom- 
erene  Law). 

Commerce,  Department  of:  reports  of, 
213;  spirit  of,  22;  (see  also  Foreign 
and  Domestic  Commerce). 

Commerce,  Pan  American:  see  review 
by  Director  General  Barrett,  389-394; 
after-war  conditions,  how  to  meet, 
393;  analysis  of,  21-30;  aviation  as  an 
aid  to,  235-238 ;  balance  of  trade,  2,  6, 
232;  based  on  mutual  interest,  23; 
basic  factors  in;  233;  basis  of  diplo- 
macy, 4;  business  journals'  service 
to,  351-353;  career,  380,  381;  changes 
by  World's  War  19,  21-23,  97,  102,  111, 
158,  178,  213,  215,  218,  223,  232,  393; 
comparative  survey,  398-401;  compe- 
tition, 23,  215;  confidence,  principal 
factor,  4;  conquest  by  trade  obsolete, 
30;  cooperation  of  banker,  231;  cul- 
tural element,  value  of,  376,  377; 
credit  balances  in  favor  of  Latin 
America,  26;  development,  sugges- 
tions for,  21,  30;  distributing  centers, 
182;  drawbacks,  11,  199,  214;  during 


INDEX 


457 


Commerce,  'Pan  American — Continued, 
war,  138,  398-401;  education  in  rela- 
tion to,  368-370;  engineers'  pioneer- 
ing spirit,  333-334;  essential  to  ship- 
ping, 229;  fairness  and  courtesy 
essential,  10,  11;  free  ports,  47,  48, 
225,  227;  free  trade,  58,  205;  Ger- 
many's share,  392;  growth  of,  390; 
hindrances,  11,  199,  214;  language 
study,  377,  378;  library  of  Pan  Amer- 
ican Union,  information  on,  384-387; 
Mississippi  Valley  Waterways  Asso- 
ciation in  relation  to,  337;  mutuality 
of  interest  essential,  129,  139;  New 
Orleans  in  relation  to,  225-227;  non- 
ethical  practices,  242;  opportunities 
for  young  men,  381-383;  Panama's 
importance  to,  182;  parcel  post  ser- 
vice, 275-280;  price  fixing,  factor  in, 
260-262;  principal  factor  in  interna- 
tional friendship,  102;  propaganda 
necessary,  17;  reciprocity,  58,  306, 
307;  requirements  for  meeting 
post-bellum  conditions,  393;  selling 
branches  in  Latin  America,  17;  serv- 
ant of  the  public,  23,  24;  suretyship 
essential,  307-309;  survey,  398-401; 
trade  campaigns  necessary,  17;  war 
influence  on,  19;  ways  for  carrying, 
22,  23;  (see  also  Latin  America. 
Trading  Methods,  names  of  respec- 
tive countries). 

Commerce,  Secretary  of,  (see  Redfield, 
William  C.). 

Commercial  Arbitration,  57,  64,  202. 

Commercial  Conference,  First  Pan 
American,  1,  88. 

Commercial  Conference,  Second  Pan 
American:  adjourned,  88;  benefits, 
74,  Bolivian  Ministers  view  or,  7, 
call,  xiv;  Chilean  Ambassador's  view 
of  results  of,  56;  delegates,  list  of, 
405-419;  experts,  xviii;  firms  repre- 
sented, 405-419;  general  information 
for  delegates,  xviii^  inaugural  ses- 
sion, 1-11;  need  of,  164;  number  of 
delegates,  86;  officers  of,  xvi;  pro- 
gram,xx ;  resolution  authorizing,  xiii ; 
resolution  of  appreciation  of  presi- 
dential messages;  results,  10,  76,  85, 
176,  178;  review  of  work  of,  85-88; 
rules,  xviii;  read  by  Director  Gen- 
eral Barrett,  12;  significance,  19,  41, 
42,  102,  213;  Speaker  Gillett's  view 
of,  10;  vote  of  thanks,  83. 

Commercial  intelligence  and  publicity, 
(see  Intelligence). 

Commercial  organizations  represented 
in  Conference,  405-419. 

Commercial  reciprocity,  306,  307. 

Commercial  travellers:  Brazil,  127; 
ethics,  239-242;  Guatemala,  159,  161, 
164;  Honduras,  172;  Mexico,  177; 
need  of,  383;  Panama,  183;  qualifica- 


tions, 243,  244;  special  training  rec- 
ommended, 183;  taxes  and  regula- 
tions, 291;  trade  routes,  402-404;  un- 
scrupulous,, 201;  Uruguay,  207,  208; 
knowledge  of  language  and  psychol- 
ogy of  Latin  America,  202. 

Commercial  Travellers'  Treaties,  64, 
158,  1.64. 

Commercial  Treaties,  205. 

Commission  agents  and  houses,  201, 
243,  244,  245. 

Commissioner  of  Patents,  (see  New- 
ton, James  F.). 

Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, President  of  Board  of,  (see 
Brownlow,  Louis). 

Communication,  means  of,  (see  Rail- 
roads, Roads,  Shipping,  Waterways, 
and  names  of  respective  countries). 

Competition:  factor  in  commerce,  23; 
Webb-Powerene  Law,  247-252. 

Congress  of  American  'Economic  Ex- 
pansion and  Commercial  Education, 
369. 

Conquistadores,  work,  144. 

Consular  invoices:  Annoyance  to 
trade,  287-292;  fees,  288;  parcel  post, 
279;  uniformity,  297  (see  also  In- 
voices). 

Copyright  Convention,  286. 

Copyrights,  (see  Trade  Marks  and 
copyrights). 

Corea,  Luis  F.:  a'ddress,  82;  resolu- 
tion introduced,  82. 

Corbacho,  Jose,  paper,  199-203. 

Corbin,  Alfred  O.,  paper,  309,  310. 

Cornell  University,  Portuguese  courses 
381. 

Coronado,  Henry  E.,  remarks,  30,  31, 
34,  36,  55,  71. 

Coronado,  Jose  M.,  paper,  139-142;  re- 
marks, 34,  35. 

Consular  reports,  213,  382. 

Costa  Rica:  agriculture,  145;  com- 
merce, 399-401;  commercial  map,  28; 
currency  and  exchange,  266;  customs 
revenues,  144,  145;  death  rate,  342; 
diagram  of  foreign  trade,  90;  ex- 
ports, 399-401;  finances,  144,  145;  his- 
tory, 144;  imiports,  399-401;  judici- 
ary, 144;  land  registration,  144;  par- 
cel post,  280;  racial  elements,  264; 
sanitation,  144;  schools,  144;  taxa- 
tion, 144;  trade  and  finances,  144, 
145. 

Coster,  Victor  M.,  115. 

Cotton:  Colombia,  141;  Dominican  Re- 
public, 153;  Haiti,  159;  Paraguay, 
185;  Peru,  20,  195. 

Countinho,  J.  de  Siqueira,  paper,  125; 
remarks,  32. 

Credits:  Argentina,  46;  basic  factor  in 
trade,  232;  Bolivia,  105;  Brazil,  123, 
124;  Dominican  Republic,  152; 


458 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


C  red  its--Continued : 
Europe,  310;  Guatemala,  161,  164, 
165;  Honduras,  172;  information  for 
granting,  349;  Latin  America,  202, 
217;  Mexico,  177;  Peru,  20;  shipping 
documents,  290;  Suretyship,  308. 

Crocker  National  Bank  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 94. 

Cuba:  agricultural  products,  149;  area, 
147;  banks  and  banking,  146;  com- 
merce, 146-151,  399-401;  consular 
charges,  288;  currency  and  exchange, 
267;  death  rate,  149;  diagram  of 
foreign  commerce,  100;  exports,  147, 
148,  399-401;  finances,  151;  immigra- 
tion, 151;  imports,  148,  399-401;  par- 
cel post,  276-278;  trade  balance,  26; 
railroads,  151;  shipping,  146;  sugar 
industry,  151;  telegraphs,  telephones, 
151;  tourists,  149,  151;  trade  marks, 
61;  travelling,  149. 

Currency  and  Exchange:  Bolivia,  104, 
107;  Chile,  131,  133;  Honduras,  171; 
Latin  America,  266;  Paraguay,  192; 
Peru,  198;  redemption  of  inflated, 
243;  specie  payments  stopped,  304; 
Uruguay,  206;  Venezuela,  213  (see 
also  Exchanges,  Finances  and  names 
of  respective  countries). 

Curtiss  Aeroplane  Company,  235. 

Customs  regulations  and  tariffs:  an- 
noyance to  trade,  287-291;  Brazil, 
changes  affecting  American  articles, 
119-121;  common  Spanish  technical 
terms  in,  333;  Latin  America,  292- 
295;  parcel  post,  279;  uniformity, 
295-297;  Venezuela,  214  (see  also 
Trade  regulations). 

Cutler,  Dr.  Burwell  S.,  Chief  Bureau  of 
Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce: 
paper,  51,  239-243;  remarks,  51,  52. 


D 


Dalrymple,  Captain,  remarks,  81,  82. 
Davies,  W.  W.,  paper,  78,  350-351. 
Davis,   Major  Harry,  remarks,  45,  46. 
Dean,  Charles  Ray,  remarks  by,  32. 
Death     rate,    decrease    of,    in    Latin 

America,  324-246. 
Debt,  public:  service  of,  304  (see  also 

loans  and  names  of  the  respective 

countries). 

Deichman,  C.   F.,  remarks,   17. 
Delegates  to   the  Conference,   405-419. 
De  Lima,  J.  C.  Alves,  Consul  General 

of  Brazil,  papers,  117,  118;  remarks, 

58. 

Del  Rio,  (see  Nieto  del  Rio). 
De      Menezes,      (see     Langgaard     de 

Menezes). 
Dennison       Manufacturing      Company, 

283. 
Deselektro  Company,  333. 


De  Wolf,  Richard  C.,  paper,  285-286. 

De  Hoyos,  (see  Hoyos). 

Diagrams  of  foreign  trade:  Argentina, 
40;  Bolivia,  50;  Brazil,  60;  Chile,  70; 
Colombia,  80;  Costa  Rica,  90;  Cuba, 
100;  Dominican  Republic,  110;  Ecua- 
dor, 120;  Guatemala,  130;  Haiti,  140; 
Honduras,  150;  Mexico,  160;  Nica- 
ragua, 170;  Panama,  180;  Paraguay, 
190;  Peru,  200;  Salvador,  210; 
United  States,  220,  221;  Uruguay, 
230;  Venezuela,  240. 

Diario  de  Guatemala,  city  of  Guate- 
mala, advertising  rate,  366. 

Diario  del  Salvador,  San  Salvador,  ad- 
vertising rate,  366. 

Diario  de  Panama,  Panama,  advertis- 
ing rate,  366. 

Diaz,  R.  Camilo,  Charge  d'Affaires  of 
Honduras,  paper,  36,  171-174. 

Diaz  Yrizar,  Dr.  Mario,  Director  In- 
ternational Trade  Work  Bureau  in 
Havana,  mentioned,  51,  63,  paper,  59, 
281-283. 

Dickinson,  W.  N.  remarks,  43,  69. 

Dictionary,  commercial,  330. 

Director  General  of  the  Pan  American 
Union,  (see  Barrett,  John). 

District  of  Colombia,  (see  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.). 

Dodge  Idea,  382. 

Dominican  Republic:  agriculture,  152, 
153;  capital,  need  of,  153;  coloniza- 
tion, 155;  commerce,  152,'  153,  399- 
401,  conditions,  153-155;  communica- 
tion, means  of,  154;  consular  char- 
ges, 288;  cotton,  154;  credits,  152; 
diagram  showing  foreign  trade,  110; 
exports,  152,  399-401;  fruits,  153, 
154;  ice  and  electric  plants,  need  of, 
155;  imports,  399-401;  investments, 
153;  labor  problem,  154,  155;  lands, 
154;  parcel  post,  277,  racial  elements, 
264;  roads,  154;  shipping,  152; 
sugar,  153,  154;  taxation,  154;  trade 
balance  against,  26;  trading  post, 
155;  tobacco,  152,  153;  woods,  153. 

Dominici,  Dr.  Santos  A.,  Minister  of 
Venezuela,  41;  member  sub-commit- 
tee on  arrangements,  1. 

Doubleday,   Page   and   Company,   74. 

Dun  and  Company,  R.  G.,  62,  256. 

Dunn,  Dr.  W.  E.,  paper,  82,  376-377. 

Dunne,  William  Louis,  paper,  33,  334. 

Du  Pont  News,  382. 

Dupuis,  Professor  N.  F.,  272. 

Duval,  George  L.,  address,  47,  229-232. 

Dyes,  26. 

E 

Earle,  Rear  Admiral,  272. 

Ecuador:  agricultural  products,  156; 
American  capital,  opportunities  for, 
157;  commerce,  399-401;  commercial 


INDEX 


459 


Ecuador — Continued : 
map,  29;  consular  charges,  288;  cur- 
rency and  exchange,  267;  customs 
tariff,  292;  diagram  showing  foreign 
trade,  120;  exports,  399-401;  invest- 
ments, 156;  imports,  399-401;  min- 
ing, 156;  oil  deposits,  156;  parcel 
post,  276,  278;  President's  message 
to  Conference,  5;  sanitation,  156; 
shipping,  156;  yellow  fever  hospital, 
closed,  156. 

Educational  auxiliaries  to  commerce: 
Chilean  commercial  and  industrial 
education,  135-137;  commercial  edu- 
cation, 135-137,  370-373,  378-381;  com- 
mercial schools  and  courses,  369;  cul- 
tural element  valuable  in  trade,  376, 
377;  education  in  relation  to  trade, 
368-370;  exchange  of  students  and 
professors,  2,  3,  83,  369,  378-380;  for- 
eign service,  training  for,  374,  375; 
knowledge  of  history,  customs,  etc., 
necessary,  368;  language  study, 
administrative  defects,  377,  378; 
Library  of  Pan  American  Union,  384- 
386;  opportunities  for  young  men  in 
Latin  America,  381-384;  positions  for 
trained  men,  381-384;  Pan  American 
commerce  as  a  career,  380,  381;  vo- 
cational education,  369-373. 

El  Comercio,  Lima,  advertising  rates, 
366. 

'El  Comercio,  Managua,  advertising 
rates,  366. 

El  Comercio,  Quito,  advertising  rates, 
366. 

El  Dia,  Montevideo,  advertising  rates, 
366. 

El  Diario,  Asuncion,  advertising  rates, 
366. 

El  Diaro  de  la  Manna,  Habana,  58. 

El  Mercurio  of  Santiago  de  Valparaiso, 
33,  129,  348;  advertising  rates,  366. 

El  Nuevo  Tiempo,  Bogota,  advertising 
rates,  366. 

El  Tiempo,  La  Paz,  advertising  rates, 
366. 

El  Universal,  Caracas,  advertising 
rates,  366. 

'El  Universal,  Mexico,  advertising 
rates,  366. 

Electric"  Storage  Battery  Company, 
283. 

Elizalde,  Rafael  H.,  Minister  of  Ecua- 
dor, member  sub-committee  on  ar- 
rangements, 1. 

Emeralds,  141. 

Engineering  Aids  to  Commerce:  com- 
mon Spanish  technical  vocabulary 
needed,  331-333;  irrigation,  320-322; 
Latin  American  engineers,  11;  Pan 
American  engineers,  333,  334;  pio- 
neering spirit  of  engineers,  333-334 
(see  also  Irrigation,  Railroads, 
Roads,  Sanitation,  Waterways). 


Engine  Builders'  Association  of  the 
United  States,  272. 

England,   (see  Great  Britain). 

Ericsson  Manufacturing  Company,  271. 

'Escobar,  Francisco,  Consul  General  of 
Colombia  in  New  York  paper  by 
34,  138. 

Estrada  Cabrera,  Manuel,  President  of 
Guatemala,  5,  162,  154. 

Ethics,  commercial,  239-243. 

Europe:  Argentine  loans  to,  96;  ex- 
change, 309;  Pan  America  as  a  fac- 
tor in  rehabilitation  of,  299;  present 
situation,  298-300. 

Evans,   James   W.,   272. 

Exchange  of  professors  and  students, 
23,  83,  369,  378-380. 

Exchange:  European,  309;  Latin  Amer- 
ican rates  of,  266,  267;  relation  of 
to  shipping,  232;  stabilizing  of,  304; 
sterling's  predominance,  232  (see 
also  Currency,  and  names  of  respec- 
tive countries). 

'Exhibition  of  Latin  American  products 
in  New  York  proposed,  177. 

Export  and  Import  Combinations,  (see 
Webb-Pomerene  Law). 

Exporting  business:  direct,  262;  infor- 
mation for  fixing  retail  prices,  53; 
licensing  of  firms,  52;  organization 
and  management  of  export  depart- 
ments, 246  (see  also  Trading 
Methods  and  names  of  respective 
countries). 


Farming  (see  Agriculture). 

Farnam,  Henri,  235. 

Farquhar,  A.  B.,  remarks,  57. 

Farquhar,  Percival,  paper,  68,  311-313. 

Farrell,  James  A.,  375. 

Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Educa- 
tion, 374,  375. 

Federal  Trade  Commission,  52,  248, 
250;  Chairman  (see  Colver,  W.  B.). 

Ferguson,  Homer  L.,  President,  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  of  United  States, 
address,  10-12. 

Films,  (see  Motion  Pictures). 

Finances:  Costa  Rica,  144,  145;  Cuba, 
151;  Pan  American  cooperation,  65; 
Pan  American  situation,  97,  98; 
Paraguay,  192-194;  Uruguay,  206; 
Venezuela,  214,  215;  U.  S.  help,  97, 
98  (see  also  Financing  Trade  and 
names  of  respective  countries). 

Financial  Conference,  First  Pan  Amer- 
ican, 63,  211,  390. 

Financial  Conference,  Second  Pan 
American:  call,  63;  subjects  that 
should  be  taken  up,  202. 


460 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Financing  trade:  Europe's  need  of 
Pan  American  help,  298-300;  finan- 
cial cooperation,  300-302;  invest- 
ments in  Latin  America,  302-306; 
reciprocity,  306,  307;  suretyship,  307- 
309  (see  also  Banks  and  Banking, 
Currency,  Exchange,  Finances). 

Firms  represented  in  Conference,  list 
of,  405-419. 

Fisk  Rubber  Company,  283. 

Foodstuffs,  promotion  of  exports  of  to 
Latin  America,  97. 

Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  Bu- 
reau of:  information  by,  244,  245; 
publications  of,  217;  thanks  to  offi- 
cials of,  87,  88. 

Foreign  Bond  and  Share  Corporation, 
306. 

Foreign  Service,  training  for,  81,  82, 
374,  375. 

Foreign  Trade  Convention,  226. 

Forest  Service,  Madison  Laboratory, 
packing  experiments,  76. 

Forests:  Brazil,  123;  Colombia,  141; 
Dominican  Republic,  153,  154;  Hon- 
duras, 172;  Nicaragua,  179;  Panama, 
182;  Paraguay,  187. 

Foreword,  by  Director  General  Bar- 
rett, ix. 

France:  investments  in  Latin  Amer- 
ica, 94,  303;  tin  imports  from  Bo- 
livia, 104. 

Free  ports,  47,  48,  226,  227. 

Freight  rates,  229,  233,  234;  (see  also 
Shipping) . 

.  Furniture  Association  of  America,  272. 


General    Drafting   Company,  55. 

Georgetown  University,  Foreign  Serv- 
ice School,  81,  82,  373. 

German  language,  replaced  by  Span- 
ish, 369. 

Germany:  Argentine  trade,  93;  effect 
of  downfall  of,  in  commerce,  201; 
investments  in  Latin  America,  93, 
303;  share  of  in  Latin  American 
trade,  392;  trading  methods  of,  24, 
103,  377;  United  States  to  replace, 
97. 

Gibson,  "Carlos,  Secretary,  Peruvian 
Embassy,  paper  by,  195-199. 

Gillett,  Frederick  H.,  Speaker,  House 
of  Representatives,  address  by,  9, 
10. 

Gil,  Enrique,  paper,  283-285;  remarks, 
14,  58. 

Glass,  Carter,  Secretary  of  Treasury, 
Greetings  to  Conference,  63. 

Glidden,  Captain  Charles  J.,  paper,  48, 
236,  237. 

Goethals,  General,  236. 

Goiaz,  death  rate,  344. 

Gold  Clearance  Fund  Treaty,  64. 

Goldsmith,   Dr.   Peter   H.,  address,  76. 


Gomez  Rouhaud,  Pedro,  paper,  36,  178. 

Gondra,  Manuel,  Minister  of  Paraguay, 
address,  37;  mentioned,  256;  paper, 
184-194. 

Gonzales,  Vicente,  paper,  62,  287-292; 
remarks,  73. 

Good   will,  value  of  protection,  283.. 

Goodyear   Rubber  Company,  183. 

Gorgas,  Major  General,  mentioned,  344. 

Gottschalk,  A.  L.  Moreau,  124. 

Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American 
Union,  (See  Pan  American  Union). 

Grace  and  Company,  W.  R.,  21  228, 
271. 

Grace   Log,   382. 

Graham,  W.   B.,  remarks,  37-38. 

Great  Britain:  commerce  with  Argen- 
tina, 93;  foodstuffs  from  United 
States,  27;  metric  system,  movement 
in  favor  of,  267,  268;  investments  in 
Latin  America,  92,  303;  tin  imports 
from  Bolivia,  104. 

Green,  Phillip  L.,  paper,- 380-381. 

Greer,  D.  M.,  227. 

Griswold,   Mrs.   Florence,  83. 

Guaranty  News,  382. 

Guatemala:  agriculture,  163;  building 
in,  163;  climate,  161;  coffee,  158; 
commerce,  158-162;  399-401;  commer- 
cial map,  28;  communication,  means 
of,  161,  162;  consular  charges,  288; 
consuls  in  United  States,  162;  cred- 
its, 161,  164,  165;  currency  and  ex- 
change, 366;  diagram  of  foreign 
trade,  130;  exports,  158,  159,  399-401; 
Guatemala  city,  earthquakes,  163, 
164;  hospitality  of  people  and  gov- 
ernment of,  162;  imports,  158,  159, 
399-401;  international  exposition  of 
1897,  172;  new  enterprises  in,  162; 
President's  message  to  Conference, 
5;  packing  of  goods  for,  161;  parcel 
post,  276,  277;  railroads,  162;  San 
Felipe-Quezaltenango  line,  proposed, 
162-164;  selling  methods,  right,  161; 
shipping,  161;  trading  in,  164,  165; 
travelling,  161,  164;  travelling  sales- 
men, 159,  161,  164;  water  power,  162- 
164;  water  supply,  163;  waterways, 

•   164. 

Guayaquil,  death  rate,  344.     . 

Gutierrez  Guerra,  Jose,  President  of 
Bolivia,  greetings  to  Conference,  6. 

Gutierrez,  Jose  Manuel,  Bolivian  Con- 
sul General  in  New  York,  paper, 
102-111. 

H 

Haiti:  agriculture,  168;  climate,  168; 
cocoa,  169;  coffee,  168,  169;  com- 
merce, 168,  169,  399-401;  consular 
charges,  288;  cotton,  168,  169;  cur- 
rency and  exchange,  267;  customs 
and  revenues,  169;  diagram  of  for- 


INDEX  461 


Haiti — Continued: 

eign  trade,  140;. exports,  168,  399-401; 
historical  data,  166-168;  imports,  168, 
399-401;  investments,  167,  168;  par- 
cel post,  277;  revolutions,  168;  sugar, 
169. 

Haitian   American   Corporation,   169. 

Halsey,  F.  A.,  Commissioner,  American 
Institute  of  Weights  and  Measures, 
paper  by,  54,  270-274. 

Harper,  R.  N.,  President  Washington 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  address  by, 
13,  14. 

Hart,   Schaffner  and   Marx,   283. 

Hilgard,  J.   E.,  272. 

Havana,  death  rate;  trade  mark  bu- 
reau at,  60,  61. 

Harvard  School  of  Tropical  Medicine, 
343. 

Harvard  University:  commercial 
courses,  373;  Latin  American  course, 
381;  Portuguese  courses,  381. 

Havens,  Verne  L.,  paper  by,  71,  331- 
333;  remarks,  15,  39,  71,  73. 

Hawker,    Harry,   235. 

Hayes,  Willet   N.,  272. 

Hazen,   H.  A.,  272. 

Health,   (see  Sanitation). 

Heegstra,   H.  W.,  remarks  by,  46. 

Heinz,  E.  N.,  remarks,  53. 

Hepburn,  R.  H.,  remarks  by  — 

Hernandez,    Nicolas,   paper,    295-297. 

Herschel,  Sir  John,  272. 

High  Comimission,  (see  International 
High  'Commission). 

Hill,  James  J.,  312. 

Hill   Publishing   Company,  271. 

Highways,  (see  Roads). 

Hoffman,  Frederick  L.,  paper,  76,  342- 
344. 

Honduras:  agricultural  colleges,  173; 
agriculture,  175;  banks  and  banking, 
171;  bureaus  of  information,  171; 
Chilean  products  in,  172;  coastwise 
transportation,  173;  commerce,  171, 
399-401;  commercial  map,  28;  com- 
mercial travellers,  172;  consular 
charges,  288;  credits,  172;  currency 
and  exchange,  171,  266;  diagram 
showing  foreign  trade  of,  150;  ex- 
ports, 399-401;  exports  to  United 
States  during  war,  172;  flour  im- 
ports, 172;  forests,  173;  geography, 
171;  imports,  399-401;  industries, 
171;  livestock,.  173;  mining,  174;  par- 
cel post,  275-277;  ports,  174;  rail- 
roads, 174;  reciprocity  treaty  with 
Salvador,  204,  205;  shipping,  172, 
173;  sugar,  173;  tobacco,  172;  water- 
ways, 173;  wheat,  173. 

Hondurean  Navigation  and  Transpor- 
tation Company,  173. 

Hoover,  Orton,  235. 

Horrison,  H.  S.,  remarks,  59. 


Houston,  Herbert  S.,  paper,  346-350; 
remarks,  74,  75. 

Howard,  A.  B.,  remarks,  56,  57. 

Howard,    Roy,   348. 

Hoyos,  F.  P.  de.,  remarks,  68-69. 

Humboldt,  Baron  von,  175,  202. 

Hiumboldt  Gold  Placers  Company,  199. 

Hurley,  Edward  N.,  Chairman,  United 
States  Shipping  Board,  address,  43 
223-225;  mentioned,  87,  228,  256;  re- 
marks, 43-46. 

Hurtler,   Henry,  remarks,  39. 

Hygiene,    (see   Sanitation). 


I 


Illinois  Manufacturers'  Association 
43. 

Illinois,  University  of,  Latin  American 
History  courses,  381. 

Imbrie  and  Company,  101. 

Immigration:  Cuba,  151;  Venezuela, 
211. 

Imperial    Tobacco    Company,   283. 

Imports,  (see  names  of  respective 
countries).  , 

Inambari  Dredging  Company,  199. 

!nca  Gold   Company,  199. 

Indians  of  Latin  America,  263,  265. 

Industrial  journals,  how  they  serve 
commerce,  351-353. 

Industrial   reorganization,  97. 

Industries,  (see  names  of  respective 
countries). 

Informallon,  suppression  of  false,  76. 

Ingeneria  International,  331. 

Institute  of  Makers  of  Explosives,  267. 

Integrity,  .(see  Business  Ethics). 

Intelligence  and  publicity,  commercial: 
advertising  literature  for  Latin 
America,  363-365;  advertising  rates 
in  Latin  America,  368,  369;  Asso- 
ciated Press,  work  of,  345,  346;  Busi- 
ness Journal,  382;  cable  communica- 
tion with  Latin  America,  353-355; 
cable  news  to  and  from  Latin  Amer- 
ica, 95,  96,  350-351;  committee  of 
journalists,  348;  Latin  America  in 
the  American  press,  355,  356;  Latin 
American  newspapers,  365-367;  news 
service  in  Latin  America,  95,  96;  Pan 
American  journalism  as  torch  of 
progress,  346,  350;  Pan  American 
publications,  360-363;  motion  pic- 
tures for  advertising,  356-359;  Span- 
ish press  in  United  States,  355,  356; 
vigilance  committee  on  information, 
proposed,  347  (see  also  advertising). 

Inter-Allied  Conference,  268. 

International  Health  Board  of  Rocke- 
feller Foundation,  343,  344. 

International  High  Commission,  11  63, 
64,  211,  212,  282,  390,  391. 


462 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


International    Products    Company.    38, 

188. 

International  Trade  Mark  Bureau  of 
Havana,  61,  63,  281;  Director  of  (see 
Diaz  Yrizar). 

Investments:  American  capital  in 
Latin  America,  25,  97;  Argentina, 
92-94;  Bolivia,  7,  8,  115;  Bolivian 
securities,  101;  Brazil,  117,  125,  126; 
British  in  Argentina,  93;  Chile,  129; 
Colombia,  139-143;  Dominican  Repub- 
lic, 153,  154;  Ecuador,  156;  foreign 
in  Latin  America,  302-306;  informa- 
tion for  making,  349;  government 
loans,  304,  305;  Haiti,  167,  168;  Latin 
America,  25,  302-306,  309,  310;  Peru, 
20,  21,  198,  202,  203;  private  enter- 
prises, 304,  305;  Rio  de  Janeiro 
bonds,  oversubscribed  in  United 
States,  27;  Venezuela,  212,  214,  222" 
(see  also  Financing  Trade,  and 
names  of  respective  countries). 

Invoices,    (see  Consular  Invoices). 

Ipecac,  141. 

Irrigation,  Bolivia,  113;  Latin  Amer- 
ica, 320-322;  Peru,  20,  195. 

Irving   National   Bank,  269 

Ivory  nuts,  Panama,  182. 


Jackson,  John,  115. 

Japan,  tendency  of  expansion,  201. 

Jobbers,   243,    244. 

Johnson,  Dr.  S.  M.,  message  from  Gov- 
ernor of  New  Mexico;  paper,  335- 
336;  remarks  by,  53. 

Jones,  Dr.  Grosvenor  M.,  paper  by,  46, 
227-229. 

Journal  de  Commercio  of  Rio  de  Ja- 
neiro, 348,  367;  advertising  rates, 
366. 

Journalism,  (see  Intelligence  and  Pub- 
licity) . 

K 

Keith,  John  Meiggs,  paper  by,  35,  144. 

Kent,  Dean  Wm.,  272. 

Kretz,  Dr.  Walter  "C.,  papers,  69,  79, 
259-260,  316-320;  remarks,  47,  75. 

Kunz,  Dr.  George  F.,  President  of  Met- 
ric Association,  paper  by,  54,  266- 
270. 


Labor  and  capital,  7. 

Lacalle,   (see  Moreno-Lacalle). 

La  Informacidn,  San  Jose,  advertising 

rates,  366. 
Lakewood   Engineers'  Corporation,  69, 

313. 
La   Lucha,  Habana,  advertising  rates, 

366. 


Lamme,   B.   G.,  272. 

Lamport    and     Holt    Steamship    Line, 

228;   travel  and  trade  routes,  403. 

Lampson,  Charles  A.,  remarks  by,  31- 
32. 

La  Nacion  of  Buenos  Aires,  58,  78  95, 
346,  350,  351;  advertising  rates, '366. 

Land  Office,  273. 

Lands  (see  names  of  respective  coun- 
tries). 

Lang,  Charles  F.,  paper,  69,  313. 

Langgaard  de  Menezes,  Theodore, 
Commercial  Attache,  Brazilian  Em- 
bassy, mentioned,  122;  paper  by,  30, 
116,  117. 

Language  study,  Spanish  and  Portu- 
guese, 369,  377,  378. 

Language  teaching,  administrative  de- 
fects, 377,  378. 

Lansing,  Robert,  Secretary  of  State, 
mentioned,  147;  telegram  from,  5. 

La  Plata,  death   rate,  343. 

La   Prensa  of  Buenos  Aires,  348. 

La  Prensa  of  New  York,  58,  79,  355, 
356. 

La   Revista  del   Mundo,  74. 

Larrazolo,  O.  A.,  336. 

Latin    America:    relationship    to    Pan 
American      Union,      practical      Pan 
Americanism    and    Commerce,     see 
paper  by  Director  General   Barrett, 
389-394;      adaptability     of     business 
men    to,    259,    260,    263-265;     adver- 
tising,   honest    and    dishonest,    348- 
350;    advertising  literature  for,  363- 
365;  Associated  Press'  work  in,  345, 
346;    American    enterprises    in,    304, 
305;    American  press,  Latin   Ameri- 
can  news   in,   355,    356;    attitude   of 
United   States  toward,   15;    aviation, 
48-51,   235-238;    balance  of  trade,  in 
favor,  26;   banks  and  banking,  217; 
cable  news  to  and  from,  95,  96,  350, 
351;    cable   service,   95,   96,    353-355; 
causes  for  greater  trade  with  Europe, 
102;  commerce,  158;  commerce,  com- 
parative survey,  398-401;   commerce, 
drawbacks,  216;  commercial  atlas  of, 
55;    commercial  laws,  knowledge  of 
required,  216;   commercial  maps,  28- 
29;    commercial  'policy  toward,  103; 
common    Spanish    technical   vocabu- 
lary   needed,    331-333:     competition, 
261;     complaints    against    American 
merchants,    199,    2QO;     credits,    202, 
217;  distribution  of  branded  articles, 
243,  244;  diversity  of  racial  and  poli- 
tical   conditions,    263-265;    engineers 
of,  334;   ethics,  commercial.  239-242; 
exports  to  United   States   increased, 
7;    exposition    of   products    in    New 
York,    proposed,    177;    fairness    and 
courtesy     characteristic     in     Latin 
American,    11;     falsehoods    against, 


INDEX 


463 


Latin  America — Continued: 
199;  false  information,  suppression 
01,  76;  familiarizing  with  conditions, 
necessary;  financial  cooperation,  300- 
302;  financing  governments  of,  304; 
foodstuffs  from  the  United  States, 
promotion  of  exports  of,  27;  foreign 
capital  in,  302-306;  Germany's  down- 
fall, effect  in  trade,  201;  Germany's 
share  in  trade,  392;  goods  to  be  sold, 
what  kind,  216,  259,  260;  heterogen- 
eity, 263-265,  330;  history,  colleges 
teaching,  381;  information,  244,  245; 
integrity,  commercial,  256-258;  irri- 
gation, 320-322;  investigation  com- 
missions to,  202;  investments  in, 
302-306;  Japan's  expansion  in,  201; 
knowledge  of  people  of  essential,  102, 
103,  199,  263-265,  376,  377;  long  stay 
necessary  to  investigations,  17;  met- 
ric system,  266-270;  misrepresenta- 
tions, 199;  motion  pictures  for,  172, 
359,  360;  need  of  more  information 
regarding,  57;  newspapers  of,  365- 
367;  news  service,  95,  96;  new  steam- 
ship lines,  22;  opportunities,  7,  381- 
383 ;  parcel  post  service,  275-280 ;  par- 
ticipation in  World  War,  9;  political 
differences,  264,  265;  poor  quality  of 
American  articles,  201;  populations 
and  sanitary  progress,  342-346;  presi- 
dents, 391;  press  of,  factor  in  Pan 
Americanism,  33;  prices  offered  in 
United  States  and  Europe  for  prod- 
ucts of,  26-27;  problems  to  be  solved, 
145;  racial  elements,  263-265;  rail- 
ways, 311-313;  reconstruction  of 
Europe,  part  of  Latin  America  in, 
298-300;  requirements  for  meeting 
post-bellum  conditions,  393;  Roose- 
velt's utterance  in  regard  to,  202; 
sanitation,  342-346;  securities  of,  306; 
selling  methods,  right,  161;  selling 
branches  in,  17;  shipping,  223-225, 
tariffs,  292-295;  thanks  to  Presidents 
of;  thrift,  educational  campaign  for, 
64;  trade  campaigns  necessary,  17; 
trade  war,  imminent,  138;  trade  with 
United  States,  review  by  Secretary 
•  Redfield,  21-30;  trading  methods, 
wrong,  201;  travel  and  trade  routes, 
402-404;  true  attitude  of  United 
States  toward,  9;  United  States  busi- 
ness with  through  foreign  banks,  22; 
United  States  capital,  25.  64,  97;  stu- 
dents in  United  States,  370;  sugges- 
tions for  develonirg  trade  with 
United  States,  21-30  (see  also  names 
of  respective  countries). 

Latour  (see  Sanchez  Latour). 

Lay,  Julius  G.,  Trade  Adviser  of  State 
Department,   paper,   66,   302-306. 

Lebrija  River,  141. 

League  of  Nations,  347,  350. 


Le  Matin,  Port-au-Prince,  advertising 
rates,  366. 

Lefevre,  J.  'E.,  Charge  d'Affaires  of 
Panama,  paper  by,  36,  182,  183;  re- 
marks by,  37. 

Legalizing  of  shipping  documents,  91. 

Leguia,  Augusto  B.,  President-elect  of 
Peru,  203;  greetings  from,  84-85. 

Liberty  loans,  352,  395. 

Liberty  motors,  238. 

Library   Bureau,  271. 

Library  of  Congress,  286. 

Library  of  Pan  American  Union,  (see 
Pan  American  Union). 

Licensing  of  export  firms  proposed,  52. 

i-iggett  and  Myers  Tobacco  Company, 
283. 

Lima  (see  de  Lima). 

Linnard,  J.  H.,  272. 

Linseed,  26. 

Lipman,  L.  H.,  remarks,  49-51. 

Listin  Diario,  Santo  Domingo,  adver- 
tising rates,  366. 

Live  Stock:  Colombia,  141;  Honduras, 
173,  174;  Mexico,  53;  Panama,  182; 
Paraguay,  188;  Peru,  197;  (see  also 
Meat  Industry). 

Lloyd  Brazileiro  Steamship  Line, 
travel  and  trade  routes,  403. 

Lloyd-George,   David,  272. 

Loans:  Argentina  to  Allied  countries, 
96;  Bolivian,  outstanding  balances, 
98-101,  107;  Bolivia,  securities,  101; 
Latin  American  countries  seeking 
loans  in  United  States,  27;  Uruguay, 
206;  Haiti,  169,  (see  also  Finances, 
Investments). 

London  Arbitration   Board,  10. 

Long,  Breckenridge,  Third  Assistant 
Secretary  of  State,  remarks,  85; 
thanks  to,  85. 

Long,  Boaz,  American  Minister  in  Sal- 
vador, remarks  by,  35. 

Lumber,  (see  Forests). 

Luthi  and  Company,  F.  C.,  263. 


M 


MacElwee,  Dr.  Roy  S.,  mentioned,  376; 

paper,  82,  370-373;   remarks,  83. 
Madison  Laboratory  of  Forest  Service, 

packing  experiments,  76. 
Magdalena   River,  141. 
Mail  service  by  air,  (see  Aviation). 
Malay  States,  rubber,  31. 
Manaos,  death  rate,  344. 
Mandioca,    26. 
Manganese,     Brazil,     30-31;     Ecuador, 

156. 
Maps,  commercial,  United  States  and 

Latin  America,  28-29. 
Marchant,  Langworthy,  paper,  260-262; 

remarks,  30,  31. 


464 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Marquez,  Bustillos  V.,  provisional 
president  of  Venezuela,  message 
from,  6. 

Martinez,  D.  R.,  remarks,  51. 

Marshall,  Thomas  R.,  Vice-President  of 
U.  S.,  address  by,  2-4,  mentioned, 
282. 

Mason,  Jarvis  W.,  paper,  307-309. 

Mason,  Miss  C.  E.,  remarks,  44,  83. 

Mathieu,  Beltran,  Ambassador  of 
Chile,  address  by,  4,  5;  mentioned, 
87. 

Mate,  (see  Yerba  Mate). 

Maxwell   Motor  Company,  283. 

McAdoo,  William  G.,  mentioned,  147, 
283. 

MacClintock,  Dr.  Samuel,  mentioned, 
373,  376;  paper,  82,  374-375. 

McCullough,  Captain  Max  L.,  address, 
48,  237-238;  remarks,  35. 

McDuffie,  Congressman  John,  resolu- 
tions introduced  by,  47-48. 

McGuire,  Dr.  C.  E.,  mentioned,  282. 

McHale,  C.  F.,  paper,  359-360;  re- 
marks, 56,  59,  72,  74. 

McHenry,  E.  H.,  323. 

McLeod,  Captain,  remarks,  83. 

McQueen,  Charles  A.,  address  by,  54, 
244-246;  mentioned,  373. 

Measures  (see  Weights  and  Meas- 
ures). 

Meat  Industry:  Brazil,  117,  123;  Co- 
lombia, 142;  Panama,  182;  Para- 
guay, 37-38,  188,  (see  also  Live  Stock 
and  names  of  respective  countries). 

Medicinal    plants,   26. 

Meiggs,  Quartermaster  General  M.  C., 
272. 

Menezes,  (see  Langgaard  de  Menezes). 

Menoher,   Major  General,  237. 

Melville,    Rear    Admiral,   272. 

Mercantile  Bank  of  the  Americas,  171, 
172,  198,  287. 

Mercantile  Overseas  Corporation,  172. 

Merchant   Marine    (see   Shipping). 

Merrick,   H.   H.,  address,  66,  306-307. 

Merrill,  John  L.,  President,  All  Amer- 
icas Cable  Company,  address,  79, 
353-355;  mentioned,  351. 

Metric  Association,  (see  American 
Metric  Association). 

Metric  system,  advantages  of,  266-270; 
arguments  against,  270,  274;  for 
shipping,  44. 

Mexico:  balance  of  trade,  26;  banks 
and  banking,  177;  cattle,  53;  com- 
merce, 175,  176,  399-401;  commerce 
with  United  States,  43,  175;  com- 
mercial agencies  in  United  States, 
53;  commercial  map,  28;  commercial 
travellers,  177;  consular  charges, 
288;  credits,  177;  currency  and  ex- 
change, 267;  customs  tariff,  294;  dia- 
gram of  commerce,  160;  exports,  175, 


399-401;  freight  service  with  United 
States,  68;  government  encourage- 
ment of  trade  with  United  States, 
53;  imports,  399-401;  minerals,  175; 
oil,  175;  national  railways  of,  68; 
parcel  post,  275,  276;  Pullman  ser- 
vice, 68;  railroads,  68,  69,  175;  repu- 
tation of  merchants  of,  53;  Standard 
Oil  air  service,  51;  steamship  lines, 
new,  43;  Tehuantepec  Railway,  68; 
trade  balance,  26;  trading  in,  176; 
tramways,  319. 

Middlebury  College  Summer  Session, 
377. 

Middlemen,  elimination  of,  proposed, 
202,  (see  also  Commission  Agents). 

Miners  and  Mining,  Bolivia,  104-109; 
Brazil,  117,  123;  Ecuador,  156;  Hon- 
duras, 174;  Nicaragua,  178;  Peru, 
196-199;  Salvador,  204;  (see  also 
names  of  respective  countries). 

Mining  and  Metallurgical  Society  of 
America,  273. 

Mississippi  Valley  Waterways  Asso- 
ciation, 307,  333. 

Mitre,  Bartolome,  346. 

Moffitt,  Lieutenant  J.  P.,  remarks,  41. 

Momsen,   Richard   P.,  124. 

Money,  (see  Currency). 

Monroe  Doctrine,  2,  3,  391. 

Montenegro,  Ernesto:  paper,  129;  re- 
marks by,  33,  34,  4,4. 

Montgomery,   Ward  and  fCompany,  59. 

Montgomery,  William  P.,  paper,  365- 
367. 

Moody,  Captain  H.  R.,  paper,  75,  252- 
256;  remarks,  76. 

Morality,  commercial,    (see  Ethics). 

Moravia,  Charles,  Minister  of  Haiti, 
263,  mentioned;  paper  by,  36,  166- 
169. 

Moreno,  Alfredo  Moreno,  President  of 
Ecuador,  greetings  to  Conference,  5. 

Moreno-Lacalle,  Julian,  address,  85, 
377-378;  quoted,  74;  remarks,  72,  73; 
thanks  to,  xi,  87. 

Morgan,  Edwin  V.,  124. 

Morgan,  J.  Pierpont,  257. 

Morococha  Mining  Company,  198,  199. 

Morris  and  Company,  38,  188. 

Morse,   H.   H.,  remarks,  53-54. 

Motion  pictures:  advertising,  356-359; 
cause  of  better  idea  of  United  States, 
58;  instrumentality  for  mutual  un- 
derstanding, 58;  Latin  America,  172, 
359. 

Motor  transportation:  cost  of  opera- 
tion, 69-71;  development  of,  236,  237, 
336  (see  also  Roads  and  Highways). 

Motor  Transport  Corps,   336. 

Mount  Vernon  Steamship,  trip  to  Lafin 
America  announced,  44,  225. 

Moving  pictures,  (see  Motion  Pic- 
tures). 


INDEX 


465 


N 


National  Association  of  Machine  Tool 
Builders,  272,  273. 

National  Association  of  Manufactur- 
ers, 272,  273. 

National  Association  of  Retail  Drug- 
gists, 267. 

National  Canners'  Association,  267. 

National  City  Bank  of  New  York,  16, 
98,  271,  298. 

National   Geographic  Society,  395. 

National  Highway  Marking  Associa- 
tion, 335. 

National  Metal  Trades  Association, 
272,  273. 

National  Scale  Men's  Association,  267. 

National    Foreign   Trade   Council,   391. 

National  Wholesale  Druggists'  Asso- 
ciation, 267. 

National  Wholeale  Grocers'  Associa- 
tion, 267. 

Nations,  League  of,  (see  League  of 
Nations). 

Navigation,  (see  Shipping). 

Nechi   River,  141. 

New  Mexico,  greetings  from  Gov- 
ernor of,  77. 

New  Orleans:  Mayor,  (see  Behrman, 
Martin) ;  steamship  line  to  Peru,  21; 
relation  of,  to  Pan  American  trade, 
225-227. 

Newspaper  men,  thanks  to,  87. 

Newspapers,  (see  Intelligence  and 
Publicity). 

News,  (see  Cable  News,  Intelligence 
and  Publicity). 

News  service  in  Latin  America,  95,  96. 

Newton,  James  T.,  United  States  Com- 
missioner of  Patents,  mentioned, 
283;  remarks,  61. 

New  York  and  Honduras  Rosario  Min- 
ing Company,  174. 

New  York  City,  death  rate. 

New   York    Herald,   248. 

New  York  Sun,  348,  365. 

New  York  University,  commercial 
courses,  373. 

Nicaragua:  agriculture,  178;  bananas, 
179;  coffee,  178;  commerce,  178-181, 
399-401;  commercial  map,  28;  con- 
sular charges,  288;  currency  and  ex- 
change, 266;  diagram  of  foreign 
trade,  170;  education,  129;  exports, 
399-401;  forests,  179;  gold  mining, 
179;  imports,  399-401;  industries, 
179;  live  stock,  178;  mining,  178; 
parcel  post,  276-278;  political  divi- 
sions, 179;  population,  179;  Presi- 
dent's message  to  Conference,  6 ;  rail- 
roads, 181;  schools  and  colleges,  179, 
181;  shipping,  181;  sugar,  178,  179. 

Nieto  del  Rio,  Felix,  delegate  of  Chile, 
paper,  135. 


Nitrate,  129. 

Noel,  John  Vavasour,  President,  Noel 

News   Service:    presiding  officer,  35- 

37,  78-81,  84;   remarks,  39,  78-80,  84, 

85;  thanks  to,  87. 
Nomenclature,    commercial,    need    of, 

330. 
Notre    Dame    University,    Portuguese 

courses,  381. 

Notz,   Dr.  William,  paper,  54,  247-250. 
Noyes,     F.    B.,    President    Associated 

Press,    mentioned,    350;     paper,    78, 

345-346. 

o 

Ocean  transportation,  (see  Shipping). 

Okuma,  Minister,  statement  by,  202. 

O'Higgins,   Bernando   de,   289. 

Oil:  Ecuador,  156;  Mexico,  174;  Peru, 
20. 

Oil,  coconut,  (see  Coconut  Oil). 

Opening    Session,   1-19. 

Opportunities  for  young  men  in  Pan 
American  trade,  381-383. 

Orcutt,  R.  W.,  remarks,  33. 

Oregon  University, commercial  courses, 
373. 

Organizations  represented  in  Confer- 
ence, 405-419. 

O'Shanahan,  A.  Rey,  Uruguayan  Con- 
sul General  in  Belgium,  paper,  206, 
207. 


Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company,  173. 

Pacific  Navigation  Company,  travel 
and  trade  routes,  402. 

Packing:  cost,  75,  76;  experiments,  76; 
Guatemalan  conditions,  161;  Mexico, 
176;  parcel  post;  59,  277;  scientific, 
252-256. 

Packing  Houses,  (see  Live  Stock, 
Meat  Industry). 

Palacios,  Alberto,  Bolivian  Consul  Gen- 
eral in  New  York,  paper,  111-115. 

Paetan  Heim  Company,  174. 

Panama:  area,  182;  bananas,  182; 
bonded  warehouses,  183;  cattle  rais- 
ing, 37,  182;  coconuts,  182;  com- 
merce, 399-401;  commercial  map,  28; 
concessions,  182;  consular  charges, 
288;  currency  and  exchange,  267; 
diagram  of  foreign  trade,  180;  ex- 
ports, 399-401;  forests,  182;  impor- 
tance to  Pan  American  trade,  182; 
imports,  399-401;  industries,  182; 
ivory  nuts,  182;  live  stock,  37,  182; 
meat  industry,  182;  opportunities  in, 
182;  Pan  American  clearing  house, 
182,  183;  parcel  post,  276;  Presi- 
dent's greetings  to  Conference,  6; 
racial  elements,  264;  railroads,  37; 
rice,  37;  sugar  industry,  37,  182; 
shipping,  182,  183;  trade  balance 
against,  26. 


466 


SECOND    PAN    AMERICAN    COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Parrama  Canal:  bonded  warehouses, 
183;  development  through,  209; 
Ecuador  not  benefited  by,  156;  im- 
portance of  to  Pan  American  com- 
merce, 92,  182;  tolls,  201,  234;  trans- 
shipments, 156,  173;  war's  effect  on, 
183. 

Panama  Sugar  Company,  37. 

Panama-Pacific    Exposition,   171. 

Panama  Steamship  Company,  travel 
and  trade  routes,  402. 

Pan  America:  See  paper  of  Director 
General  Barrett,  389-394;  commerce 
factor  in  friendship  among  nations, 
102;  factor  in  rehabilitation  of  Eu- 
rope, 64;  financial  cooperation,  65, 
300-302;  financial  situation,  97,  98; 
industrial  reorganization  needed,  97; 
national  and  individual  waste,  64; 
part  of,  in  reconstruction  of  Europe, 
298-300;  press  of,  torch  of  progress, 
346-350;  relations,  7,  9,  19,  20. 

Pan  American  Aeronautic  Convention, 
236. 

Pan  American  Commercial  Conference, 
(see  Commercial  Conference). 

Pan   American   Conference,  Fifth,  397. 

Pan   American   Conference,   First,   287. 

Pan  American  Conference,  Second, 
289. 

Pan  American  'Copyright  Convention, 
286. 

Pan  American  Financial  Conference, 
(see  Financial  Conference). 

Pan  American  highway,  proposed,  335, 
336. 

Pan  American   Postal  Congress,  277. 

Pan  American  Railway,  38;  progress 
of,  337,  338;  (see  also  Railroads). 

Pan  American  Relations,  see  paper  by 
Director  General  Barrett,  389-394;  7,, 
9,  19,  20. 

Pan  American   Round  Table,  83,  84. 

Pan  American  Section  of  Carnegie  En- 
dowment, 391. 

Pan  American  Society  of  United 
States,  391. 

Pan   American    Solidarity,   19. 

Pan  American  trade,  (see  Commerce). 

Pan  American  Union:  see  report  of 
Director  General  Barrett,  394-397; 
agencies  for  developing,  1,  2;  agency 
of  inter-American  friendship,  330; 
agencies  of  propaganda,  390;  bases 
of  strength  of,  8;  buildings  and 
grounds,  396;  bulletin  of,  360-363; 
395;  Director  General  (see  Barrett, 
John);  educational  section,  396;  ex- 
ports, 394;  founder  of,  346;  future 
work,  396,  397;  Governing  Board, 
acknowledgment  of  presidential 
messages  to  Conference,  12;  Gov- 
erning Board,  thanks  to,  87;  Gov- 
erning Board,  sub-committee  for 


Conference,  1,  illustrated  lectures, 
397;  information  by,  213,  246,  334, 
382,  384-387,  394;  laying  of  corner- 
stone, 13;  library,  commercial  feat- 
ures, 384-386,  396;  mail  room  report, 
395;  propaganda  work,  171,  215;  pub- 
lications of,  217,  360-363,  395,  396;  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures,  396;  reor- 
ganization, 389;  restrictions  to  be 
overcome  by,  105;  section  of  educa- 
tion, 369;  Speaker  Gillett's  remarks 
on,  9;  staff,  thanks  to,  87;  statistical 
section,  396;  statistics,  147;  success 
of,  164,  306,  307,  vigilance  com- 
mittee on  information  proposed,  347 ; 
Governing  Board,  vote  of  thanks  to, 
83;  work  of,  152,  263. 

Pan  Americanism,  see  paper  of  Direc- 
tor General  Barrett,  on  practical, 
389-394;  agencies  for  developing,  1, 
2;  chief  aim,  379;  factor  in  world 
peace,  225;  Vice-President's  remarks 
on,  2,  3. 

Pape,   Frederick  A.  G.,  118,  119. 

Papers  and  addresses,  89-397. 

Paraguay:  agriculture,  185;  area  and 
population,  184;  banks  and  banking, 
192-194;  cattle  raising,  37-38;  cli- 
mate, 184;  coffee,  187;  commerce, 
189-192,  399-401;  commercial  map, 
29;  communication,  means  of,  184; 
consular  charges,  288;  cotton,  185; 
currency  and  exchange,  192,  194,  267; 
customs  tariff,  292;  debt,  public,  194; 
diagrams  of  foreign  trade,  190;  ex- 
ports, 189,  399-401;  finances,  192-194; 
forests,  187;  fruits,  185,  187;  im- 
ports, 181,  399-401;  live  stock,  188; 
meat  industry,  188;  parcel  post,  277; 
racial  elements,  263;  rainfall,  184; 
railroads,  184;  rice,  187;  shipping 
connections,  38;  sugar,  186;  tobacco, 
185;  topography,  184;  yerba  mate, 
37,  187;  waterways,  184,  185. 

Paraguay  River,  184. 

Parcel  Post:  air  service,  59;  Chile  and 
United  States,  59;  cost  of  shipping, 
59;  customs  duties  and  regulations, 
279;  improvement  in  Pan  American 
service,  225;  Pan  American,  59;  ser- 
vice with  Latin  America,  275-280; 
Venezuela,  212. 

Parmelee,  Howard  C.,  address,  67;  pre- 
siding officer,  67-74. 

Pardo,  Jose,  President  of  Peru,  greet- 
ings to  'Conference,  6. 

Participants  in  Conference,  list,  405- 
419. 

Passenger  service,   (see  Shipping). 

Patents,  Commissioner,  (see  Newton, 
James  T.)  (see  Trade  Marks). 

Patterson,  C.  P.,  273. 

Payments,  (see  Credits). 

Pearson,  A.  C.,  paper,  78,  351-353; 


INDEX 


467 


Peccorini,  Atilio,  Secretary  Legation  of 
Salvador,  paper  by,  39,  204,  205. 

Peck,  Annie  S.,  paper,  402-404. 

Pelotas,  death  rate,  344. 

Pennsylvania,  University  of,  Latin 
American  History  courses,  381. 

Perez,  Ernesto  C.,  Argentina  Consular 
General  in  New  York,  mentioned, 
269;  paper,  91. 

Pernambuco,  death  rate,  344. 

Peru:  agricultural  lands,  20;  American 
companies  in,  198,  199;  banks  and 
banking,  197;  budget,  198;  coloniza- 
tion, 195;  commerce,  399-401;  com- 
mercial evolution,  195-199;  commer- 
cial map,  29;  complaints  against 
American  merchants,  199;  condi- 
tions, 20,  38;  consular  charges,  288; 
copper,  21,  197;  cotton,  195;  currency 
and  exchange,  38,  198,  267;  debt,  20; 
diagram  showing  foreign  trade  of, 
200;  exchange,  198;  exports,  399-401; 
finances,  20;  foreign  trade,  war's  ef- 
fect on,  19;  friendship  with  United 
States,  202;  general  conditions,  20, 
38;  gold  standard,  20;  historical 
data,  202;  Humboldt's  comparison  of, 
202;  importance  of  in  Pan  American 
trade,  19;  imports,  399-401;  '  invest- 
ments, 21,  198,  202,  203;  irrigation, 
20,  195;  Japan's  expansion,  201;  la- 
bor, 178;  lands,  195;  live  stock,  197; 
mines  and  mining,  197-199;  oil  in- 
dustry, 20;  opportunities  for  young 
men,  39;  parcel  post,  276,  277;  Presi- 
dent's greetings  to  Conference,  6; 
railroads,  38,  196;  real  estate,  197, 
198;  selling  methods  for,  19,  20,  ship- 
ping, 21,  197;  sugar,  20,  195;  trade 
balances  deposited  in  New  York,  20; 
trade  with  United  States,  how  should 
it  be  maintained,  19,  20;  wealth  of, 
202,  203;  wool,  107. 

Peruvian  Corporation,  197. 

Peruvian  Steamship  Company,  21,  402. 

Pessoa,   Epitacio,  347. 

Petroleum,   (see  Oil). 

Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  171, 
173. 

Philadelphia  Public  Ledger,  348. 

Phillips,   Mathilda,  paper,   398-401. 

Phillips,  William,  Assistant  Secretary 
of  State,  presiding  inaugural  session, 
opening  remarks,  1;  Presidential 
messages  read  by,  6;  remarks,  4,  8, 
10,  12. 

Piauhi,  death  rate,  344. 

Pierre,  C.  Grand,  paper,  263-265. 

Plaza,  Frutos,  paper,  59,  277,  280. 

Polk,  Frank  L.,  Secretary  of  State,  1, 
82. 

Poor,   Professor  Charles,   236. 

Porras,  Belisario,  President  of  Pana- 
ma, message  read,  6. 


Porter,  Charles  T.,  273. 

Portuguese  language,  124,  127;  col- 
leges teaching,  381;  need  of  knowl- 
edge, 71-72;  teaching  of,  377,  378; 
translations,  364,  365. 

Post,  Augustus,  paper,  48,  235-236;  re- 
marks by,  48,  49,  51. 

Posts,  (see  Mail  Service,  Parcel  Post). 

Postmaster  General,  275. 

Post    Office    Department,   275-280. 

Practical  !Pan  Americanism,  389,  394. 

Praeger,  Otto,  Second  Assistant  Post- 
master General,  paper,  58-59,  275-277; 
remarks,  59. 

Preciado,  A.  A.,  138. 

Prem,  Marcial,  paper  by,  162. 

President  of  the  United  State,  (see 
Wilson,  Woodrow). 

Press  of  Pan  America,  factor  in  Pan 
Americanism,  33  (see  also  Intelli- 
gence). 

Price  fixing,   53,   244,  260-262. 

Price  lists,  (see  Advertising  litera- 
ture). 

Proceedings  of  the  Conference,  min- 
utes, 1-89. 

Professional  Journals,  (see  Intelli- 
gence). 

Professors,  exchange  of,  (see  Ex- 
change of  professors  and  students). 

Propaganda,  (see  Advertising;  Intelli- 
gence). 

Propaganda  for  American  goods,  17. 

Protection  of  Trade  Marks,  (see  Trade 
Marks). 

Providence  Association  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  273. 

Publications  of  Pan  American  Union, 
360-363. 

Publicity,  (see  Advertising;  Intelli- 
gence). 

Public   Health   Service,  46. 

Purdie,  Francis  B.,  remarks,  14,  15; 
paper,  62,  256-258. 


Quinine,  141. 


R 


Races  of  Latin  America,  263,  265. 

Railroad   Administration,   68. 

Railroads:  aerial  wire  rope  conveyors, 
316-320;  Argentina,  16;  Bolivia,  8, 
'98-102,  105-107,  113;  Brazil,  117; 
cableways  and  tramways,  316-320; 
Chile,  34,  134;  Colombia,  34,  35,  141; 
Cuba,  151;  development  in  Pan 
America,  311;  difficulties  in  construc- 
tion, 312;  financing  in  Latin  Amer- 
ica, 315;  fuel  problem,  312;  govern- 
ment aid,  311,  312;  highways  as 
feeders  of,  323-330;  Honduras,  174; 


468 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Rail  roads — Continued : 
improvement,  313;  Guatemala,  162; 
Latin  America,  311-313;  light  railway 
transportation  systems,  313-316; 
method  of  handling  construction, 
312,  313;  Mexico,  68,  69,  175;  Nica- 
ragua, 181;  Panama,  37;  Pan  Amer- 
ican Railway,  38,  77,  337,  338;  Para- 
guay, 184,  185j  Peru,  20,  38,  196; 
problem  in  new  countries,  311;  Rus- 
sia, 311;  Salvador,  39;  standard 
gauge  limitations,  314,  315;  tram- 
ways, 316-320;  trunk  lines,  311;  Uru- 
guay, 207;  Venezuela,  209. 

Reciprocity,  58,   306,   308. 

Reconstruction  of  'Europe,  Pan  Amer- 
ica's place  in,  298-300. 

Red  "D"  Steamship  Line,  travel  and 
trade  routes,  403. 

Redfield,  William  C.,  Secretary  of 
Commerce,  Address  by,  21-30;  men- 
tioned, 87,  123,  241,  256. 

Redway,   Dr.  J.   W.,  273. 

Regal   Shoe  'Company,  283. 

Registration  of  Trade  Marks,  (see 
Trade  Marks). 

Reid,  William  A.,  mentioned,  18; 
paper,  337-338,  381-384;  thanks  to,  87. 

Report  of  Director  General  of  Pan 
American  Union,  394-397. 

Representatives,  commercial,  (see 
Commercial  Travellers). 

Responsibility  of  firms,  reports  upon, 
52. 

Retail  prices,  fixing  of,  53,  54. 

Rhea,  Frank,  remarks,  74. 

Richards,  Dr.  H.  Jr.,  paper  read  by, 
54;  remarks  by,  44. 

Rincones,  Pedro  Rafael,  Consul  Gen- 
eral of  Venezuela  in  New  York,  pa- 
per, 75,  213-215. 

Rich  I  ing,  Consul  General  of  Uruguay 
at  large,  paper  by,  39,  233-234;  re- 
marks, 41. 

Rio,  (see  Nieto  del  Rio). 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  27;  death  rate,  344; 
(see  also  Brazil). 

Rivas,  Dr.  Angel  C.,  paper,  363-365. 

Roads  and  Highways:  arid  districts, 
328;  Bankhead  Highway,  335,  336; 
Bolivia,  105-107;  broad  tires,  330; 
climatic  conditions,  327;  construc- 
tion and  repair,  323-330;  cost  of 
transportation,  323;  Dominican  Re- 
public, 154;  earth,  327,  328;  feeders 
to  railways,  325;  haulage,  329;  Hon- 
duras, 174;  macadam,  obsolete,  328; 
most  useful,  which,  326;  Pan  Ameri- 
can Highway,  335,  336;  roads  and 
highways  railways  feeders,  323;  sand 
clay,  329;  selection  of  economic,  326; 
surfacing,  328. 

Rockefeller  Foundation,  156,  343. 


Rodriguez,  Jose  Santiago,  Special 
Agent  of  Venezuela,  paper,  41,  209- 
212. 

Roebling   Company,  John,  69,   316. 

Roessler,   Dr.   Edwin  W.,  381. 

Rolph    Navigation   Company,  115. 

Rojo,  Juan  B.,  Charge  d'Affaires  of 
Mexico,  mentioned,  256;  paper,  36, 
175,  176;  remarks,  43,  46,  52,  53,  68. 

Romero,  Jose,  thanks  to,  87. 

Romero,    Matias,   330. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  President,  men- 
tioned, 391;  statement  regarding 
Latin  America,  202. 

Rosario,  Santa   Fe,  death  rate,   343. 

Roth,  Pablo,  paper,  91;  remarks,  14, 
16,  17. 

Round  Table,  Pan  American,  83,  84. 

Rowe,  Dr.  Leo  S.,  Assistant  Secretary 
of  Treasury,  address  by,  63-65;  men- 
tioned, 87,  282;  presiding  officer, 
Thursday  morning  session,  63-67. 

Royal  Mail  Steamship  Line,  travel  and 
trade  route,  402. 

Rubber:  Brazil,  30,  32,  117,  122;  com- 
parison between  Brazilian  and  Mala- 
yan, 31-32;  Colombia,  141;  role  play- 
ed by,  30-31. 

Russell,  Gladys,  thanks  to,  87. 

Rutter,  Dr.  F.  R.,  paper,  62,  292-293. 

Rusby,   Dr.   H.   H.,  142. 


Sales,  (see  Trading  Methods). 

Salesmanship   in    Latin   America,  55. 

Salesman,  Travelling,  (see  Commer- 
cial Travellers). 

Salvador:  agriculture,  204;  commerce, 
204,  205,  399-401;  commercial  map, 
28;  consular  charges,  288;  customs 
tariff,  292;  currency  and  exchange, 
266;  diagram  showing  foreign  trade 
of,  210;  exports,  204,  205,  399-401; 
imports,  204,  205,  399-401;  mines  and 
mining,  204;  parcel  post,  276,  277; 
President's  greetings  to  Conference, 
6;  racial  elements,  264;  reciprocity 
treaty  with  Honduras,  204;  rail- 
roads, 39;  United  States  commerce, 
204,  205. 

Sampaio,  Sebastiao,  Brazilian  Consul 
at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  mentioned,  122, 
377;  paper  by,  30,  121,  122;  remarks 
by,  30,  32,  41,  71. 

Samples,  commercial,   291,  292. 

Sanchez  Latour,  Francisco,  Charge1 
d'Affaires  of  Guatemala,  paper  by,  — . 

Sanders,  Congressman  J.  Y.,  47,  48. 

Sanfuentes,  Juan  Luis,  President  of 
Chile,  message  read,  5. 

San    Juan    River,   179. 

San   Martin,  Jose  de,  389. 


INDEX 


469 


Sanitation,  papers  on,  339-344,  (see 
also  names  of  respective  countries). 

Schwab,  Charles  M.,  President  of  Beth- 
lehem Steel  Company,  address,  66, 
300-302;  mentioned,  86,  256,  306,  307. 

Scientific  Congress,  Second  Pan 
American,  390;  malaria  resolution, 
343;  women's  auxiliary  committee, 
84. 

Scrymser,  James  A.,    78,  79;    353. 

Secretary  of  'Commerce,  (see  Redfield, 
William  C.). 

Secretary  of  State,  (see  Lansing,  Rob- 
ert). 

Secretary  of  Treasury,   (see  Glass). 

Securities,    (see  Investments,  Loans). 

Sellers,  William,  273. 

Selling,  (see  Trading  Methods). 

Selling  Agents,  (see  Commercial 
Travellers). 

Shapiro,  Dr.  Louis,  342. 

Shipbuilding,   (see  Shipping). 

Shipping  Board,  22,  46,  229,  233,  234, 
375;  plans  for  Pan  American  lines, 
announced,  223-225;  President  of  (see 
Hurley,  Edward  N.). 

Shipping:  allocation  of  American 
ships  to  Latin  American  trade,  11; 
basic  factor  in  trade,  233;  Bolivia, 
lack  of  facilities,  115;  Brazil,  117, 
127;  British  interests  in  Argentina, 
93;  Chile,  134;  commerce  essential 
to,  229 ;  connections  with  lesser  ports 
of  South  America,  46;  cooperation 
between  merchants  and  bankers  and 
manufacturers,  231;  cost  of  opera- 
tion, 45,  229,  231;  Cuba,  146;  direct 
routes,  228;  documents,  91,  214,  287- 
291;  Dominican  Republic,  152;  Ecua- 
dor, 156;  exchange,  relation  of,  to, 
232;  fallacies  regarding,  229-232; 
fortnightly  service  proposed,  228; 
free  ports,  47,  48;  freight  cargo,  234; 
freight  rates,  45,  233;  government 
aid,  47;  Guatemala,  161;  Honduras, 
172,  173,  275;  lack  of  facilities,  11; 
legalizing  of  documents,  91;  lines  to 
Latin  America,  234;  main  require- 
ments, 233;  metric  system  for,  44; 
Mexico,  43,  175;  needs  of  South 
America,  227-229;  new  lines  in  pro- 
ject, 223-225,  228;  New  Orleans,  225; 
Nicaragua,  181;  Pacific  coast,  lack 
of  facilities,  115;  Panama,  182,  183; 
Panama  Canal  tolls,  234;  Pan  Ameri- 
can, the  real  problem,  229-232;  Para- 
guay, 38;  Peru,  197;  plans  for  new 
lines  to  Latin  America,  223-225; 
points  of  call  for  fast  steamers,  43, 
44;  regularity  of  frequency  of  sail- 
ing, 233;  sailing  vessels,  234;  ships, 
servants  not  masters,  229;  treatment 
of  foreign  ships  in  United  States,  44; 
true  value  of,  231;  Venezuela,  212, 
222;  wage  scale,  45. 


Simondetti,  E.  T.,  paper,  53-54;  re- 
marks, 243,  244. 

Simmons  College,  Portuguese  courses, 
381 

Sinu   River,  141. 

Skins  and  pelts,  26. 

Smith,  James  E.,  paper,  337;  remarks, 
53. 

Smith,   Leslie  B.,  381. 

Smith,  Pemberton,  remarks,  17. 
Society  of  Automobile  Engineers,  273. 

Society  of  Naval  Architects  and  Ma- 
rine Engineers,  273. 

Sogamosa  River,  141. 

Solidarity,  19. 

Soper,  Major  George  A.,  paper,  68,  339- 
341. 

South  African  Union,  114,  115. 

South  America,   (see  Latin  America). 

Southern   Commercial   Congress,   94. 

Spanish  America,  (see  Latin  America). 

Spanish  language,  common  technical 
vocabulary,  331-333;  German  re- 
placed by,  369;  knowledge  of  neces- 
sary, 55-56;  need  of,  57,  258;  study 
by  adults,  83;  translations,  72,  73, 
364,  365;  teaching  of,  82,  377,  378 
(see  also  language  study). 

Speaker  of  United  States  House  of 
Representatives,  (see  Gillett,  Fred 
H.). 

Spear,  Ellis,  273. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  273. 

Speyer  and   Company,  98. 

Standard  Oil  Company,  aeroplane  serv- 
ice to  Mexico,  51. 

Standards  Committee,  Society  of  Auto- 
motive Engineers,  273. 

State  Department,  interest  in  Confer- 
ence, 2;  thanks  to,  87. 

Steamship   Lines,    (see  Shipping). 

Sterling,  predominance  of,  92. 

Stevens  Institute  of  Technology,  273. 

Stock  Exchanges  of  Latin  America  and 
United  States,  arbitration  arrange 
ments,  51. 

Stone,    Melville,   348. 

Studebaker  Company,  283. 

Students,  exchange  of,  369,  (see  also 
Educational  Auxiliaries  to  Com- 
merce). 

Student  League,  Pan  American,  381. 

Suarez,  Marco  Fidel,  President  of  Co- 
lombia, greetings  to  Conference,  5. 

Sugar:  Cuba,  151;  Dominican  Repub- 
lic, 152,  153;  Haiti,  169;  Nicaragua, 
178,  179;  Panama,  37,  182;  Paraguay, 
186;  Peru,  20,  195;  Venezuela,  219. 

Suretyship,  307-309. 

Sutton,  Charles  W.,  mentioned,  20; 
paper,  69,  320-322. 

Sweet,  Dr.  John   E.,  273. 

Sweinhart,  H.  L.,  thanks  to,  87. 

Swift  and  Company,  38,  188. 


470 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Swiggett,    Mrs.    Glen    L.,   remarks   by, 

84. 
Syndication,      (see      Webb  -  Powerene 

Law). 


Taft,     William     H.,     President,     men- 
tioned, 391. 

Tariff   regulations:    annoyance  caused 
by  diversity,  287-291;   uniformity  of, 
295-297  (see  also  Customs  and  names 
of  respective  countries). 
Tariff  commission,   27,  227. 
Tariffs,    (see  Customs  tariffs). 
Taxation:    Costa   Rica,    144,   145;    Do- 
minican    Republic,     154;     Uruguay, 
208. 

Taylor,  F.  W.,  273. 
Teachers   of   languages,   377,    378. 
Teachers  of  Spanish,  American  Asso- 
ciation of  (see  American  Association 
of  Teachers  of  Spanish). 
Technical  journals,  351-353. 
Technical  terms,  Spanish,  need  for  a 
common    vocabulary   of,    71-74,    331- 
333. 

Technical   translations,  72-73;    331-333. 
Tehuantepec  Railroad,  176. 
Tela    Railroad  "Company,  173. 
Telegraph    and    Telephones,    develop- 
ment of,  236. 
Terms,  (see  Credits). 
Thomas,  H.  Wolferstan,  343. 
Thompson,  R.  W.,  273. 
Thorne  and  Company,  John  W.,  243. 
Thrift    in    Pan    American,   educational 

campaign,  64. 
Timber,  (see  Forests). 
Tin:  Bolivia,  104;   Meico,  175;   restric- 
tions   upon    imports    of    in    United 
States,   102. 

Titus,  F.  E.,  remarks,  59. 
Todd,   Frederick,  remarks  by,   51. 
Towne,   H.   R.,  273. 
Trade   combinations,    (see   WebbVPom- 

erene  Law). 

Trade,    (see   Commerce). 
Trade      Commission,       (see      Federal 

Trade   Commission). 
Trade   Journals,   351-353,   382. 
Trade     Mark     Bureau,     International, 
(see      International      Trade      Mark 
Bureau). 

Trade    Marks   and   'Copyrights,    appro- 
priation of,  284,  285;  Berne  Conven- 
tion, 5$;  Convention  of  Buenos  Aires, 
.  51,  61,  281;  copyright  relations,  285- 
286;    good   will,    283-285;    protection 
of,  51,  61,  281-286;    registration,  61; 
stealing  of^  61    (see  also   names   of 
respective  countries). 
Trade,     Pan     American,      (see     Com- 
merce). 


Trade  propaganda  necessary,  17. 
Trade  regulations:  annoyance  cause 
by,  287-291;  committee  of  merchant 
to  request  uniformity  of,  292;  CUE 
toms  tariffs,  292-295;  uniformity  re 
quired,  287,  295-297;  samples,  29 
(see  also  Customs,  and  names  o 
respective  countries). 
Trade  routes,  402-404. 
Trading  methods:  adaptability  to  Latii 
American  conditions,  216,  259,  260 
263-265;  branded  articles,  distribu 
tion  of,  243,  244;  combinations  o 
manufacturing,  246,  247-252;  com 
mission  houses,  .245;  commissioi 
sales,  244-246;  competition,  261;  com 
pulsory  registration  of  trade  com 
binations,  247;  defective,  216;  direc 
sales,  246,  258,  259,  262;  distributioi 
of  branded  articles,  243,  244;  ethics 
239-242;  export  combinations,  247 
252;  Germany,  24,  103,  377;  goods 
to  be  sold  in  Latin  America,  wha 
kinds,  259,  260;  good  will,  283; 
Guatemala,  164,  165;  heterogeneity 
Latin  America,  263-265;  integrity  o] 
Latin  America,  256-258;  jobbers,  243 
244;  knowledge  of  countries,  244 
245;  Latin  American,  265;  Latir 
American  commercial  integrity,  256 
258;  Mexico,  176,  177;  packing 
scientific,  252-256;  parcel  post,  273 
280;  price  fixing,  244,  260-262;  sam- 
ples, 291;  selling  agents,  243,  244; 
selling  branches  in  Latin  America 
17;  selling  methods,  244-246,  258,  259; 
262;  standard  goods,  259,  260;  Uru- 
guay, 207;  Webb-Pomerene  Law,  246, 
247-252;  weights  and  measures,  263- 
274;  wrong,  199,  201. 

Trans-Andine    Railway,   403. 

Translations:  defective,  214;  good 
necessary,  364,  365;  importance  of 
diplomatic  and  accurate  Spanish 
translations,  72-73. 

Transportation,  (see  Aviation;  Com- 
munication; Motor  Transportation; 
Roads;  Shipping;  Waterways). 

Travellers,  Commercial,  (see  Com- 
mercial Travellers). 

Travellers  Treaty,  64. 

Travelling:  Brazil,  127;  Cuba,  149; 
Guatemala;  161. 

Travel    routes   in    Latin    America,   402. 

Treasury,  Assistant  Secretary  of,  (see 
Rowe,  Dr.  Leo). 

Treasury  of  the  U.  S.,  272. 

Treasury,  Secretary  of,   (see  Glass). 

Trinidad,   parcel  post,  277. 

Trucks,  Motor,  (see  Motor  Trucks). 

Tudela  y  Varela,  Francisco,  Ambas- 
sador of  Peru,  address  by,  19;  men- 
tioned, 87. 


INDEX 


471 


U 


Ugarte,   Manuel,  77. 

Underwood  Typewriter  Company,  258, 
283. 

Union  Trading  Company,  Buenos 
Aires,  91. 

United     Drug    (Company,    283. 

United   Fruit   Company,   173,   271,   402. 

United  Fruit  Steamship  Line,  trade 
routes,  402,  403. 

United   Press,   348. 

United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
(see  Chambers  of  Commerce). 

United   States   Navy,  272. 

United  States:  commercial  and  Pan 
American  relations  with  Latin  Amer- 
ica, see  paper  of  Director  General 
Barrett,  389-394;  Argentina,  invest- 
ments, opportunity,  92-94;  Argentine 
trade,  how  maintained,  14,  91,  93, 
95,  96;  aviation,  235-238;  banks, 
branches  in  Latin  America,  217; 
Bolivia,  investments,  101,  106;  Bo- 
livian exports  to,  103-104;  Bolivia> 
market  for  American  manufactures, 
113,  114;  Bolivia,  trade  with,  103, 
104,  111,  112;  Brazil,  trade  laws, 
changes  affecting  American  prod- 
ucts, 119,  121,  123;  Brazil,  trade  with, 
117,  121,  122,  125;  Brazil,  trading 
hints,  125,  127;  Brazil,  traditional 
friendship  with,  123;  capital  in  Latin 
America,  8,  21-30,  64,  97,  125,  126; 
changes  wrought  by  war  in  finances, 
industry,  and  shipping  of,  22;  Chile, 
investments,  129;  citizens  liked  in 
Arizona,  58,  96;  Colombia,  trade  with 
during  war,  138,  139;  commercial 
arbitration,  10;  commercial  ethics, 
239-242;  commercial  policy  for  Latin 
America,  103;  commercial  recipro- 
city of  Brazil,  58;  complaints  against 
American  merchants,  199;  consular 
service,  382,  383;  creditor  nation 
after  war,  21;  debts  due  from 
Europe,  how  shall  be  paid,  24;  dia- 
grams showing  trade  with  Latin 
America,  220,  221;  Dominican  Re- 
public commerce,  152,  153;  Domini- 
can Republic  investments,  153,  154; 
Ecuador,  investments  in,  156,  157; 
false  information,  suppression  of,  76; 
foodstuffs,  promotion  of  exports  to 
Latin  America,  27;  free  ports,  226, 
227;  fully  equipped  for  increased  for- 
eign trade,  22;  Guatemala,  com- 
merce, 158,  162;  Guatemala,  new  en- 
terprises, 162;  Guatemala,  proximity 
to,  164;  Germany  replaced  by,  97; 
Haiti,  investments,  167,  168;  hides, 
imports  from  Argentina  and  Brazil, 
26;  Honduras,  commerce,  172;  im- 
ports from  Latin  America,  increased 


by  war,  7,  19,  20;  industries  depend- 
ing upon  foreign  trade,  22-23;  inves- 
tigation commission  to  Latin  Ameri- 
ca, 252;  investments  in  Latin  Ameri- 
ca, 8,  21-30,  64,  97,  125,  126;  Japan  as 
a  competitor  in  Latin  America,  201, 
202;  Latin  American  business 
through  foreign  banks  before  the 
war,  22;  Latin  American  trade,  how 
to  retain,  215;  Latin  American  trade, 
review  of  by  Secretary  Redfield,  21- 
30;  Latin  American  students  in,  370; 
manganese  from  Brazil,  30-31;  manu- 
factured goods,  quality  preferred  in 
Latin  America,  165;  merchant  ma- 
rine, 22,  223,  231  (see  also  Ship- 
ping) ;  Mexico,  commerce  with,  43, 
175,  176;  Mexico,  trading  in,  176,  177; 
opinions  in  regarding  Latin  Ameri- 
can trade,  138;  Paraguay,  commerce, 
192;  parcel  post  service  with  Latin 
America,  59,  275-280;  Pacific  coast, 
lacking  of  shipping  facilities,  115; 
Peru,  friendship,  202;  Peru,  invest- 
ments, 198,  199,  202,  203;  poor  qual- 
ity articles,  201;  press  of,  factor  in 
Pan  Americanism,  33;  products  from 
exempt  from  duties  in  Brazil,  119; 
prosperity  of,  24;  railway  develop- 
ment, 311;  relations  with  Latin 
America,  effect  of  war,  7,  19,  20;  Rio 
de  Janeiro  bonds  oversubscribed,  27, 
101,  347;  Salvador,  commerce,  204; 
thrift,  64;  tin  imports,  104;  tin,  re- 
strictions upon  import  of,  102;  trade 
balances  against,  26;  trade  balances 
in  favor  of,  26;  true  attitude  toward 
Latin  America,  9;  Venezuela,  com- 
merce, 212,  219;  Venezuela,  invest- 
ments, 214,  222. 

United  States  and  Pacific  Line,  trade 
and  travel  routes,  402. 

United  States  Radiator  Corporation, 
283. 

United  States  Worsted  Company,  283. 

United    West    Indies   Corporation,   169. 

University  Convocation,  State  of  New 
York,  273. 

University  of  Oregon,  commercial 
courses,  373. 

University  of  Seattle,  commercial 
courses,  373. 

University  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
commercial  courses,  373. 

University  of  Washington,  375. 

Uruguay:  banks  and  banking,  206; 
business  integrity,  207;  commerce, 
206,  399-401;  commercial  arbitration 
treaty  with  United  States,  10;  com- 
mercial map,  29;  commercial  travel- 
lers, 208;  consular  charges,  288;  cur- 
rency and  exchange,  206,  267;  dia- 
gram of  foreign  trade,  230;  debt,  206; 
exports,  399-401;  finances,  206; 


472 


SECOND    PAN     AMERICAN     COMMERCIAL    CONFERENCE 


Uruguay — Continued: 
freight  rates,  234;  imports,  399-401; 
income  tax,  208;  insurance,  206,  207; 
Montevideo,  207;  mortgages,  207; 
new  industries  exempt  from  taxes, 
208;  parcel  post,  277,  278,  ports,  207; 
President's  greetings  to  Conference, 
6;  President  of,  remarks  on,  29;  ra- 
cial elements,  263;  railroads,  207; 
rate  of  interest  on  discounts,  206; 
shipping,  234;  taxation,  208;  trading 
methods,  207. 

Utrecho,  J.  A.,  Minister  of  Foreign  Re- 
lations, Nicaragua,  greetings  from, 
6. 


Vaccaro   Brothers,   173. 

Vanderlip,  Frank  A.,  President,  Na- 
tional City  Bank,  address,  65,  298- 
300;  mentioned,  64,  87,  209  256  307. 

Vargas  Vila,   76. 

Vegetable    Dyes,    26. 

Vegetable  Oils,    (see  Coconut  oil). 

Vegetable  wool,  141. 

Veloz,  Nicolas,  Consul  General  of 
Venezuela  in  New  Orleans,  paper, 
215-222. 

Venezuela:  banks  and  banking,  213; 
cacao,  219;  Chambers  of  Commerce, 
212;  coffee,  219;  colonization,  211; 
commerce,  212,  218-222,  399-401;  com- 
mercial map,  29;  commercial  situa- 
tion, 213-215;  concessions,  209,  211; 
consular  invoices,  214;  consular 
charges,  288;  credit  abroad,  214,  215; 
customs  regulations,  214;  customs 
tariffs,  294;  currency  and  exchange, 
213,  267;  diagram  of  foreign  trade, 
240;  enterprises, N  encouraged,  209; 
exports,  218-22,  399-401;  finances, 
214;  fiscal  laws,  214;  hides,  222;  im- 
migration, 211;  imports,  218-222; 
399-401;  improvements,  214;  indus- 
tries, 222;  international  high  com- 
mission, 211,  212;  investments,  212, 
214,  222;  lands,  211;  parcel  post,  227; 
President's  greetings  to  Conference, 
6;  proximity  to  United  States,  217; 
racial  elements,  264;  railroads,  209; 
shipping,  212;  sugar,  219;  United 
States  commerce  with,  212,  216. 

Vice  President  of  the  United  States, 
(see  Marshall,  Thomas  R.). 

Vigilance  Committee  on  Information, 
proposed,  347. 

Villanueva,  Dr.  Augusto,  Director  of 
Banco  de  Chile,  address,  65-66;  men- 
tioned, 256;  paper  by,  131. 
Virginia,  University  of,  Portuguese 
courses,  381;  Latin  American  his- 
tory courses,  381. 

Vitagraph   Company,  283. 


Vocabulary,    Spanish    technical,    com- 
mon,  331-333;    commercial,   330. 
Vocational    Education,  '369-373. 
Vogel,  C.,  remarks  by,  45,  69. 


Walsh,  John,  250. 
Waltham  Watch  Factory  271. 
War,  (see, World  War). 
War    Department,    273,    336;    packing 
experiments    252-256. 

Ward  Line,  173. 

Warehouses,  183,  227. 

War   Finance  Corporation,  247,  260. 

War  Trade   Board,  16. 

Washington  'Chamber  of  Commerce, 
President  of,  (see  Harper,  R.  N.). 

Washington,  D.  C.,  climate,  14;  growth 
of,  13;  ideal  place  for  conferences, 
13;  location  of,  13;  Presidents  of,  dis- 
franchised, 13;  thanks  to  Commis- 
sioners of,  88;  welcome  by  Presi- 
dent of  Board  of  Commissioners,  12, 
13;  welcome  by  President  of  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  13,  14. 

Waterways:  Brazil,  117;  Colombia, 
141;  Guatemala,  162,  164;  Honduras, 
173;  Mississippi  Valley  Waterways 
Association,  337;  Paraguay,  184,  185. 

Weather  Bureau,  272. 

Weaver,  S.  L.,  remarks  by,  44. 

Webb-Pomerene  Law:  benefits  of, 
249;  business  press  participation  in 
passage  of,  352;  consolidations  un- 
der, for  Latin  American  trade,  246; 
criticisms,  251;  misapprehensions, 
249;  scope  and  operation,  247-250. 

Weights  and  Measures:  arguments  in 
favor  and  against  metric  system, 
270-274;  metric  system,  266-270; 
English  system,  270-274. 

Wells,  C.  S.,  remarks,  44. 

Wells,  William  rC.,  mentioned,  55; 
paper,  293-295. 

West  Indies,  death  rate,  343. 

Westinghouse  Air  Brake  Company, 
283. 

Westinghouse  'Electric  and  Manufac- 
turing Company,  272. 

Whitney,  R.  I.,  remarks  by,  57,  58. 

Willans   and    Robinson   Company,   271. 

Williams,  Charles  B.,  paper,  258-259. 

Williamson,   J.   A.,   273. 

Williams,    Sellers    and    Company,   272. 

Willys-Overland  Company,  283. 

Wilson,  C.  E.,  remarks,  82. 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  President,  91,  tele- 
gram from,  4. 

Windward   Islands,  parcel  post,  277. 

Wisconsin,  University  of,  Latin  Amer- 
ican history  courses,  381;  Portu- 
guese courses,  381. 


INDEX 


473 


Women's  Auxiliary  'Commrittee  of  Pan 
American  Scientific  Conference,  84. 

Wolfran,  104. 

Woods,    (see   Forests). 

Wool,  26,  197. 

Woolworth   and   Company,   F.  W.,  283. 

World's  Work,  74. 

World  War:  coffee's  share  in  win- 
ning, 30,  31,  116,  117;  Bolivia's 
share,  111;  Brazil's  share,  121,  122; 
brought  United  States  and  South 
America  in  closer  unity,  8,  19,  20; 
changes  wrought  by,  8,  19,  21-23, 
102,  111,  158,  178,  204,  213,  215,  218, 
223,  232;  Europe's  situation  after, 
298,  298-300;  lesson  for  Pan  Amer- 
ica, 97;  Panama  Canal  affected  by, 
183;  Pan  American  trade  during, 
138;  requirements  for  meeting  con- 
ditions after,  393,  394. 


Yale  University,  Latin  American  his- 
tory courses,  381;  Portuguese 
courses,  381. 

Yanes,  Francisco  Javier,  Assistant  Di- 
rector, Pan  American  Union,  men- 
tioned, 82;  paper,  81,  368-370; 
thanks  to,  87. 

Ycaza,  Gustavo  R.  de,  Consul  General 
of  Ecuador  in  New  York,  paper,  35, 
36,  156. 

Yerba  Mate,  3,  37,  187. 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  foreign  service,  training 
for,  375. 

Z 

Zamora,  Julio,  Special  Financial  Dele- 
gate of  Bolivia,  mentioned,  106; 
paper,  66,  97,  102. 

Zemurray,  S.,  173. 

Zulia  River,  141. 

Zumeta,   Dr.  Cesar,  paper,  71,  330-331. 


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